Laurie R. King is best known for her Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes historical detective novels, but I have long preferred her contemporary mysteries. Back to the Garden is her latest of these, and it is excellent. My thanks go to Net Galley and Random House Ballantine for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Our protagonist is Raquel Liang, a detective based in San Francisco. When a long-dead body is found in the garden of the Gardener Estate—a famous mansion and grounds that sound faintly reminiscent of Hearst Castle—Liang, who is working on a task force to find and identify victims of serial killer Michael Johnston, becomes involved in the case.

Rob Gardener is the heir to the estate, and he had clashed often and bitterly with his grandfather before his demise in the 1970s. Upon learning of his windfall, Gardener turned the manse into a commune, with murals on the walls of what were once imposing, grandiose rooms and vegetable gardens where more formal floral ones previously stood. Now the place is being restored, and as gardeners work to clear a thicket of overgrown hedge, a huge statue topples over, exposing the bones of someone long interred there.

Meanwhile, in a hospital in the big city, convicted serial murderer Michael Johnston lies dying. During the same period that the commune reigned, Johnston was spiriting girls and young women off so that he could murder them. Improved technology has provided a number of leads, but the window in which the cops can extract information from the old bastard is rapidly closing. Liang suspects that the body found on the estate, which dates back to the same time that Johnston was slaying women in the area, may be one of his, and so she makes frequent visits to learn as much about the place and its residents, past and present, as possible.
The intriguing bit about this mystery is that the members of the commune, other than Rob himself, didn’t use their birth names, and it makes them tricky to trace. With names like Meadow, Pig, and Daisy, they could be just about anybody. Is one of them the body beneath the statue?

King does a fine job of segueing from past to present and back again, and of juggling a moderately large number of characters. As I read, I never have to flip back to be reminded of who someone is. The reader should know, however, that this is not a thriller. It isn’t written in a way to grab you by the hair and make your pulse pound. The pace is a bit more laid back, but for some of us, that is a pleasure. I never lost interest, and I could read this thing while eating my lunch without gagging.

There’s a good deal of period nostalgia, and so I suspect that the greatest appeal will be to Boomers.
Highly recommended.

“And all the while, Michael Johnston lay in his hospital bed, gloating and festering his way toward the darkness, carrying with him all those unshed secrets. Somehow, he had turned their investigation into a game, a twisted monster’s final amusement.”



Laurie R. King has given us such thrilling stories in her Russell and Holmes series, her Kate Martinelli series, her Stuyvesant & Grey books, and her stand-alones. Now she has a new series starting that features a new lead character, Raquel Laing, and she looks to be another whom readers will want to follow. Back to the Garden is a book that deals with two timelines fifty years apart, going back to the 1970s in California where free lovers and free spirits also became targets for serial killers.

Raquel Laing is an Inspector for the San Franciso Police, currently working in the Cold Cases Unit. She had only been a patrol police-person for six years when she landed a desk in homicide, which many of her co-workers resented. They refer to her a Sherlock, which Raquel hates. But there’s no denying how good she is at her job, and her mentor, Al Hawkin (of Kate Martinelli series fame), has brought her onto his Cold Cases team. She has great intuitive skills; she can read people and tell if they’re truthful or not. It’s not magic, just good detecting. Although her social skills are lacking, sometimes sidestepping the leading up to and finishing touches of a conversation, Raquel can cut through the deception of a suspect or criminal and get results.

And, it’s Raquel’s detecting skills that her boss Al Hawkin is sorely in need of in finding a serial killer. When the killer is revealed through Raquel’s acute observational skills (a fascinating observation), a new urgency arises. The Highwayman, the name given to this particular serial killer, is currently in a hospital bed near death, and Al’s cold case department is working hard to get locations and names of at least nineteen victims. Despite her lack of social graces, or maybe because of it, Raquel is the only one who can communicate with him effectively at all. The killer thrills at remembering how he snuffed out the life of the young women and shows no remorse even as he’s dying.

The Gardener Estate and its mansion has long been a source of curiosity for people. Its history includes a struggle between the older generation and the younger of what its legacy should be. The Gardener brothers Rob and Fort were raised by their grandfather and their great-grandmother on the estate to be the suitable heirs. The problem was that neither brother wanted to carry on a legacy or be like their grandfather in any way. So, Rob went off to fight in Viet Nam in the early 1970s and Fort went to India to learn a new way of life.

