Nice cozy mystery with a garden theme. The pacing is very slow and it took a while to get through as nothing made me want to keep reading. I did put it down a lot and if not for a Netgalley review, I probably would not have continued reading

We love a cozy mystery! Full of suspense and thrills. All the characters are written so well! Maggie wanted a fresh start but someone is murdered she investigates what happened!

Maggie Walker moves back to her small hometown in the Berkshires, and helps to set up a community garden. On opening day, things go awry! Maggie and her friend take it upon themselves to figure out who done it.

I love a cozy mystery and this one has to do with gardening. Sign me up! I also liked the small town vibes where everyone knows everyone's business. It did feel a little slow at times, and it was hard for me to keep up with all the characters and how they were connected. Overall I enjoyed the book and it had me guessing until the end.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery with the small town garden theme. This was a fun read that kept me intrigued throughout the entire book. I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a book with small town vibes.

I found this book to be painfully boring. I started to skip towards the end as it just kept going in circles and repeating the same thoughts over and over from the main character. I did like the gardening aspect as I am an avid gardener. This is why I wanted to read the book. However, the plot was extremely weak and the characters were just blah. I would not recommend this book. There are plenty better murder mysteries out there. I understand what the author was trying to do in having their main character be a "detective," but it fell short in that it was just run on thoughts over and over. I was given an advanced copy from Netgalley, thank you!

I received an Advance Readers copy through NetGalley. I enjoyed the small town mystery. Who killed Carl and why? Lots of questions are asked. Why is Simon so persistent? What happened to Violet? Gardening and community gardens are so important. Clever premise. Sally and Maggie are lifelong friends. I did guess correctly. Can you?

I love a good cozy, murder mystery! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of "The Gardener's Plot" by Deborah J. Benoit. The cover is what drew me in, it's absolutely stunning and I would love to have a physical copy on my bookshelf! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a murder mystery without all the blood and gore. Make sure you get your copy November 5, 2024!

Maggie, a master gardener and writer looking for a fresh start, is happy to be back in the small town where she spent so much time as a child after being given the opportunity to purchase her grandparents’ home from her grandmother’s estate. Her love for gardening leads her to agreeing to help her friend Violet set up a community garden.

When opening day for the community garden arrives, Violet is mysteriously absent, and Maggie discovers a body in one of the plots. The small-town charm quickly fades as the police begin searching for a killer, and focus their attention on Violet. Refusing to believe her friend could be involved, Maggie decides to conduct her own investigation, determined to clear her friend's name.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves cozy mysteries featuring amateur sleuths and a charming small-town setting.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and author Deborah J. Benoit for the opportunity to review the advance copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

The story is very well written. When the community garden sprouts more than the garden variety weeds and plants in the form of an unkind realtor’s dead body, everyone becomes a suspect. Especially the missing manager of the community garden. A crazy and chaotic mess ensues as a killer stalks the small town.

Maggie Walker has a lot going on in her life. She is widowed on the day she was to be divorced, she lost her grandmother who raised her and has moved back home after buying her grandmothers house. Becoming involved in the community, Maggie works with a local woman to start a community garden. On opening day, a body is found in the garden and the gardener is missing.

Worried about her missing friend, and being on the persons of interest list, Maggie can’t help but try to find out where her friend is. She certainly doesn’t believe Violet had anything to do with a body, but then again everyone seemed to hate the man. can Maggie figure out where her friend is and what happened with finding herself, pushing up daisies?

This is a great start to what I hope is a new cozy mystery series. The setting is perfect and memories of my own Somers spent with my grandmother in the mountains and working in her garden. A lovable protagonist, a solid mystery, and plenty of red herrings, make for a good read.

Fun cozy mystery introducing Maggie. After her grandmother dies, Maggie buys her house, a place she spent many years growing up and has fond memories of. Maggie is looking for a fresh start in this small town. She volunteers to help with the community garden and is making a few new friends. When a body turns up and then her friend Violet is missing, Maggie takes things into her own hands. The local police keep telling her to stay out of it, but when her best friend and neighbor also goes missing, Maggie decides enough is enough.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley. It looks and feels like a cozy with lots of suspects and a couple of amateur sleuths who keep poking their noses into the investigation. I'm torn on whether I like the genre of amateur sleuths since it usually seems obvious that they should go to the police, but of course, there wouldn't be much story without the amateur detectives. It did keep me guessing who the killer could be.

