An enjoyable red that is will written with a fully developed plot, well rounded characters and great dialogue.

After life has taken a few wrong turns, Maggie Walker has returned to her hometown in the small Berkshire village, and is looking forward to a quiet life among the plants. However, when she discovers a body in the newly established community garden, it seems like her life is going to be anything but quiet, as she tries to find out who the body is and who placed it there.

I absolutely fell into this book, like in a curl up in the sun on a beautiful spring day with a good cozy mystery, kind of way. I instantly felt a kindred spirit to Maggie, who after a few knocks is ready to lead a quiet life, with her best friend, Sally, living next door. However, not everyone is happy that Maggie has returned - including Queen Bee "Catherine", and when things start to go from bad to worse for Maggie it seems quite a few town folk are ready to the point the finger. Thankfully Maggie has a ride-or-die friend in Sally and together they are hunting down clues and trying to find a killer!

I enjoyed the mystery immensely. It runs at a thrilling pace, and with red herrings every which way, it makes for a difficult mystery to solve before Maggie and Sally.

The Gardener's Plot is the perfect cozy mystery for the gardener in all of us. With the delightful descriptions of Maggie's own garden, and ideas for the community garden, I instantly wanted to go delve into my own garden to see if I could make it better... even in the Fall! Whether you're a gardener or not, I think readers will be absolutely charmed by Deborah J Benoit's first cozy mystery, and will be coming back for more!

Maggie Walker moved back in with her grandmother that raised her, after her almost ex’s death (her husband was killed on the way to the court for their divorce). Her grandmother has recently passed, and she brought her house and is reintegrating herself into the community she grew up in. One of the ways she is doing that is working with Violet Bloom on starting a community garden. On the grand opening of the community garden, Violet is a no show, so as second in command, Maggie opens up the garden. Of course, there is a shoe sticking out of one of the plots, and when Maggie pulls on it, it is attached to a foot. Maggie has to work to solve two mysteries, who caused the murder in the garden, and where is Violet. Overall, an enjoyable first in a cozy series. The only thing that kept this from being a five star read was that they introduced so many characters, it was hard to keep everyone straight. Now that the characters are established this is definitely a series I will continue to read. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

Maggie Walker returns home after a tumultuous life. In an effort to establish normalcy and calm, she buys her grandmother's house and throws herself into gardening, so much so that she helps with a community garden. The opening day for the garden is less than wonderful when Maggie finds a body buried in one of the plots. But that's not the end of the sad twists and turns, all while Maggie is playing amateur sleuth. It's a plot that the reader will find so interesting that you won't be able to put it down. Kudos Ms. Benoit!

Maggie is looking for a fresh start. She's moved to a new area and is working on a community garden project doing what she loves. But on opening day somebody is found murdered. She decides since the police aren't listening to her that she is going to investigate herself.

I would definitely consider this more of a cozy mystery than a murder mystery or a thriller. It did feel very slow to start and it took a while to become attached to any of the characters. But at the end of reading this book I was very attached to Maggie and the community of friends that she had made and I was even starting to be fond of one of the police detectives.

This is clearly the start to a series and I can see myself reading more as they're published because this was very well written and I feel like the further you get into it the more you will grow to love the characters.

This is a well written debut. It hits all the marks for cozy mystery fans - small town community, friends, a twisty mystery to be solved, amateur sleuthing, mean girls, a murder victim that many people disliked, and we can’t forget a potential love interest. The murder mystery is well plotted, offers plenty of suspects, keeps you guessing, builds to a tense climax and ends with a satisfying conclusion. The Gardener’s Plot is a very good debut and hopefully the start of an entertaining series.

Cute cozy mystery. Nothing really shocking or anything that kept me up at night. Wish we had a little more mystery.
I liked the cover and think they did a nice job with the design.

The Gardener’s Plot
Deborah J. Benoit
November 05, 2025

Maggie Walker grew up in the Berkshires in the small town of Marlowe. After years of working elsewhere in New York she moved back to her grandmother’s large home. She arrived in early summer. Her grandmother’s garden was mostly planted although she needed to add veggies to make it perfect. She met a friend who was head of the local garden group. They met the week the gardens were to be cultivated, then with those who were earmarked for a plot. After their meeting it seemed rather simple. She would meet Violet at the fenced in garden space at 10 AM, help anyone who might need suggestions for setting up their space, and develop her own plot.
The Gardener’s Plot will be published on November 05, 2024 by Minotaur Books. I was able to read and review The Gardener’s Plot via NetGalley with an invitation from Sara Eslami. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Benoit’s suspense filled journey of Maggie Walker’s return to Marlowe. Many friends and relatives still lived there although in some cases old disputes still existed. This book is a great adventure for fans of cozy plots. It is a baffled story that keeps the mystery unsolved to the very end. Do enjoy this one!

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Mystery Thriller
Language: It's cozy, so no profanity or sex
Mystery Element: I thought it was tricky to solve before the characters figure out whodunnit

THE GARDENER'S PLOT intrigued me from beginning to end! It gave me lots of questions—why, and why bury the body there, and who would do such a thing? It reminds me of an Agatha Christie book.

Maggie is loving being in her grandmother's old house. And the garden is sublime. What's not so great? An old nemesis who's jealous, the cop who hassles her, and a murder!