Back from Vietnam, Rob was at a commune in Oregon when he heard his grandfather had died and left him the estate. So, in what must have had his grandfather spinning in his grave, Rob takes the commune he’s in from Oregon to California to make the Gardener mansion their new home. Fort even joins him after a bit, as it is part of Fort’s spiritual journey. The commune called The Commons is successful for four years, and artists, such as famous singers and sculptors visit at times. One sculptor who was particularly interested in putting her mark on the estate was Gaddo, famous enough to just have one name.

Returning to present day, the Gardener Estate is open to the public, with an estate manager and archivist, and people take tours to see both the glamorous parts of its beginnings and the transformational parts of the commune years. One point of pride for the manager of the estate, Jen Bachus, is the restoration of the gardens. It’s in the upkeep of the gardens where a problem appears in a Gaddo statue. It’s in danger of toppling over, so it will have to be removed, concrete base and all, to have work done. Its removal reveals a secret from 50 years ago, when the statue of three Eves was erected on that spot. Under the concrete is a skull with blonde hair attached. The skeleton under concrete fits the pattern of the Highwayman serial killer, so Raquel is sent to investigate.

The story is divided into “Then” and “Now” chapters, and both timelines are engaging. As the 70s saw me graduate from high school, graduate from college, and get married. I relished the visit to my younger days, connecting to the many references and allusions of the “then” chapters. Early seventies, it was still a time of hippies and communes and free love. By the end of the seventies those were fading out some. But, the Gardener Estate saw four years of this testing of a different way of life, and readers of this book will get a taste of it, learning that even in a free spirit type of existence there were leaders, certain people/characters who kept things running. In getting to know the characters who, along with Rob and his partner Meadow, kept the commune going, readers will start to dread who of them, if any, might be the skeleton found.

The “Now” timeline is a more tense one, as time itself is running out for the victims and their families to find closure from the tragic deaths of the young women. Raquel Laing is indefatigable in her pursuit for justice, and her scenes with the serial killer, Michael Johnston, haunt her, as well as the reader. While she’s trying to get locations and names from the monster who controls the information, she is majorly involved in trying to determine if the Gardener Estate skeleton is one of the Highwayman’s and who it is.

There is a large cast of characters in this story, from both the “then” and the “now”. The reader is privy to multiple points of view and as Detective Laing is gathering information in her interviews with different people, the reader will be gathering clues and revelations for an explanation and resolution of events, too. One of the characters who gives a birds-eye view of the commune days is the estate lawyer, Jerry Rathford. Through the early days of him delivering the news to Rob of his grandfather’s death and Rob’s inheritance, Jerry is a reliable part of the timeline from the transformation of the Gardener Estate from palatial mansion to commune to a landmark historical spot. Jerry’s recollections of his visits to the commune introduces readers to many of the commune members.

The character of Raquel Laing remains a rather enigmatic one throughout the book, and in a recent discussion of the book by the author, she said that’s how she intended it. It’s interesting to hear authors talk about their characters, as so many authors say they listen to their characters, waiting for them to reveal their personality and thoughts. According to Laurie King, Raquel played things very close to the vest, not even revealing how her leg got injured, which has caused her to use a cane. And yet, readers will be able to ascertain much about Raquel by her actions. We know for certain that she cares deeply about obtaining justice for the victims and closure for families. She even shows some personal information in connection with her slow-burning attraction to someone in the story. But, she is a deliberate, thinking person who is not prone to impulsive behavior. Her physical appearance suggests a no-nonsense, no-frills person—"Small, tough looking, but with the most extraordinary eyes, a sort of translucent amber color… the rest of her was the very opposite of showy: cropped hair, no makeup, “a teal shirt with rolled-up sleeves, khaki pants, sturdy walking shoes, and a cane.”

Back to the Garden is a chilling tale, a time of change in what had always been and the aftermath of how it wasn’t all flowers in your hair love. It’s a police procedural that takes some turns away from what’s legal, but the process is fascinating. Laurie King has taken me on so many amazing adventures and down so many dark roads of twisted suspense, and this book can take its place proudly in her repertoire. I’m delighted with the new character of Raquel Laing, and I am looking forward to learning more about her. King has stated that she hopes to keep the “then” and “now” format to this series, and that suits me fine. There are lots of interesting threads to the world of Raquel, and there’s no one better to explore those than Laurie King.

I am always appreciative of the level of research King brings to her work. Any time I read a LRK book, I enjoy learning what she's learned while also trying to solve the mystery. I was also excited to get to know this new detective, Raquel Laing-- at first it took me a while to warm up to her but I am super curious to learn more about her past and see where she goes next!

Sitting down to write this review and I'm still finding my thoughts drifting to this book.

A slow start for me, but I think I was just busy in life and couldn't get my brain to focus on the book in hand. But quickly, this book picked up.

