With the opening of the community garden, Maggie has been busy. But when her friend, and coordinator of the garden, Violet doesn't show up, things start to go,downhill quickly. First, Maggie finds a dead body in the community garden, then no one can find Violet. Unable to keep her nose out of things, Maggie begins her own investigation and puts herself and her friends at risk. This was a great book for garden lovers and cozy mystery fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gardener's Plot by Deborah J. Benoit is exactly what I love in a cozy mystery! A simple, but fun murder mystery always does the trick for me. It was so, so easy to jump into this story and immediately be immersed. I never got bored and I always wanted to pick it back up to see what would happen next. Sign me up for more books like this, please!!

The Gardener's Plot is available now. Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for my e-arc!

The Gardener's Plot was a cozy little mystery to curl up with. However, I didn't care about gardening as much as I thought, so it didn't keep my interest the whole time. If you like gardening and a nice side of mystery, this book is for you! There were a ton of different plot points, and at some points, the book didn't feel cohesive, and hard to root for some characters. Overall, I liked the characters, and the idea of the book.

This was such an adorable story! I have recommended it to so many friends. The premise was lovely and I liked the characters.

Maggie is back in the Berkshire's after inheriting her grandmother's home (actually she had to buy it from her cousins after the reading of the will, it comes up later in the book) and since she is essentially a master gardener her plan is to work with the community on their garden. While working with Violet, the queen of everything, they are set to open the garden but then Violet comes up missing. As Maggie opens the garden and the participants set to start planting, oopsie, they discover a body already planted in the garden. Where is Violet, who is the body, who is targeting Maggie and causing mischief? So many questions and Maggie seems to be at the center. Oh, and when her nasty cousin shows up with his hands out and throwing out warnings could he have something to do with everything or just coincidence?

This was such a cozy mystery. I loved the aspect of gardening, and Maggie was such a likeable character. The twists were well thought out, and I felt like it was a quick read overall.

Unfortunately, this story fell flat for me. There was too much talk about actual gardening that did not hold my interest and not enough intrigue to pull me in to the murder mystery. I dnf'd this about 25% in. Someone who likes gardening might find this more enjoyable than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.

I do enjoy a cozy mystery, but this one had too many plot points that felt convenient, and it was difficult to really root for the characters. I did like the gardening theme.

The Gardener's Plot is a cozy mystery set in the Berkshires. Maggie Walker's soon-to-be ex-husband is killed in a pedestrian accident, so she takes his life insurance money and moves to the Berkshires to take care of her grandmother. When the grandmother passes, Maggie buys the home and property, much to the anger of her cousin, Simon. Maggie meets Violet Bloom (Yes, it is a cozy mystery.) and helps her plan the new community garden. On opening day, Violet is a no-show, and the body of a local greedy real estate agent is found planted in one of the community plots. The novel involves Maggie's amateur sleuth skills, along with her next door neighbor, Sally, who is always ready for consultation with a glass of wine or a gin and tonic. The Gardener's Plot involves small town gossip and aging middle school mean girls. Recommended for fans of the genre.

The Gardener's Plot by Deborah J. Benoit is a wonderful mystery novel. It has a little bit of everything— a missing garden director, a dead body found in the garden, a family estate being contested. This book feels like a cozy mystery and readers of this genre will enjoy the quirky characters and their past histories. Mystery readers won’t be able to put down this whodunnit. Pieces of the mystery keep emerging at regular intervals and there’s even some action, more than most cozy mystery novels. I really enjoyed this book. It made me nostalgic and reminded me of watching Murder She Wrote growing up. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

The Gardener's Plot is a well written, engaging debut cozy mystery by Deborah J. Benoit. Released 5th Nov 2024 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's Press imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats (paperback due out in early 4th quarter 2025). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

Garden themed small town cozy. It's full of the quirky characters, gardening trivia, and small-town drama that readers expect. The murder mystery is self contained in this volume, and there are overarching character development threads which suggest this will be the first of a series.

