This is my first book by Laurie R. King and fortunately it’s a standalone book, and not from one of her series. What a great mystery full of twists and suspense! Old bones are found buried beneath a statue on an old estate that is currently more gardens and museum. The story goes back and forth between present day and the 1970’s when the property had been a commune. Inspector Raquel Laing from the SFPD is searching for the remains of women who may have been killed by a serial killer now on his deathbed. She thinks these bones may be connected to her case. But she’s in for a surprise and so are readers. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

Then was back during the hippie days, now is now. Things on the big estate were so different back in the hippie days. There was a commune and free love, which always leads to trouble. It took me bit to get into this one but once I did I found I liked hearing about the time I just barely got a taste for myself.

Her best yet. Having lived in the Bay Area I was fascinated with the location and characters. She was spot on. Can’t wait to share this one.

The plot of this novel revolves around past crimes and cold cases. The chapters alternate between "then" and "now" to connect the reader to the action and events of the Gardener Estate. It is up to Inspector Raquel Laing to solve the mysteries of the past, while revealing secrets of both past and present. Readers who enjoy "cold case" crime novels (and do not mind the alternating time frames) might find this novel intriguing.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

4.75 Stars
A complicated and detailed story that follows the lives of 2 brothers. Both were raised by a sadistic grandfather. Neither man coveted his vast wealth.. Rob went to Vietnam and when he returned he found himself living on a commune with an energetic and lovely woman named Meadow. Fort went to India to study and meditate and had no interest in material wealth.

After his grandfather's death Rob reluctantly returned to the hated property because the commune was failing. Taking his new found family and friends there save them and he had the added pleasure of how much his grandfather would have hated them living there.
Their story is told in the past and parts of it are still intertwined in the present.

Raquel is trying to piece together a very difficult case of a terminally ill serial killer. Her interrogation skills excel and she is determined to get the names of all of the innocents he murdered before he dies.

Raquel finds herself at the estate of the long gone commune of Robs as a new corpse buried decades ago is unearthed. This is a powerful mystery about the lives of those in the commune that fascinated me. Rob and Fort were central characters that added to this fast paced tale. Raquel at times felt robotic but perhaps that's how she got the job done.

Death, disappointment and amazingly beauty are strewn among the pages of this very recommendable book. Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy for my reading pleasure.

The Gardener Estate was a grand mansion built by a wealthy family in the early 20th century. It played host to film stars and politicians alike over a few decades. Then in the ’70s, a grandson inherited the home from his controlling and cruel grandfather.

After a stint serving in the Army in Vietnam, Robert Gardener had been living in a small commune in Oregon. When he inherited the house, with the stipulation that he had to live there for five years, he ended up bringing the commune with him. The fancy home and gardens, south of San Francisco on the central coast of California, became home to nearly 100 people aiming to live a life of peace, love and equality.

Years later, the commune is long gone and the house has been restored to mostly its earlier splendor. It hosts visitors and tours and serves food grown in the gardens. Now, a large and unusual statue built on the property by a famous feminist artist in the commune years is being restored. When it is moved to start the process, human bones are found hidden beneath it.

Raquel Laing is an inspector with the San Francisco police. She is a bright and detail-oriented investigator, focusing on cold cases. Recently, she’s been involved with the case of a serial killer from that era, who is dying in the hospital. The team is racing to get him to reveal information about all his victims before he dies, though he is stonewalling and taunting them.

When the bones are found at the estate, Raquel sets about trying to figure out if they are the work of the serial killer. She undertakes interviews with workers at the Gardener Estate and anyone still living who was there in the commune days, and she researches all she can about the place.

It’s possible the dying killer was responsible for this body, but it could be unrelated. Either way, Raquel is racing against a ticking clock. Bones being unearthed means the possible coming to light of secrets someone doesn’t want revealed. If it’s not this dying killer, it may be another killer who has successfully stayed hidden for 40 years and doesn’t want that to change now.

Back to the Garden is a solid mystery book that goes between time periods, primarily the present and the ’70s. It follows the stories of the Gardener family, primarily Rob, and that of investigator Raquel. Raquel is a quirky character, a very bright and observant detective who seems to have some autistic traits. She’s not only trained herself to observe so she can solve murders, but to better know how to respond appropriately to those she interviews and works with.

The story largely kept me intrigued, though sometimes I wasn’t as interested in some parts as more of what I would call the “core mystery.” The book spends a good amount of time on fleshing out Raquel’s personality and background, all of which isn’t really crucial to the story. So it felt like it was a combination mystery and character study, all of which was fine and well done but which didn’t hold my interest as much. Overall, interesting reading.