Inspector Raquel Laing is haunted by a cold case. Well, not just one, but several. After finally finding a connection between the cases and the serial killer responsible is on death's door. But Laing has found a way to taunt The Highwayman into revealing all his victims.

But now bones have been discovered underneath a sculpture at a local estate and Raquel Laing is tasked with finding the connection - is this the work of The Highwayman? As Raquel interviews the people who lived at the estate during the 1970s the reader is taken back in time to when the estate served as the communal home for a hippie "family."

The back and forth between past and present keeps the story moving and your attention. I really didn't suspect the killer/victim reveal and loved the climatic end to this story. I really connected with the author's characters and writing style and very much look forward to checking out her other books!

This book synopsis resonated with me because of the cold case involved. While I enjoyed the story, I found that the narrator in the book repeated sentences several times and it dragged on. I wish that there was more background on the detective in the story as she is the narrator and I didn't really get to know her. I'd be open to trying another book by this author.

This one was just too slow for me. I couldn’t get into it due to the style of writing. I think this one is more of a slow burn that requires patience, something that I just don’t have at the moment! The premise is unique and I did find myself surprised by the twist and turns.

A most enjoyable read for me, "Back to the Garden" is Laurie King's newest novel. A new female detective is investigating the discovery of human remains beneath a lawn statue that has been disturbed. Could this be another victim of the serial killer, "the Highwayman?" It was very easy to draw parallels to Charles Manson and the murders his gang of killers. A wealthy estate owner in California, hosting a former hippie cult from the 70's, military background, etc. My thanks to NetGalley and the author for a complimentary copy of this work.

A face paced mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat but predictable at times. I was having a hard time with the story keeping my attention. This may be for a different kind of reading audience.

This was, unfortunately, a DNF for me. While I appreciated the idea for the story, and the setting and concept were very interesting, the pacing was just off. It felt like it took me a week to get to the halfway point and I just found myself not caring about anyone involved due to the lack of urgency.

This was a very interesting story about an estate that had belonged to a very wealthy family that was turned into a commune after the figurehead of the family died and the grandson inherited the property. It was only a commune for 4 years but during that time the look of the estate was dramatically changed. The story is of the estate after it has become part of a trust and a tourist attraction and a murder victim was discovered on the property. I will say that I did enjoy the murder mystery but part of me was sad that the original condition of the estate was so drastically altered by the commune. I prefer my historical buildings to be preserved in their original state. Read through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Back to the Garden is a wonderful mystery told through past and present narratives.

A famous artist, a former ‘70’s commune now a sprawling estate, unearthed bones that are possibly linked to a serial killer! It’s perfection.

When bones are found on the sprawling Gardener Estate in Ca, cold case detective Raquel Laing is brought in to investigate to see if it is linked to a former serial killer. Delving into the past of the Gardener estate brings the history of this place to life, its commune days and its demise. How the people who called it home in the 70’s disbursed, and whose body could have been left behind.
The back and forth narrative between past and present is elegantly balanced and engaging. Both stories hold their own. It was a wonderful read.

3.5 The wealthy Gardener Family in California, living on a massive estate with beautiful gardens & famous statues holds a 50 year mystery - a cold case murder! The patriarch of the family died leaving his estate to a few family members yet the estate became a hippie commune where people came and went freely. Years past and today it is back to a beautiful "Eden", selling tickets to the public to see the gorgeous gardens. During a renovation, one of the statues is moved and a human skull with long hair is found. Inspector Raquel Laing is called in to investigate, suspecting it might be the infamous serial killer known as The Highwayman. As she investigates, the story switches back and forth between Then and Now. Although the story was a bit long in the telling, the mystery left me guessing until the end. I did have my suspicions about who it was, but the story played out very well!

A once-grand California estate gains attention when human remains are found during the move of a mysterious three-headed sculpture which had been placed on the estate many years ago. The current owner of the estate, Rob Gardener, has been a hermit living in a cabin on the estate for over 40 years. When Rob inherited the estate in the 1970s, it came with some restrictions, but Rob forged ahead and turned the estate into a commune of love and peace, and growing as much of their food as possible in their expansive gardens. A large festival was planned around the reveal of the three=headed sculpture that didn't go as planned essentially bringing the end of the commune. Many people disappeared that night including Rob's longtime girlfriend. Inspector Raquel Long is brought in to investigate because she's been on the case of a serial killer from the 1970s. Raquel has a unique way of investigating to get the results she desires. The serial killer is on his deathbed so Raquel is racing against time to solve the case. Back to the Garden is fast-paced and told through different points of views. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and had to find out what happened. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read the ARC of Back to the Garden.

