I enjoyed this mystery! It is full of family secrets and trauma. And then they find a body under a statue. And all sorts of speculations begin. Even a serial killer, and he is a main narrator…y’all need to check this out!

Laurie R. King's "Back to the Garden" is a highly entertaining read that offers an escape into the 1960s. Sarah, a police officer who is working to identify the victims of a serial killer, discovers a collection of old letters, finding a mystery that spans two timelines. Through. combination of history, mystery, and romance, there's something for all readers in this engaging story.

I really enjoyed this book. Usually when a book goes back and forth between different times I get bored with one but this book I was equally engrossed in both the now and then parts. I hope that this becomes a series as I really enjoyed and would like to know more about Raquel.

This just didn't work for me. I thought it sounded good but I found it quite boring. I wanted more detective work and less back story.

Per the norm, Laurie R King has written a wonderful novel. I enjoyed the story, meeting new characters and the description of the environment. I always feel like I can glance over and see what’s being talked about. I’ve enjoyed every single novel from her and can’t wait for the other.

A fast-paced cold case investigation blending fact and fiction perfectly together to make a well-balanced interesting read.


I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Laurie R. King's "Back to the Garden" offers an escape into the counterculture movement of the 1960s. Sarah, a police officer attempting to identify the victims of a serial killer, discovers a collection of old letters within an ancient redwood, unraveling a mystery that connects two timelines. The novel expertly weaves together history, mystery, and romance, immersing readers in the spirit of rebellion, love, and self-discovery. Though the constant shifts between eras might be confusing at first, the connections that emerge draw you into the story.
"This is a well-crafted novel that transports readers to a time of immense societal change. The characters are brilliantly developed, and the exploration of the counterculture movement is vividly portrayed. King's prose and pacing keep the narrative engaging, and the themes of love, loss, and heritage resonate deeply.
In summary, "Back to the Garden" is a beautifully written novel. Laurie R. King's exceptional storytelling captures the essence of the 1960s, and the characters' intertwined destinies provide an enchanting puzzle to solve. This thought-provoking journey into the past reminds us of the importance of understanding history and its impact on the present.

A body is found under a toppled statue on the Gardener Estate. Presumably, the body was buried there 50 years ago when the statue was erected for Midsummer's Eve and may be connected to a serial killer cold case. Roquel Laing is a San Francisco Police Department investigator who is known for her profiling and behavioral analysis skills. While on modified duty following a knee injury, she is assigned to the Cold Case Unit and begins working with an unofficial group of police detectives trying to solve the "Highwayman" murders. With the discovery of a new body and the prime suspect in the murders dying, Roquel must work quickly to determine if this body is one of his 19 victims.

The ebook and hardback editions of Back the Garden by Laurie R. King came out last fall, but it is now available in paperback. If this book became buried on your to-read list or you prefer to read paperbacks, now is the time to pick it up.

I found the plot a little slow to get into, but as we learn more about the commune in the 1970s and the serial killer investigation of present day the more enthralled I became in the story.

The story is told in alternating timelines - then (the 1970s) and now (present day).

In the 1970s, the Gardener Estate was in private ownership and a stipulation of the inheritance was that the grandson had to live on the estate for 5 years. Rob, a Vietnam vet, had joined a commune in Oregon by the time his grandfather died. The group decided to relocate the commune to the estate with the understanding that after the 5 year period, the estate would become the property of the commune. Yet, just a few months short of the 5 year mark the commune began unraveling and it all started with the festival on Midsummer's Eve.

Now, a foundation runs the estate as a public garden. Rob and his cousin David still serve on the board but don't have much to do with the day-to-day operations. Rob lives a mostly secluded life in a cabin in a wooded section of the estate.

While this does not read like a romantic suspense there are some subtle romantic vibes between Raquel and the estate manager Jen. The book is much more about the mystery though.

Raquel is an interesting character. Right now Back to the Garden is a stand-alone novel. Yet, there is plenty more that can be explored with character as I felt we barely scratched the surface as to who she is.

This is the first book by Laurie King I've read. I was initially drawn to the novel because I've read a few books about gardens and enjoyed them. The garden didn't feature as heavily as I had hoped - it was more of a setting than a piece of the plot. Yet, the mystery of the body was intriguing enough to keep me reading.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Wednesday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2023/07/back-to-garden-by-laurie-r-king-review.html

This book had multiple POVs that alternated between present and past. There were multiple plot points happening and they were all equally intriguing.