DNF at 50%. I really enjoy the Mary Russell books and was excited to try a stand-alone with different characters from the author. I was intrigued by the premise - investigating a cold case from 50 years ago, possible serial killer, told in alternating timelines. Unfortunately, it just isn’t working for me. I miss the wit and humor of Mary Russell. I read half the book and don’t feel connected to anyone and don’t feel compelled to see how it ends. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

I was super excited to read this book, but for some reason, I just couldn’t get into it. I felt like I was weighed down in the back story and it lessened the excitement of the present day and the big reveal. There were a lot of characters to keep up with. This was just an okay mystery for me. 3 stars ⭐️. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley.

An unexpected delight which I devoured in a single binge. Well developed characters, a fascinating setting, and just enough twists and turns to keep me guessing right up until the end. Highly recommend.

BACK TO THE GARDEN is a mystery that went back and forth in the telling of the story. The chapters are labeled Then or Now. They take us back to the late 60’s and 70’s and then to the present day fifty years later. This is an interesting read, though it did have a few pacing problems that caused me to hesitate while reading. It was sometimes confusing to remember if we were in the past or the present. (Having grown up in that time period, a lot of things mentioned were familiar to me.)

The book begins with the prologue set in Oregon that introduces us to the past and the commune where Rob Gardener was living after returning from the Vietnam War (with little or no respect from his grandfather or others.) Little do the others on the commune realize he comes from money and a prominent family. When the commune moves from Oregon to Rob’s family estate in California, the pace picks up. Many musicians and other figures of the time are featured in the story or mentioned. (It definitely brought back memories for me since I was born in the late 50’s.)

We are introduced to a multitude of characters, and it was often difficult to keep them straight. I initially liked Rob’s love interest, but she became too demanding and thought she held the real power. I didn’t like her treatment of Rob and how she tried to get him to think her way. Rob’s brother plays a more prominent role than I envisioned, though his cousin only had his own interests at heart. Throughout the telling of the story, the family lawyer seemed almost like a chameleon since he seemed to fit in no matter what was going on, often to Rob’s dismay. It was amazing how the commune operated smoothly for the most part and how many things they had going on.

The story had many twists and turns. There were carefree moments along with drug use, free love, children all over the place, and hard work. The story had a good flow for the most part but sometimes seemed choppy when going back and forth to the different time periods.

The Estate’s manager in the present day and the woman who works with the archives to properly catalog the items were both interviewed and asked to help in a police investigation when a body was found under a statue, a body they learn has been there since the late 70’s. Who can it be? From one body there are many more missing bodies that need to be found and identified. Is this the work of a serial killer? When the body is finally identified, it wasn’t who I expected and I didn’t get the closure I was looking for. The story ended abruptly and with loose ends. But I did like the cover, which was sinister looking and fit the story.

Ms. King is a new to me author. I may give one or two of her other books a try.

I rated the book 3.5 stars but rounded to 4 stars here and on other sites.

When old bones are found under a statue on the grounds of a fabulous mansion with a colorful history, a cop on probation wonders if there is a tie to the infamous The Highwayman serial killer from the same period in history.

Laurie R King has been a favorite author since I first devoured the, then released Mary Russell series, Harris Stuyvesant, and the Kate Martinelli series books. King can set up the world of a story and do a deep dive into the personhood and background of her main characters while serving up a steadily paced march to that big suspenseful moment like few others. I was eager to read this latest which I hope doesn’t turn out to be a standalone.

Raquel is a San Francisco police detective who is good at what she does, but stumbles on the social complexities which gets her into trouble so that when the story opens she’s home on leave. She is put on the Highwayman serial killer case that has been unsolved for fifty years. While working that case, a stunning and intriguing investigation turns up when a hippie festival on the grounds of an old hippie compound that was once the Gardener Estate is capped by the finding of skeletal bones under a statue. Raquel gets pulled to work this new investigation that she privately wonders if it has ties to her serial killer. But even she couldn’t predict the outcome once she follows the evidence to the truth of that time in the past.

Back to the Garden is a split time line mystery with Raquel’s investigation in the present and the Gardener brothers and their choice to turn their inheritance into a commune back in the 70’s Robert Gardener had a bad war and came back from Vietnam different which makes him suspect when his girlfriend disappears. But others at the commune go missing when something breaks it up and slowly but surely the answers come for Raquel and the reader. I vaguely remember this period, but I felt the author nailed it and made me feel a tad nostalgic.