I had never read a book by Laurie R. King before, but the cover and synopsis of Back to the Garden hooked me. The story follows two timelines: the modern-day investigation by Inspector Raquel Laing into a 50-year-old murder on the Gardener Estate which may be tied to a serial killer known as The Highwayman; and a small period of time in the past in which Rob Gardener, the grandson, establishes a hippie commune there in the early 1970s. Could the dead body be associated with the commune? Did The Highwayman commit this murder too?

Overall, I could appreciate the layers of the central mystery, but this book was just way too slow for me. There wasn't much suspense and despite a sloth like pace to the finish line the ending felt a bit rushed. If this turns out to be the start of a series, I probably won't be checking out the rest of it as I didn't get invested in Laing as a character.

Rating: 2 stars - my version of "meh"

Special thanks to @netgalley for the ARC of Back to the Garden for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

I really liked the premise of the story and the characters. The writing was good, but I did not like this book as well as the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Series. I liked the details in the writing but felt there were too many descriptions for a contemporary mystery. I liked having the chapters rotate between the perspectives of the characters, but not sure if the flashbacks to the past helped the story move forward. I thought the story really picked up after Raquel explains her role in the investigation. It gave the story more purpose. I really liked the ending of the story. It was very action filled.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A body is discovered buried under a huge sculpture on the grounds of Gardener mansion, which 50 years ago was transformed by its Vietnam-vet heir from stately single-family home into a commune and is now in the hands of a professional restoration team cataloguing its art and history. Inspector Raquel Laing suspect that the body might represent another victim of the Highwayman, a serial killer already in custody and nearing death of natural causes. He has been toying with the police, refusing to divulge information about any additional victims except tit-for-tat, one new revelation for every known victim Raquel reveals to him. With the killer’s health failing, time is running out for Raquel and her team to determine the identities of his other victims. The story dives into the family tensions between the controlling old patriarch and the counterculture of his resentful sons. We learn of these past resentments while following the present-day criminal investigation. As always, the author delivers an expert sense of time and place, this time not the genteel days of Mary Russell but the freewheeling hippie era. After the initial discovery of the body, things build slowly; the suspense kicks in as Raquel begins to put all the pieces together later in the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for a digital advance review copy.

Kudos to Laurie King and her storytelling skills. She's put an unexpected twist on old money, hippies and detectives in "Back to the Garden." If you hear Joni Mitchell's voice in the background as you read this novel, there's a reason. Two brothers escaped their grandfather's monetary hold over time years ago, but Rob finds his way back to the gardens of the old estate. Now, the gardens are part of a trust with visitors coming far and wide to visit the estate. When a statue is moved, old bones are found, and detective Raquel Laing thinks they belong to another victim of a serial killer. The killer is dying, and Laing is trying to put names to his victims so their families can know. The novel goes back and forth, past and present, giving voice to those who wanted to fight the establishment, live off the land and enjoy sunshine and rainbows. Don't get me wrong - this is a dark story where innocence is lost forever. It's a story that's indeed a page-turner.

I love Laurie R. King’s writing - she knows how to tell story in a quiet, considered way and she creates characters you get to know and care about and root for - even when they make bad choices, you’re in their corner because you get their “why”. The story switches between a modern day manor house turned museum and stories about the house’s former lives as a mansion and a commune. As it unfolds, you get to know the commune members, understand their motivations, and see everything hurtling toward the end. At the same time, you’re cheering for Raquel, a cop hurt in the line of duty who is dealing with her own issues and solving cold cases with her brilliant ability to read people. Yes, she isn’t doing things the right way and her sister clearly has depths we’re not getting here. Yes, right now cops feel a little unreliable. But wow, do you want her to keep doing what she does, and maybe find some happiness with Jen (museum director and unofficial tour guide) along the way. There’s so much more I can see coming for these three strong female characters, and I really hope this becomes a series so I can get to know them all better.

This was 50% mystery thriller, 50% descriptions of botanicals, the mansion, and wasted time taking us back in time to scenes that could have just been summarized in a present day conversation. Lol but the mystery part of this really was excellent and intriguing. I still recommend!

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group for a free digital galley in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed this so much I'm gonna buy it.

The writing made me actually feel like I was there. The estate reminded me of Hearst Castle here in California. Having it be so remote but so breathtaking reminded me of the estate in the book. This was my first book by Laurie R. King and I'm hooked. Please write more about Inspector Raquel Laing. She was so interesting and the only one I didn't want to shake.