Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley. My review opinion is my own. I loved this debut cozy mystery. The author has all the right elements for a great series.

We are introduced to our protagnist Lexi who lives in Confection Oregon . This is described beautifully atmospheric by the author as a delightful charming small town. Lexi's dog finds a body in the neighbors garden and suddenly Lexi is under suspicion as the murderer. She will have to depend on her wits, savvy skills and all her friends to clear her name. i love the description of the town . The supporting charcters are delightful and the sleuth was done to perfection. The stores Sweet Fiction Bookshop, and Eats n' Treats are both charming places every reader wishes we could visit. Truly a fun sweet cozy read and I look forward to the next in series. Very well done to the author.

Lexi's border collie, Cookie, loves to dig. But when she digs up a copper pipe next to the freshly buried body of Lexi's next-door neighbor, it sets people to talking in this quaint small town that depends on tourism for its livelihood. Because of her known squabble with the victim just the day before, Lexi jumps to the top of the suspect list. To clear her name and to restore her reputation, Lexi must find out who really killed her neighbor.

This is the first book in a new series by a new-to-me author, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I liked the setting, although the numerous references to the "sweet" town of Confection felt like overkill. None of the characters were people I really cared about, not even Lexi. If your dog takes off and starts digging so often that the police are one misstep away from issuing a citation, why do you let her go off-leash so often? That's just plain irresponsible, and introduced unnecessary tension between Lexi and law enforcement. And for someone who is trying to prove that she can run a business without help from her parents, she sure spends a lot of time away from the store. The mystery itself wasn't even all that good – I am rarely able to identify the culprit or the motive ahead of time, but in this book, the motive was pretty obvious, even to me. The only real surprise was the involvement of more than one person in the crime, but even then, I guessed who one of the villains was almost from the moment the character was introduced. While this book might be just what other readers are looking for, I will not be looking for the next book in the series.

This is a fantastic book. It was every bit as good as the others. I really liked the twists which seem to be everywhere. The characters are realistic and alittle bit quirky which made the story all the more intriguing. I am certainly a big fan of this cozy series. I definitely recommend this book.

Lexi is back in her hometown of Confection, Oregon. She runs her folks bookstore. A funny thing is happening around town, Someone is digging up people's gardens. Just little piles of dirt around town. Cookie, Lexi's dog has been caught sniffing around and people think the dog is doing the digging. Especially Detective Berg (or iceberg as some people call him). When Lexi's crotchety neighbor is killed and Cookie finds the body, Lexi becomes a suspect. Just the night before, people say Gil yelling at Lexi about her dog. Then her dog finds the body. Lexi and her friends Cat and Teri are members of a book club. They decide to and solve the crime to keep Lexi out of jail. Iceberg wants them out of his investigation.

This was a fun cozy. The town sounds delightful with varied characters. Lots of suspects as well as Gil was hard to get-along-with. Could his sons have killed him, or any member of the Confection Garden Club?

The story moves along nicely and I enjoyed the tension between Lexi and Detective Berg and with her best friends brother as well. Lots of avenues to explore. These characters are young. Hopefully they will grow up a bit. Sometimes they seemed a tiny bit juvenile. Maybe I just enjoy slightly more mature cast of characters.

This is the first book in the Sweet Fiction Bookshop mystery series. Lexi Jones is the main character in this book, along with her dog Cookie. Lexi is also the narrator. I love cozy mysteries and this certainly did not disappoint. It was a solid mystery book filled with coincidences and red herrings....which kept you guessing until the end. I look forward to Book Two which will continue Lexi's story, especially with the love interests that pop up. Who will she end up with?!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

When you live in Confection, Oregon life is sweet, or it’s supposed to be. When tourists and locals alike enjoy the majestic mountains, quaint houses and lovely flowers particularly the renowned Confection Rose. The last thing anyone expects is to see a dead body dug up by a curious dog. Lexi rushes out next door to her neighbors backyard in the vegetable garden. Cookie her dog grips a copper pipe between her teeth. Was this the murder weapon? Was Lexi the murderer? It looks that way since she had an argument with the victim the day before. The case becomes more perplexing when the real murder weapon is a garden stake. Where does the copper pipe fit in? And might a more likely suspect let Lexi off the hook? An enjoyable well written story.

After a hectic career as an editor in Seattle, Lexi Jones is back in her hometown of Confection, Oregon, running Sweet Fiction and taking care of her rescue dog Cookie. She's surrounded by family and friends and life would be great if her dog wasn't a digger in a town with too many competitive gardeners getting ready for the annual garden contest. Cookie has drawn the attention of new police officer Chad Berg who keeps threatening to give Lexi a citation if she can't keep Cookie on her leash.