I am used to the author’s books sometimes starting slow and ponderous, but it’s been a while since I read one that had the introduction of a new world and characters. I found myself struggling to be interested at times. I did enjoy the cold case investigation skills going on with the police and meeting some of the huge cast of characters. Raquel was okay. I found her imperviousness to social cues made her interesting. Sadly, I was only semi-interested in the past situation though I thought the author wrote the 70’s and the fading hippie culture well. I preferred to stick with the present day investigation mostly because it paced out more swiftly and seemed more relevant at least in the first half.

But, before I have everyone thinking I didn’t like the book, let me say that it picked up for me as it went along. By the end I was figuratively biting my nails and tense enough that I couldn’t put the book down until I made to the surprising finish. I got a big surprise over the statue body and somewhat of a surprise about the serial killer. This was a complete mystery though abrupt, but I could see where this could become a series and wouldn’t mind that in the least. If readers haven’t tried the author or her mysteries in the past, I recommend this one for a chance to see her stuff and already fans won’t want to miss this one.

I have long been a fan of both Laurie King’s masterful writing and her endearingly complex characters. I was immediately drawn to her Mary Russell series and have reread several titles over the years. I was incredibly excited to learn that she had a new release coming that was something entirely new, and Back to the Garden far exceeded any expectations I had. The idea of a 50 year old cold case coming to life in an estate filled with secrets immediately drew me in and took me on a fascinating ride.

Everything was quiet, until the bones turned up. On the hunt for a killer and the identity of his victims, Inspector Raquel Laing begins digging into the colorful history of a historic home in California. In the archives, she begins uncovering a dark family history and the chaos of a commune from the 1970s. As she gets closer to the truth, danger not only lurks in the past, but also in the present day.

This story is told in several points of view and alternating time periods between the present and the past – the investigation and the story of the commune. As Raquel learns more about the last days of her victim trying to connect them to a serial killer, we experience those events first hand from those who lived them. This story is rich in description with Raquel’s Sherlockian attention to detail and uncanny ability to read people. It is a mystery at heart, but also a fascinating exploration of life in the 1970s at a commune. With details from both the first person perspective of the past and also observations of certain characters in present day, our tale unfolds leaving more questions than answers until the end sneaks up on you from out of nowhere. I really hope to see Raquel in future investigations very soon.

Laurie R. King’s <i>Back to the Garden</i> follows two timelines: one, the modern-day investigation by Inspector Raquel Laing of a 50-year-old murder on the Gardener Estate, the fabled mansion and grounds of a thinly veiled version of the Hearsts; the other, the three years in which the hippie scion of the family, Rob Gardener, established a commune there in the early 1970s.

I couldn’t get enough of the sections dealing with Laing, a woman injured both inside and out — by what readers don’t yet know. Unfortunately, the bulk of the novel rambles very, very slowly through the commune heyday. During that time, someone killed a woman and buried her where a very heavy statue was to be placed. So for 50 years, no one even suspected. Laing so reminded me of King’s Kate Martinelli, a San Francisco homicide inspector. I enjoyed that series very much — although not as much as the inimitable Mary Russell series, which shows what a gifted writer King is.

Not that readers will catch more than glimpses of that here. King devotes the bulk of the novel to recounting the minutia of day-to-day living at the Gardener Estate commune that I finally couldn’t make myself care enough to stick with it to find out who the victim was, what became of the commune or how Laing came to be who she is. I’m heartbroken about abandoning this novel halfway; I kept waiting, sure that the pace would finally pick up, but, alas, it never did. I’m such a stan of King’s Mary Russell series, that it pains me to admit how much I disliked this novel. I wish I could have spent more time with Inspector Laing, but not at the price of wading through the tedium of The Commune.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine and Bantam in exchange for an honest review.

I heard Joni Mitchell singing 'Woodstock' in my head every time I read the title - there is a line in it about 'going back to the garden'. I've already read this book at least twice. There are just so many fabulous characters, past and present. The setting dominates the book - it is a huge estate with an imposing mansion and incredibly beautiful gardens, one of the few estates like this still in the hands of a family. The story is told in alternating timelines - back in the past when the estate was home to a commune during the 1970's, the time of brotherly love - and in the present, where a death investigation is taking place for a 40+ year old cold case.

There are so many fabulous characters. Raquel Laing, the inspector who came to do the death investigation in the present day. Meadow and Rob, who started the commune at the estate back in the 70's. Gabbo, the artist who created the sculpture for one of the gardens, and later became famous. Rob Gardiner and his brother Fort, who are the two surviving family members responsible for the estate formerly owned by their father (whom both despised). Rob had returned from Vietnam with a desire to avoid contact with most people. Fort had been living in India for a while in an ashram and had come home to visit Rob when the festival was going on.