I loved how there were two mysteries: who was the person buried beneath the statue and what was the deal with the serial killer in the hospital. Were the two connected? What was the motive? There were a ton of unanswered questions at the start of the book and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened.

I also really love when the backdrop of a mystery is a mansion and large estate of land - it makes it that much more enticing and intriguing. The house almost becomes another character in the story.

The book was a bit confusing at first, with the different Gardener men and the entire backstory of the family but once you get your bearings, the story flows a bit more. The back and forth of the past, present and different POVs also threw you off but like with the characters, once things settle down you can follow the story more.

The writing was really wonderful - it required you to read between the lines a little bit which added a layer of depth and intrigue while also pumping up the mystery.

As the story continues and you start reading everything through Raquel's eyes, the plot starts to form and your questions have more questions. It isn't until the very end that the real truth about everyone - the Gardener estate and the Highwayman, come to light. It wasn't what you expected, though I had a bit of an inkling of how the story was going to end up.

It was very exciting, very intriguing and interesting, and kept you on the edge of your seat, even when things were a little slow at times.

If you're not a fan of traditional thrillers, I think you would like this. It has a bit of everything and makes for a great story.

As a Bay Area native I wanted to love this one so much. But it was soooo slow. I couldn’t even finish the arc and ended up waiting for the audio book. Great setting and enjoyed the history aspects. But waiting until almost the end to reveal who the bones actually were, it just didn’t have me invested. Lackluster overall.

Back to the Garden is a fast-paced investigation into a fictional 1970s cold case. Inspector Raquel Laing is in trouble for cooperating with some social justice-minded hackers on a previous case. Relegated to cold cases for the foreseeable future, she's been trying to find all the victims of a 1970s serial killer before he dies. The details of the case come out in pieces over the course of the story, which adds to the suspense and drama. When a skeleton matching the killer's profile and time frame is uncovered under a statue at an estate turned commune turned museum, Raquel steps in to investigate in the hopes that it's one of the missing victims in her case. Through flashbacks, we learn about the wealthy Gardner family and how their rebellious heir turned the sprawling grounds into a commute in the 1970s. In its last year, a midsummer music festival unexpectedly marked the beginning of the end for the group, and it turns out it was the backdrop for a murder.

In the present, I love that Raquel is seemingly neurodivergent, gets the first flutterings of a sapphic romance, uses a mobility aid from a work-related injury, and is a woman of color. I was less enamored with the fact that she seemed to be only vaguely coded as a person of color instead of firmly grounded in a culture and identity. Raquel's approach to her work is compelling, and I especially appreciated some difficult decisions she has to make towards the end that affect her career. I am wildly curious about what she'll pursue next and would love to read another mystery with her at the helm.

In the historical part of the plot, I was fascinated by the culture of the commune and its space in history. I liked that the author was quick to point out that it wasn't a diverse group of people. White, young, and middle-class, they had the freedom to try something with the comfort of a family safety net. Their high, utopic ideals had some positive components but didn't make space for the difficulties of reality. It's an interesting thought experiment beyond the mystery at work. I wish that the author's way of acknowledging the race and class privileges of her characters had extended to a white character who went to India to learn meditation and let it become his whole persona. A comment about the cultural appropriation there and in the hippie movement as a whole would have made the historical plot more grounded and self-aware. There's also some interesting conversation about how sexuality was addressed. While "free love" was embraced at the commune, one character notes that people were accepting of queer people almost to make a point and prove how liberal they were. So while I think the characters' behavior fits their background and era, I think the commentary side was stronger in some areas more than others.

I was making wilder and wilder guesses about the case by the end of the book. I guessed some things and was miles off base on others, so it was a nice combination. I flew through reading this book and would recommend it to other mystery lovers with just the few caveats I mentioned here. Thanks to Bantam for my copy to read and review!

I enjoyed this standalone from Laurie King. I will admit that the old case was more interesting to me than much of what was happening in the modern setting, but she really did a great job of bring the home (the building itself) to life. Some really great characters and I loved seeing the diversity presented.

I have read a couple of books by Laurie R. King (two of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novels) and enjoyed them, so when I saw she had a standalone novel, I wanted to read it.

Back to the Garden is a dual timeline story, the earlier story revolving around a commune in California on the grounds of a mansion in the late 1970s. The modern story involves a detective working on cold cases, partly at least due to a knee injury (which is never explained) and partly because of some trouble she’d gotten herself into with the San Francisco Police Department (also never explained). She’s working on a cold case involving a serial killer dubbed The Highwayman, who was active in the late 1970s, when bones are discovered on the grounds of the former commune.