I felt like the tension ramped up as different people joined in the investigation. It's firmly in the cozy realm.

If you're a fan of murder (meaning in a book) and gardening, this is the perfect read for you!

Happy reading!

This is an entertaining, well-written, murder mystery novel. It has a likable, intelligent, strong and capable female protagonist, small town drama, supportive friends, a loyal canine, murder, mystery, intrigue, the beauty of gardening, and a satisfying conclusion. I am looking forward to reading more mystery novels featuring Maggie Walker with great anticipation. Many thanks to Ms. Benoit, St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley, from whom I received an advance reader copy of this delightful novel. This is my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed reading The Gardener's Plot and will be looking forward to the next in this hopefully new series. Lots of talk of gardening which I know nothing of but thankfully it didn't make me feel out of my depth. I like the storyline of Maggie moving back home, taking care of her grandmother's old house and starting up a community garden. This cozy mystery is definitely worth a read!

This was a DNF for me not because I didn't like it or had a problem with it, just came to the conclusion cozy mysteries are not really for me. No complaints about this book and would recommend to anyone who likes this genre or wants to give it a try. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a first in a possible series by Deborah Benoit. I liked the story but it did seem stiff in places. I figured out early who the killer was. It took me a while to find a reason.

There were plenty of suspects for the dead man. As the victim, he isn’t well liked and didn’t deal fairly with people. There isn’t any gore so I would classify this book as a cozy.

Looking forward to book two to decode if I want to continue this series. Looking forward to book two to decide if I want to continue this series. I am rating this a 3.5 out of 5.

Netgalley provided me an e-copy of an Advance Readers Copy. I am not required to leave a positive review.

The Gardener's Plot was a fun, fast read, and the first book in a new series. Author Deborah J. Benoit, has created a good cozy mystery in what will now be called Book 1 of the Maggie Walker series. Benoit offers readers a small town with a murder victim, a missing community activist, and a new community garden in need to a a bit of cleaning up. The Gardener's Plot includes some nicely developed characters, a multilayered plot, several red herrings to keep the suspense working, and a good solution to the mystery. I do enjoy a cozy mystery set in a bookstore, but it is even better when an author deviates from a tried and true plot setting. And I loved the dog, Dreyfus, whose name is the same as my first Airedale, Dreyfus. I enjoyed the Master Gardener theme, since I also love gardening. I liked the many good gardening hints to try and remember for next spring's plantings. Although I did solve the mystery before the end, I definitely enjoyed the reading journey to that solution.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing me with this ARC to read and review. The comments above reflect my honest opinion.

I love a great title and play on words. This is a cozy little mystery (though with a body count and a lot of suspects. Maggie is helping launch the town’s new community garden where a body has been hastily buried.

This was an enjoyable read and a good mystery. A few of the characters are a bit over the top., but books like this need someone to dislike. And at times some characters don’t behave logically, but books like this don’t always operate on logic.

This wasn’t a particularly layered or sophisticated book, but it was a simple delight that I read quickly and read for comfort. The characters were fun, if a little too lightly developed. The plot kept me guessing enough to turn the pages and the ending made perfect sense even if it wasn’t quite earth shattering. Highly recommended for those looking for a quick comfort distraction from the horrors of the world.

Cozy Mystery about a Massachusetts master gardener who turns sleuth after a body's found buried in the new community garden and her friend the director's implicated.

4/5 stars: This is the first entry in Benoit's Maggie Walker series, which is Cozy Mystery that takes place at Massachusetts and follows a master gardener and gardening newspaper columnist who finds herself turning amateur sleuth after discovering the body of a pushy local real estate developer buried in the new community garden and her friend, the project's director, goes missing and becomes the police's main suspect. With plenty of twists and turns, Benoit has deftly crafted a mystery that balances the suspects, clues and red herrings and will leave you pondering the whodunit until the final reveal. Additionally, Benoit's writing and character work are excellent; the characters are well-rounded and complex while remaining incredibly likable. Maggie's great and I really like Sally, her neighbor, childhood friend and sleuthing partner. This is a great start to a new series and I look forward to reading more.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

What a fun cozy mystery! Lots of twists and so many suspects!!
This story was well-written with engaging characters.
Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

If you’re a fan of gardening and suspense, this one is for you. The story follows Maggie Walker, an amateur gardener, whose quiet life takes a dark turn when a body is discovered in her new community garden. As a debut novel, this was a very solid, enjoyable read with many fun twists and turns. The writing style was easy to follow but the descriptions of the characters were a little lacking and it made it a bit harder to visualize them while reading. Overall, The Gardener’s Plot is perfect for fans of true crime and botany and is sure to become a favorite of the genre.

A small town cozy mystery with some great characters, including Maggie, the MC. Her passion for gardening and care for people, as well as her newly single status and the issues with her inheritance, made her sympathetic to the point you could almost understand why she was determined to do her own investigation into the murder in her small town instead of letting the police do their job.

Like all cozy mysteries there were definitely places where I was yelling at the characters to stop interfering with the police. But I did appreciate the reasons Maggie had for investigating and the fact that she eventually realized she needed to step back.

I thought the story was well plotted, and the clues made sense. The ending was exciting and sufficiently unexpected. It was an excellent debut mystery and a great read.