Maggie has moved to the Berkshire's after inheriting her grandmother's house. Her best friend from childhood, Sally, lives next door. Maggie is a master gardener & has offered to be involved with the community garden kick off. The day of the event, a person is found buried in one of the plot's. Violet, the person in charge of the event, along with Maggie are persons of interest. Violet has gone missing and Maggie and Sally are determined to find out where she is, along with who the killer is.
The story moves along, does not lead itself to giving away the killer until reveal time. The characters are likeable, minus the "bad girls" who never outgrew their high school days. I enjoyed that the book takes place in the Berkshire's, with just a few references, rather than the author trying too hard with the town. It is almost irrelevant, and could take place anywhere, which is nice. Thanks to NetGalley, Ms Benoit, and St. Martin's Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

First of all, the cover for this book is absolutely GORGEOUS! It's what made me request the book in the first place.
As for the story inside, while I enjoyed myself during the reading and while I found the mystery interesting, I had a hard time getting a sense of the main character. The other characters felt vibrant and well-developed, and the town the mystery took place in was vivid in my mind. But the main character herself felt more like a cardboard person compared to the rest of the characters. I felt like her reactions and her emotions were very flat to what was happening around her, and it made it difficult to really thoroughly enjoy myself. I will keep reading if there are more books because I really liked Sally and the detective and am curious what will happen next in the town. While I quickly guessed whodunnit, I appreciated the red herrings and the misdirections the author planted in the story that brought out more of the characters' and towns' secrets, bringing the story more to life.

As the final line in the states,
I see so many possibilities.
An excellent cozy mystery. I enjoyed the cast, the setting of the community garden and the interaction with the detective. This is one of the few times that
I did not figure out who the killer was. I recommend this book for fans of light cozy mysteries and hope that there are more.

Margaret Walker moved back to Marlowe, Mass. when she purchased the house that had belonged t0 her grandparents. Since her move ( her best friend Sally lives next door), she write articles on gardening for the local paper, gives talks and works on her own garden. She also began to work closely with Violet Bloom on a community garden. On the day of the opening, Margaret soon discovers a man's body buried in one of the plots and Violet is missing. The police are more interested in the dead man and not Violet, so Margaret and Sally begin to try and recreate the last time anyone saw her and try to find her.
A fun new series with a gardening focus, small town secrets and a possible love interest for our heroine.
Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this e-galley of "The Gardener's Plot".

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Maggie is looking for a fresh start. She has moved and can't wait to do what she loves. When someone is found dead, she decides to do some investigating. I liked this book.

Everything about this story was right up my alley from the title, the cover and description of the plot. It was a quick read and easy to follow the sequence of events. There were any relatable characters. I haven’t read this author before, glad I took a chance. The main character, Maggie, is a master gardener and does some writing. She’s just acquired her Gramma’s house from the estate, which crazy cousin Simon is constantly and vehemently disputing. Moving back to her hometown in The Berkshires she’s a woman with a deceased not quite ex-husband, an old nemesis married to the local Police Chief, new and old best friends and close neighbors. She’s already committed to helping with the local community garden. Opening day could not have been more disastrous! One of the newly tilled plots has more than fresh soil – a body is discovered crudely buried. Maggie isn’t patient, she’s not satisfied with the police handling of the investigation. Despite multiple warnings and becoming a suspect herself, she keeps digging, snooping, asking questions, stirring up rumors and snarky gossip. She doesn’t take seriously the danger she’s placing herself and others in. The frustrating Detective warns her off to no avail. Maggie has a knack for putting clues together and for digging up more than dirt. I liked her tenacity but, thought she was a bit selfish when it came to placing others in harms way. Her sleuthing antics would make a great series (hint to author).
Thanks so much to Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s Press for the Advance Reader Copy (via NetGalley) of “The Gardeners Plot” by Deborah J. Benoit, publication expected 11/05/2024. The honest personal thoughts and opinions expressed here are all my own given voluntarily without expectation of compensation.

new-series, first-in-series, cozy-mystery, murder, amateur-sleuth, local-law-enforcement, suspense, missing-persons, small-town, gardening, Massachusetts, unpleasant-relative, unpleasant-victims****

The first body was the real estate agent in the community garden. And where is the director of that garden? Maggie has returned to the small town where she was raised by her grandmother to do some personal recovery after the sudden death of her adulterous husband of many years. Now she must learn a whole new skill set while fending off an obnoxious relative and the local gossips. Fine start to a new series.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you. Pub Date Nov 05, 2024

It was a pretty good read would definitely recommend, if you like murder mysteries then this book is for you!