Lexi's next door neighbor is a cranky old gardener who complains about everything Lexi and Cookie do. So when Cookie gets out in the yard and climbs under the fence into Gil Cloutier's yard, Lexi is quick to try to get her back. But Cookie has made an interesting discovery; someone has murdered Gil and buried him in his yard.

Lexi looks like the perfect suspect since she's a beginning author who wrote a death scene starring Gil after their last argument. Lexi recruits her best friends Cat and Teri along with the Macaroons - the book club at the store - to help her clear her name and find out who really murdered Gil.

Finding Gil's enemies isn't hard. It seems he's angered quite a number of people in town including his three grown sons and the other members of the Confection Garden Club. While Lexi investigates, against Detective Chad Berg's strong advice, she learns a number of town secrets. She also finds herself the target of someone who doesn't want her looking into Gil's death.

I liked the interesting group of characters and the small town setting of this story. Lexi is the narrator of the story and I really like her voice and style. I liked her two potential love interests, Detective Chad Berg and her best friend's older brother Dash who might finally be seeing Lexi as someone other than his little sister's best friend.

This was an entertaining start to a new cozy series. I can't wait to see what happens next.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this cozy read and the atmosphere was great. I enjoyed the pacing and of course, Cookie although he had land Lexi in this predicament and she has to prove her innocence. I enjoy the tension between Lexi and Berg, I'll looking forward to see some development between them maybe?
Overall, I've enjoyed this well.

Excellent start to a cozy mystery series. Everything I want in a cozy mystery. This one had me snuggled up with a cup of coffee on a rainy Saturday, and it was the perfect compliment to the day. I cannot wait to read more of these!

Editor and writer Lexi Jones has come back to her hometown, Confection, Oregon and is running her parents bookstore and enjoying the book club. Her dog Cookie, that she found on the side of the road on her way back to Confection, is being unfairly accused of digging holes all over town. The Confection Garden Club members of the town are fanatical about their gardens, due to a big prize for the chosen garden and she and Cookie are frowned at. Then Lexi's grumpy next door neighbor is murdered and she is a suspect for that too. Lexi, her two best friends and members of the book club try to solve the murder and clear Lexi's name. This brings her into conflict with Detective Chad Berg, someone she just might be attracted too. The characters are appealing and there is humor too. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lexi, the young, blond and adorable principal character, comes back from Seattle to her natal town, a beautiful fanatic garden town called Confection Oregon.
She takes care of the library " Sweet Fiction" and Club Book " Macarrons" when she enjoys discussing crime books.... until she is involved in a real crime when her neighboor is murderer.

I really enjoyed reading this book, the characters are well defined, the plot is fun, interesting, remantic.. I recommend this book for anyone who likes to begin with the genre Cozy Mystery.
This book is amazing , original, funny, romantic, one of the best I've read in this genre, because plot and principal characters are much more complex and witty than the looks of them.

Tags: Cozy Mystery, garden, dogs, juvenile, amazing

A fun and sweet cozy with good characters. The real star of the show is Cookie, Lexi’s dog. Overall, the mystery is good but it gets a bit mired down about 2/3 of the way through and then picks up at the end again. I would read another story in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Confection, Oregon is as sweet as it sounds. Lexi runs the Sweet Fiction Bookshop, which is packed with readers and visitors taking in one of the never-ending festivals Confection is famous for. Unfortunately no sweet little fictional town is complete without a little pinch of murder.

There were lots of great themes in this book, sweet town, good friends, good food, plenty of romantic opportunities, and of course a sweet rescue dog. The murder victim was the town curmudgeon who had more enemies than friends and finding out who did the dirty deed was like finding a needle in a stack of needles.

The author did a great job of dropping clues and I love it when I figure out a clue in the same scene the main character does, which happened very near the end of this one. The characters are very charming and the setting is wonderful. Considering this is the author's first published book I was very impressed and hope to see a lot more from this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Lexi Jones used to work in publishing until her parents went off on the holiday of a lifetime and left her in charge of their store, the aptly named Sweet Fiction Bookshop, and their monthly book club, the Macaroons, in Confection, Oregon. To her relief It had all been relatively painless until her ever curious pooch, Cookie, found a dead body in the next door garden!

Now the main suspect due to a very public disagreement with her grumpy, irrational, and cantankerous neighbour, Lexi knows it's only a matter of time before the handsome, mysterious detective in charge of the case packs her off to jail. With strange holes appearing nightly in yards all over town being blamed on her beloved Cookie, Lexi is beginning to panic about a positive outcome for either of them.

