I just love a cozy mystery and The Gardener's Plot fits the bill. This is debut novel for Deborah J. Benoit and I hope it is the first of a long lasting series. She creates characters and the setting ideally. The main character, Maggie Walker, funnels her gardening expertise into a community garden as she settles into the house she bought from her aunt's estate. We meet her neighbor and many characters from the village. Benoit lays a trail of clues for the reader and features several red herrings. What a fun read!

A lovely whodunit with many twists and turns. In a small town where you think you know everyone, a killer exists as the plot thickens in the mystery of the noisy neighbor who wants Maggie's house, now dead and the missing friend and head gardener. In a community garden, in one of the plots, a shoe is found, attached to a foot. Who could it be and where is Violet who should have been opening this special event? Lots of suspicions, especially about Maggie Walker, the prodigal gardener who had volunteered to help Violet and had recently come back, inheriting her aunt's home. Maggie is bound and determined to dig up whatever evidence she can unearth to find her friend and prove that she is not guilty. Never would I have suspected the eventual killer, but that tells you how well the story is woven. Many thanks to #netgalley #stmartinspress #thegardenersplot for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Gardener's Plot is an enjoyable cozy. There are many references to gardening, but like me, it's not mandatory to be a master gardener or even a novice to fall into step with the main character Maggie as she navigates starting a community garden.

Imagine finding a body in the fresh tilled dirt on opening day. Not only that, but Maggie's best friend Violet happens to be missing at the same time. Is there something sinister going on or a huge misunderstanding? Also, a developer wants the land. The number of suspects is beginning to grow.

This is a delightful read that isn't heavy reading and unlike most cozies, no sugary romance, at least for now. I recommend this in between longer or heavier content reads. It's relaxing and the mystery satisfying.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an early copy.

I requested an ARC of this title because I enjoy mysteries and gardening, but nearly NDF'd at 6% when i read two plant related mistakes from a character who is supposedly Master Gardener trained. Petty? Maybe, but it's a sign for those who are reading it with hopes of scratching that gardening itch after putting the garden beds to rest. With needless repetition and under-developed characters, this book just doesn't deliver.

The Gardener's Plot by Deborah J. Benoit is a cozy gardening mystery set in the Berkshires.

Protagonist Maggie Walker returns to Marlowe, a beloved childhood place that was home to her grandmother. While planting a community garden, Maggie finds a body. She and her friend, Sally decide to investigate the death and end up discovering more than they bargained for.

Benoit has a knack for cozy world-building. The small-town setting leaps off the page and provides a backdrop for the plot. The plot itself is a slow burn, but leads to a satisfying conclusion.

Benoit's writing flows at a steady, even pace for a quick, enjoyable read. Benoit organized the mysteries well, providing enough clues for the readers to follow along and draw conclusions along with Maggie.

Maggie was an engaging protagonist. She stood out among other protagonists in the genre because of her background in gardening and her experience writing a gardening column. Maggie's commitment to the niche made her a more credible detective to take the reader through the story. This was a clever choice on Benoit's part and help tie the characters, setting, and plot more closely together.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for an ARC. All opinions in this review are my own.

A cozy, whodunnit mystery. Though I didn’t find the main character completely like-able, I still enjoyed the overall “plot.” There was a bit of redundancy throughout and it felt like it dragged on a bit. However, I did appreciate the small town and everyone-knows-everyone vibes. A lot of the descriptions were helpful in painting a picture of the town. I’m kind of neutral towards this in the end, but would recommend this for a lighter read.

I love a good cozy murder mystery, but unfortunately this one fell flat for me. Maggie Walker, an avid gardener, agrees to help her new neighbor, Violet, create a community garden. However, on the day of the garden’s grand opening, a body is discovered partially buried in the garden, and Violet has disappeared. When Violet becomes the main murder suspect, Maggie is determined to prove her innocence and solve the mystery.

The premise of this book immediately got me excited, but I felt a lot of it fell flat. The characters weren’t as developed as I they could have been, and towards the middle it slowed down and became a struggle for me to continue. Things did pick up at the end, but overall it was sadly a miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted eARC!

The Gardener's Plot by Deborah J. Benoit is well-written and very enjoyable.

Will Maggie find Violet before it's too late?

Maggie Walker
Maggie Walker is our sleuth and main character. She has returned to her hometown and Grandmother's house, where she grew up. Things aren't the same as when her Grandmother was alive. However, since Maggie bought the house, things have looked up. Maggie is an avid gardener, and it shows in her home gardens. Still, Maggie is the co-chairperson of the Community Garden, and she writes articles for the newspaper and is working on a book.