It's a debut effort, and as such, it's not as polished and doesn't feel as complete as a series standing on its own merits with 5+ books extant. Worth a look for readers who enjoy garden themed cozy mysteries with female amateur sleuths. (MC Maggie is bloody lucky she will be *around* for book two, but it's not too farfetched for the genre average overall). The characterization is not highly developed, but hopefully the author will revisit the background in future volumes.

The denoument and resolution are, again, quite outlandish but not -way- too much for the genre. Readers should come equipped with a robust suspension of disbelief.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 8 hours 38 minutes and is capably read by Patricia Santomasso. She has a professionally trained neutral Middle-Atlantic accent reading voice without intrusive quirks. Warm, but unobtrusive. She does characters of both sexes and a range of ages seamlessly. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

This would be a good choice for public library acquisition, or for fans of garden themed cozies.

Three and a half stars.

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

The Gardner's Plot is an entertaining cozy mystery. The setting and characters really make the story, I have an ARC but for some reason I forgot to review it. It's a quick, easy, enjoyable book. If it's not the start of a series it should be.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my review copy.

“A woman helps set up a community garden in the Berkshires, only to find a body in one of the plot's on opening day.”

Meet amateur sleuth and master gardener Maggie Walker who finds herself in a tricky position of hunting for a killer before more harm is done. Fans of cozy mysteries set in small-towns and lovers of gardening will enjoy this fast-paced new mystery. I grabbed this on audio and it was a quick listen. I didn’t immediately warm up to Maggie, but enjoyed her company by the end and felt like I understood her more. A fun-spring time read.

I enjoyed this read I love that Maggie the narrator lives next door to one of her best friends. The small community shares the familiar dynamic of Everyone knows everyone else's business is relatable and endearing.
The community garden started by Maggie and Violet gave the book a sense of community. When Violet does not arrive at opening day the reader feels like you need to know where this friend is.
Fun read.

I love gardening and cozy mysteries so this was the perfect book for me. It even made me look into composting! I enjoyed the characters and the various conflicts going on throughout the story.

I've already recommended this book to a few friends who share similar interests.

The Gardener’s Plot is (hopefully) the first book I’ve read by Deborah J. Benoit. The mystery itself seemed engaging enough, particularly because it uses a community garden as the main crime scene. Guessing the murderer was also fun and not as easy as I thought it would be. While I did enjoy the characters, things got a bit confusing at times. It would have been nice to see them more flushed out, but they were still interesting. Overall, I found the story to be a good one. It’s a book I would recommend for those interested in a cozy mystery where the setting serves as its own character, the mystery is engaging, and the story is a quick read.

I loved the idea of a mystery with some gardening! The book cover immediately drew me in. I really enjoyed the dual story lines

Cozy mysteries have a special place in my heart. This is such a charming story, though it deals with a murder. Small-town sleuths motivate me to devour a story. This was so well written, and I loved the use of deduction.
I am not a gardener, and I don't enjoy playing in the dirt, but I did enjoy this story and the characters. A good cozy is such a palette cleanser, and after some of the thrillers I've been reading, this was the perfect sprinkle of humor, charm, intrigue, and mystery. If you like a well-done " who did it" without the weight of a thriller, this is the perfect balance.

I enjoyed this. Some of the characters ran together, and I had a hard time keeping them straight. I would continue reading more if it was a series.

This is the first book by this author that I have read. I enjoyed it very much. Maggie is back in Marlowe, the town where she has many fond memories. She loves to garden and is trying to settle into the community. What better way than to help Violet Bloom establish a community garden. However, on the day of the grand opening, Violet is nowhere to be found. What is found is a body buried in one of the gardening plots. The police are wondering where Violet has gone and Maggie is afraid they think her friend killed the man. She likes Violet and feels sorry for her family. So Maggie decides to ask a few questions and see if she can't find another suspect for the police.

It's a fun mystery and provided me with a nice way to spend an afternoon. The story held my attention and kept me guessing. I liked Maggie and the people of Marlowe. There is a bit of a twist at the end.