There was a big rush to get Gabbo's statue erected so that the concrete could set before the crowds arrived. All the stress of the festival and the thousands of people attending turned out to be a breaking point for the commune, particularly for the two people who held it together - Meadow and Rob. After it was over, the residents started leaving, including Meadow. Fort left also. Rob stayed in his cabin high up on the mountain.

In the present day, some work is being done to stabilize Gabbo's statue. The workmen who removed the statue and busted up the concrete found a body underneath it, in a shallow grave. Rachel Laing is called in to investigate and soon develops her own theory, which I will not give away. Rachel is almost a human lie detector - she watches people to determines their 'tells' when she is questioning them. She is also working a separate case in this book, interviewing a dying man in the hopes of finding a serial killer who had killed hitchhiking women - also back in the 1970's. I sincerely hope Laurie King writes more books with this character.

My thanks to the publisher Bantam Books and NetGalley for the review copy of this book. These are my own opinions.

As a longtime fan of Laurie King's Mary Russell series, I always enjoy her stand-alone stories as well. Back to the Garden is no different! An historic California home with avant-garde art that was a commune in the 1970s, and a murder. Lots of detail, interesting characters and a great Laurie King read.

This was a good read. It kept my attention. Even though it had present and past sections, since they were labeled as such, I didn't get confused like I normally do. I found the characters interesting and the mystery kept me guessing.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb for Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King had me intrigued. I was looking forward to reading this police procedural (it is not a cozy mystery). The book involves an investigation into a cold case, but our investigator is also trying to identify victims of another serial killer before it is too late. The story goes back and forth between the past (in the 70s) and the present. I had trouble with the author’s writing style. She is a descriptive writer which makes the story move slowly. We are introduced to a number of characters. I found Inspector Raquel Laing overshadowed by some of the other characters. Raquel needed more development plus she was boring. The chapters focusing on The Highwayman case were monotonous (they were helpful for my insomnia). I discerned that Raquel is disabled (we are told she uses a cane often enough), she is a lesbian (cue the love interest), she can read micro-expressions (be prepared for mind-numbing details), and she has no qualms about breaking the rules (of course). I did not find her to be a likeable character. There were some characters that were not needed (like the woman who blushed all the time). The 1970s timeline was developed. The author certainly captured the time period and the feel of the era. The mystery was well-done, but it a cinch to solve (before I was a tenth of the way through the book). The mystery is resolved at the end. The ending, though, was abrupt which did not go with the rest of the book (and it felt like it took me years to get to the end). The pacing is agonizingly slow. It does pick up towards the end of the book. The story needed action, suspense, and fewer pages. The story does contain an extensive amount of foul language and crude language (which I found offensive). I struggled to get through Back to the Garden. It is just my type of story. I encourage you to obtain a sample to judge for yourself. Back to the Garden is a police procedural with an extensive estate, strange statues, a dreadful discovery, and a dogged detective.

Inspector Raquel Laing is called in when a human skull is found under an art installation at the Gardener Estate, a vast property once owned by the wealthy and influential Gardener family. Over the years, the estate has been home to the family, a commune and now a trust. Inspector Laing's job is to find who the skull belongs to and how it got there. One suspect is the Highwayman who murdered young girls during the 60's but was never found or identified. The primary suspect for the Highwayman murders is dying and doesn't have much time to tell his story. Rob Gardener, grandson of the estate's original owner, lives on the property but has become a recluse. He was there during the midsummer festival. when the murder was suspected to have happened. Additional characters emerge and some are suspected of the murder. Will Inspector Laing solve the murder before it's too late?
This was a slow starter for me. I had to make myself continue. It was so worth the effort. Laurie King's Inspector Laing has worked her way through the department in spite of being socially awkward. She's learned her lessons and has developed extraordinary interview and investigation skills. She's wonderful to watch and her thought process is especially charming. In fact, I would like to see King develop another series based on her. She and her sister and their quirks could easily carry it off. My thanks to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC. The book went went on sale 9/6/22 and I recommend it!

DNF. I had a hard time getting into this book and the dual timelines didn't really help matters. I was interested in the mystery and those characters in present day. But, then when it went into the past it seemed too slow and I didn't really care much to stick it out.

Back to the Garden is a standalone novel which brings the reader back to the 70s in California. We are introduced to Inspector Raquel Laing as she works her way through a fifty-year-old cold case. The mystery unfolds at a nice pace as the reader learns about the Gardener family and the commune that inhabited the Gardener Estate during the 70s. I found the story fascinating and enjoyed the character development of Raquel Laing. Hopefully we will see more of Inspector Laing in future novels!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Laurie R. King for granting me an advance reader copy of Back to the Garden.