After finding a body in the community garden, Maggie and her best friend, Sally, start investigating the disappearance and death. I like Maggie. She is an excellent sleuth who did a bit of character growth. I am wondering if Maggie will get another installment.

My favorite part is the characters' relationship between Sally and Maggie. These two will go to all lengths to keep each other safe.

The Mystery
We have a murder, a real estate scam, a crazy cousin, a missing person, a town picnic, an old rival, and true friendship. There are lots of things going on, but are they connected?

Five Stars
My rating for The Gardener's Plot by Deborah J. Benoit is five stars. The mystery was top-notch, the characters believable, and I was invested from the beginning. I love it and highly recommend it.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit.

Until the next time,
~Jen

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out Baroness Book Trove.

This book looked promising but the storyline was very thin and the characters bland. It needed stronger subplots, faster pace, tighter editing. I was able to easily skip chapters without missing an important clue.
Thanks to #NetGalley and #TheGardenersPlot for advanced digital copy.

The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit is an engaging gardening mystery. I found myself drawn into the story. I like the main character, Maggie Walker who is passionate about gardening. I do not know where she gets all her energy. I appreciate that the author took the time to develop the main character as well as a couple of other major characters. There were a number of secondary characters. It was a challenge to keep them all straight in the beginning. The world building was well done. I like the small-town atmosphere. As with any small town, gossip flows faster than butter on a hot stack of pancakes. The mystery was entertaining and well plotted. There were some twists and turns along the way to the reveal. There was a good wrap up at the end, so I was not left with any lingering questions. I enjoyed the gardening information. It was presented in an easy-to-understand manner, and you do not need to be a gardener to enjoy it. I picked up some helpful tips. The Gardener’s Plot is a fun whodunit with tilling soil, a contentious cousin, a badgering developer, a new community garden, a boot in a plot, a missing Bloom, troublesome letters, and a fresh start.

This was an enjoyable read - the definition of a cozy mystery. Easy to read, set in a cute town with relatable characters. Could easily see this plot in an hour tv show. While this may not be a book that sticks with me for a long time, I’d happily read more in the series or pass this along as a gift for a reader in the family.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

As a mystery lover and a gardener, this debut novel was the perfect read. I mean, how many mysteries mention heuchera (aka coral bells) and a tomato variety called Mortgage Lifter (I looked it up, it’s real).
Set in the Berkshires, Maggie Walker’s moved into her grandmother’s home where she grew up in. She loves gardening and is asked to help the organizer of the new community garden but becomes a suspect when a body is found in one of the plots. With the aid of her best friend,Sally, Maggie sets out to determine who the real murderer is.
Here's hoping Ms. Benoit has another mystery for Maggie to solve and maybe along the way, give me another tomato to try.

The gardeners plot is a cozy mystery reminiscent of a miss maple with its small town feel. A body is discovered in a community garden during its grand opening in a small town. The body turns out to be the town realtor but who would want him dead? Soon, another body turns up in the woods. Two nurses in this quaint town sends the townies into a spiral. At its center is Maggie’, a divorce moving into her grandmas home and an outsider to the town dynamics. Maggie becomes a suspect for the body in the garden and is pulled into the mystery against her better judgement. What follows is a fun, light mystery about family, town, and community.

The plot is well done but I do agree with some earlier reviews that the characters seem stock and generic.

A fun read nonetheless-mindless and comforting (meant as a compliment)! All mystery fans and fans of cozies should check this out!

Thanks to the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This took me a little while to get into. The narrator was a little.. bland? I felt like I didn’t get a feel for her throughout the story, or like the relationships she had in the book were more than surface.

But the mystery itself was well plotted (pun intended) and wraps up nicely.

This sort of feels like a cozy mystery, but with higher stakes, I’d say.

The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J Benoit is a mystery. Maggie (Margaret) Walker has moved into her Gramma’s house after her divorce, well during her divorce and the death of her still-husband. The house had been part of the estate that had been left to several grandchildren but after it had been appraised, she found she had the money and so she bought it. Everything had been fine until her cousin started harassing her about wanting more money. She couldn’t quite figure him out. She called her and sent her letters. Now he was at her front door. Why? Also there was a realtor wanting to buy it. Again she refused. Maggie had volunteered to help around town, most especially helping Violet Bloom with opening the town’s first community garden. The opening was tomorrow and they were just going over a few last minute details. The woman was nothing if not well-organized.