Unfortunately, I found the book rather boring. This was almost a DNF for me, but I skimmed and got to the end that way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book, even though I’m quite late to it. All opinions are my own.

started too slow and seemed to take too long to get to it, but then it was good. I am not a huge fan of this author so all her books have felt the same to me.

This one was a little slow for me. An “okay” dual timeline mystery. I appreciated the opportunity to receive a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a solid mystery and well written. I wasn't sure, at first, if I'd be able to finish it, it was a slow starter for me, but it turned out to be ok. It was based on a cold case murder and a body that was found in an old hippie commune. Enter SFPD inspector, Raquel Laing, who had to try and get information about the crime from an inmate dying of cancer. Good characters, plot kept me going once I got through the first 1/4. Thankful for the ARC!

Back to the Garden is an atmospheric and brilliantly written standalone mystery thriller by Laurie R. King. Released 6th Sept 2022 by Penguin Random House on their Bantam imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

Fans of the author already know that she's prolific, competent (often shading into sublime), and genuinely talented with setting and characterization. There are times during reading when the only appropriate response is to close the book, look into the middle distance, and ponder what one has just read. This book is more prosaic in subject and character than her well known Holmes & Russell books, but no less engaging and entertaining.

From the prologue chapter to the gradual buildup of layers (and intervening years) of a resurrected cold case investigation, through to the satisfying denouement and resolution, the author does a masterful job with the writing. Rough(ish) language, but average for a procedural mystery. Some graphic violence (bludgeoning deaths, sexual murders, serial killer, etc), but again, not used egregiously.

Four solid stars. Hope the author revisits the characters in future.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Back to the Garden and back to the 70's. A mansion turned commune, populated with idealism and mystery. This is a Now/Then novel that shifts effortlessly between the two time periods because it's written by a master. Laurie King does a fine job keeping us in the present loop as she fills in the back story. The 70's commune era was very well depicted and the characters, while many, were clearly identified. One does not get lost back here, as in some books. In fact, that was my favorite part of the book. The current storyline and characters were less appealing, although I must say that I'm intrigued by Raquel Laing and would definitely read the next book in the series to see where she lands.
I like the author and enjoy this type of mystery, but I will admit that I found this slow going initially. I'm glad I didn't give up on it, as the story does pick up half way through.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC of Back to the Garden by Laurie King.

Laurie King is a master of mystery so I jumped at the chance to read this. It surprised me because in this modern day of ACAB, the main character, a police detective, was written well. King doesn't glorify cops breaking rules like some other authors do.

Also, I generally hate books about hippies but again I found King's portrayal of the hippie community to realistic yet bearable.

Overall this was quite a good book and even though mystery isn't one of my main genres, I quite liked it.

Full disclosure, not only did I get this on net Galley (Thanks to Net Galley and the Publisher) but King is a friend if my family. But if I hated the book I wouldn't have let that stop me from dragging it. But with Laurie King I knew it was going to be quality.

Rating : 4 out of 5
Blurbs :
A magnificent house, vast formal gardens, a golden family that shaped California, and a colorful past filled with now-famous artists: the Gardener Estate was a twentieth-century Eden.

And now, just as the Estate is preparing to move into a new future, restoration work on some of its art digs up a grim relic of the home’s past: a human skull, hidden away for decades.

Inspector Raquel Laing has her work cut out for her. Fifty years ago, the Estate’s young heir, Rob Gardener, turned his palatial home into a counterculture commune of peace, love, and equality. But that was also a time when serial killers preyed on innocents—monsters like The Highwayman, whose case has just surged back into the public eye.

Could the skull belong to one of his victims?

To Raquel—a woman who knows all about colorful pasts—the bones clearly seem linked to The Highwayman. But as she dives into the Estate’s archives to look for signs of his presence, what she unearths begins to take on a dark reality all of its own.

Everything she finds keeps bringing her back to Rob Gardener himself. While he might be a gray-haired recluse now, back then he was a troubled young Vietnam vet whose girlfriend vanished after a midsummer festival at the Estate.

But a lot of people seem to have disappeared from the Gardener Estate that summer when the commune mysteriously fell apart: a young woman, her child, and Rob’s brother, Fort.

The pressure is on, and Raquel needs to solve this case—before The Highwayman slips away, or another Gardener vanishes.

Thoughts :
I like this book, this is a mystery thriller book with a likable FMC, Raquel Laing. This is full of mystery and twists. I love it. Not a fan of the ending but again, it's enjoyable so I gave this book a 4 stars.
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!