This is the first book in the Sweet Fiction Bookshop Mystery Series and so there is quite a bit of getting to know you narrative included. Lexi is a good main protagonist without being anything earth shattering but there is the possibility of more investigations and a romance in her future with more than one prospective suitor lined up ready.

Although this is definitely a work in progress the mystery itself was engaging with numerous red herrings and coincidences to work through as well as hints about some potential antagonists for future storylines. I will keep my eyes peeled for book two as I want to like and root for Lexi just a bit more than I was able to this time.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the opinions expressed are my own. This is a good start and I look forward to reading more about Lexi in the future.

Welcome to Confection, Oregon the sweet little town where gardening is to die for! Meet Lexi, owner of the Sweet Fiction Bookshop and her smart but mischievous side kick canine Cookie as they try to stay off the radar of officer Berg & his smoldering gray eyes as the town prepares for its annual gardening competition. Is that Cookie digging near the town's prized rose bush or in the once pristine flower beds around town? No, Cookie may have just dug up a crime scene and a ball of trouble for Lexi and her cast of quirky friends, family and nosey neighbors. Was the town curmudgeon killed to stop him from winning the increased prize money and 1st place yet again? our amateur sleuth has her hands full in this story figuring out the why's to this case in which she is the prime suspect! This story has twists ,turns and a line up of suspects that kept me guessing until the very end. A great read and wonderful start to the Sweet Fiction Bookshop Mysteries and I look forward to more. I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my review..

“Digging Up Trouble” is the first in a new mystery series set around Lexi and her bookstore, Sweet Fiction. Her dog, Cookie, is being blamed by some of the people living in Confection, Oregon of digging holes around the community. When Lexi’s grumpy next door neighbor is killed and Cookie brings Lexi a dirt covered pipe, it doesn’t take long for some of the residents to point the finger at Lexi as the murderer. This would appear to make sense as she had been seen fighting with him the day before. There is no shortage of suspects given that Gil was generally a contrary and annoying person and not many people in the community liked him.

Given the suspect pool, the book keeps you guessing with twists and turns. Was it one of his sons? A neighbor who wanted to win the annual gardening prize? Someone yet unknown? The story was well-written and the characters likeable.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I particularly liked Lexi’s uncles and thought they were funny. While not a fan of love triangles (it was not overt), I can see why Lexi would have passing thoughts of romance regarding Dash (her best friend’s brother) and Detective Berg (who is investigating the death). Both are strong handsome men in her community whom she was interacting with regularly during her investigation. The Macaroons, members of a book club that meets at her bookstore, slowly join forces with her to investigate the death.

I like that the story had plot twists that kept me guessing until the end on who the murderer was. I will admit there were times the manner in which Lexi was investigating was somewhat annoying, but I found that ultimately it was a good thing and really was more in line with an amateur sleuth stumbling around trying to find clues. I really hope there are more in the series to see if anything develops with her friendship with the two men and if her parents come back to take over running the store again. Also, I want to see how Teri’s and Cat’s relationships work out with their boyfriends. Plus the uncles!

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable first installment of the series. At one point while reading I felt like I had missed a previous book, but Googled and this is the first time we meet Lexi and her dog, Cookie. Lexi has a cranky neighbor, and as she is writing a new mystery fiction book, she enjoys murdering him when putting pen to paper. However, when he ACTUALLY turns up dead, the heat is on (for her and her dog) and she feels compelled to find the murderer before SHE gets locked away.

I really enjoyed this book and loved the author's sense of humor. The supporting characters, other than Cookie, I felt needed to be fleshed out a bit more as I didn't feel much of a connection to them, but I did enjoy meeting the possible love interests and starting to get the feel for the little town. I fully expect to read and enjoy the follow up to this first installment! I recommend.

This is a great mystery series that keeps you guessing, I enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more.

Suffers from first in the series growing pains, the bones are good but it still lacks the backbone of the characters to know themselves. It was enjoyable but forgettable.

This was a good start to a new cozy mystery series. Lexi, who runs a bookstore in Confection, Oregon has a dog that is always getting in trouble digging holes all over town. One day he digs up her grouchy neighbor’s body in his back garden and Lexi becomes the number 1 suspect.

I enjoyed this start to the series. It has all the makings I look for in a good cozy: a charming small town, loveable characters and a hint of romance. There was only a little hint of romance in this book but I hold out hope that will develop further in future books. As for the characters and solving the murder mystery, this was down well with lots of suspects to keep you guessing.