The next morning arrived and Maggie was at the front gate to the garden. People were anxious to get started. But, no Maggie. Odd, but after waiting a few minutes Maggie opened the gates so she could let everyone in. Before long, one of the biggest complainers called her over. There was a boot in his supposedly prepared plot. Maggie gave it a yank, and found it was attached to a foot. She had someone all the police who discovered that the foot was attached to a body: a dead one. It was Carl Henderson, the pesky realtor. The police shut down the garden to investigate and Maggie left. Within a day or two, Maggie’s neighbor and friend, Sally, found a body in the woods while walking her dog. Actually the dog found it. It turned out to be Violet Bloom. Two murders, Sam, her “friend” was investigating officer, and Maggie was a suspect. What a good book. Easy to read, good characters, a decent mystery, and a lovely, pleasant ambiance. Highly recommend.

I was invited to read The Gardener’s Plot by St Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #DeborahJBenoit #TheGardenersPlot

The Gardener’s Plot is Deborah Benoit’s debut cozy mystery set in the Berkshires. While the main character is female, this story will appeal to readers of all genders and especially to fans of the Hallmark Channel, HGTV, and PBS.
Maggie Walker has moved to Marlowe, Massachusetts, a picturesque town in the Berkshires, to live in her late grandmother’s home. She is looking for a fresh start after experiencing some personal tragedies. She is a master gardener, so she volunteers to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden. On Opening Day, Violet leaves a note saying that she’s running late so Maggie reluctantly starts without her. Then another gardener finds a boot (with a body attached) buried in one of the plots. Naturally the police suspect that Violet is the killer, but Maggie doesn’t believe it.
While Maggie is trying to find her missing friend Violet, she’s also dealing with a land developer who wants to buy her grandmother’s house and a cousin who feels short-changed. There’s the whole small-town gossip thing going on, and Maggie’s natural curiosity about Violet and the dead body in the garden isn’t good.
The Gardener’s Plot is an excellent story, with engaging characters and a well-paced, excellently plotted mystery. My only criticism is that there were so many side characters that it was difficult to keep up with them. All of the gardening tips were an added bonus to this wonderful story. The Gardener’s Plot is definitely a story that can be enjoyed by all readers.

I received an Advance Review Copy (ARC) from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this novel. It grabbed me from the beginning. I was annoyed along with Maggie at Cousin Simon. I was worried about Violet, and I was grateful for Sally. I felt anger at Chief Whitacker (how do you not know that your wife is leaking information?!), and exasperation with Detective Quinn. Though I admit that I want to follow these characters and their lives.

After many mysteries where the ending was so anticlimactic, I was happy for this one. The reasoning made sense, and the suspects were plentiful.

Overall, I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars.

The Gardener’s Plot is an award-winning debut novel by Deborah Benoit. A cozy mystery set in a tiny town in the Berkshires, the novel features Maggie Walker, a master gardener who is also the assistant of the town’s new community garden. On the day the garden is supposed to open, Maggie discovers a body planted facedown in one of the plots, and Maggie’s friend, the director of the garden, is missing.

The novel does not read as a first novel. It is a quick and easy read with a strong female main character. The author has also done a good job describing the small town community and the various people who live there. Although the novel is perfect for gardeners who like cozy mysteries, it is not too garden heavy for those of us with brown thumbs. The novel is also well-plotted with twists and turns, although the mystery was easy to solve. I look forward to the second mystery in this series. 3.5 (rounded up to 4 stars).

Thanks to St Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary advanced copy of book.

When Maggie volunteers to help Violet with the community garden, she thought this would be the perfect way to integrate herself back in the community where she spent a lot of time when she was younger. Little did she know that a dead body that turns up in one of the plots, would again change her world. Now, with the disappearance of Violet, things are getting a little shakier. Maggie decides that the police are not working fast enough, so she decides to handle things on her own, with the help of her best friend. It is when the sleuthing begins, things begin to get a little shaky again. Thanks to Ms. Benoit, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this book. I really enjoyed this cozy little mystery. Well done for a debut!

I found this to be a fun cozy mystery with interesting characters. I've not read anything by this author previously and liked the style of the writing. It was well paced and an easy read. The characters were fun and typical of a small town where everyone knows each other. There were a few suspects and it wasn't unexpected who was the murderer. It was more the reason that was unknown. I would read more by this author in the future. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.