This was a fun cozy gardening mystery. The characters were likable and I did feel sorry for Maggie as she went through all of the anxiety of finding a dead body and missing friends. This was a quick read and perfect for those who love to garden.

Deborah J. Benoit, a brand new author to me, showed up in NetGalley earlier this summer, and I love murder mysteries and gardening, so it appeared to be a solid fit. Overall, I enjoyed the setting and getting to know a new cast of characters. Balancing the protagonist's personal mystery with that of the victim's made for a good dual-purpose storyline. I struggled a bit to keep some of the characters straight, and it felt a little too cardboard in some places, but it came together nicely in the end with a few things left open for future installments. I'll read the second to see if it cements the series for me.

The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit is a fun cozy mystery debut that I really enjoyed.

A woman takes on the task of setting up a community garden in the Berkshires.
During opening day, a body is found.

I enjoyed the characters, well written and interesting.

The mystery was well written. Looking forward to more books in the series.

This was fine. I enjoyed the story overall but felt it dragged a bit at times. A cozy mystery with some fun plot twists, but also a slow read. Absolutely lovely cover, definitely drew me in to read it

Maggie inherits her grandmother’s home and jumps right into a community that she loved as a child. She signs on to help with the community garden, but the morning they are set to open for the season, Violet, who is in charge of the project, disappears. And then a body is found in one of the plots. Unable to sit back and watch, Maggie starts digging (no pun intended) into the murder and Violet’s disappearance. And in the meantime, she’s also being harassed by a crazy cousin who is convinced he was cheated out of an inheritance. Definitely worth a read if you’re a fan of cozy mysteries.

I'm rounding up to a 4 star but honestly it was more like a 3.5 star read.

I did enjoy this quick, easy cozy mystery. I did figure out the killer pretty early in the book but I enjoyed the gardening references and the small town characters. While I did figure out the killer, I did have a couple of red herrings that made me second guess myself but in the end I was correct. That didn't take away from the story even though it was a little bit predictable. Then again, isn't predictable what we've come to expect from a cozy mystery? This was a good cozy mystery to read between those heavier books. I'd like to thank NetGalley, St. Martins Press and the author for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

The excitement in this book is high! This is my first read from Deborah Benoit and I found it to be a very suspenseful must read.

3.5 stars

This was a likeable enough debut for the most part, featuring master gardener Maggie Walker, newly single, and relocated to her childhood hometown after inheriting/buying her late grandmother's house. Maggie has gotten involved in the establishment of the local community garden along with her friend Violet. When the grand opening for the garden arrives, Maggie is perplexed when Violet is a no-show. But that is overshadowed by a grisly discovery in one of the garden plots: an old boot, attached to the foot of a dead body.

The victim turns out to be an unsavory local real estate wheeler dealer who has been pestering the townspeople including Maggie to sell their property. In the meantime, Violet is still missing, and when she still doesn't appear after several days, the town is quite worried.

Maggie and her best friend and neighbor decide they can find out things the police can't. The middle of the book is the typical cozy push-pull between the amateur detectives and the police telling them to keep out of the investigation.

This would have had a higher rating from me if it hadn't been for the TSTL actions of Maggie at the end. When the main character decides to go confront a primary suspect by themselves, I have to roll my eyes. The whole finish was a bit over the top. But I would read another and hope Maggie has a bit more sense next time out. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this book! I’m only minusing a star (is minusing a word?) because I knew who the killer was most of the book. I have to give it to the author, mid book I had myself questioning the outcome- but the ending tied up the loose ends quickly. Predictable in that sense, but not overly so. It was a nice quick one to get me out of my reading slump. If you’re looking for a cozy mystery with a little bit more drama than usual, this one is absolutely for you!

The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit

A woman helps to set up a community garden in the Berkshires, only to find a dead body in one of the c plots on opening day.

I enjoyed this book. Many suspects and annoying characters. Good to the last page. I recommmendv this book.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

A slow-burn, cozy mystery at its best here. It was exactly what I would look for as a palate cleanser after some dark psychology thrillers and deep fantasy.

Exciting, action packed and suspenseful. A real page turner that keeps you guessing. Maggie is a real sleuth when she wants to be.

_The Gardener’s Plot_ by Deborah J. Benoit is a leisurely paced cozy mystery read with quirky characters and a small town mood. It follows Maggie, an avid gardener who recently moved back to her family home in the Berkshires. She is planning on helping with the new community garden when a body is found on opening day--and the organizer Violent is missing. Maggie and her friend Sally start investigating the disappearance, but danger soon finds them. This book will interest fans of cozy mysteries.

The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit

I had a hard time putting down this book. From start to finish I felt like I was on the edge of my seat. I mistakenly thought the book was a cozy mystery when I requested it on Netgalley so part way through the book I was a bit bothered by some of what was happening. It seemed darker than a cozy mystery, but, so far, the book had been like a cozy mystery – very clean, no graphic descriptions of bodies, close friends for the main character, quirky characters, a small town, a fairly straightforward mystery.

Eventually, I began to accept that this wasn’t a light and fluffy cozy mystery but one with a bit more grit to it. Not enough grit to be disturbing or shocking, however.

There is a sad backstory for our main character, Maggie Walker, but I like how she deals with that story slowly as the book and mystery unfold. I like how she has empathy for victims of crime, which is something I don’t always see in cozy mysteries. Sometimes main characters are a bit more flippant about the crime that has occurred.
Maggie Walker is not flippant about what she has been thrust into the middle of, or what she has experienced in the past. She’s very realistic and faces it head-on without bringing the reader all the way down in the dumps.
I loved the friendship between Maggie and Sally.

I think Maggie needs a pet, though, so if there are going to be more of these books, I would like Maggie to have at least a cat so she isn’t rattling around in her grandmother’s old house all alone anymore.

My one negative was that the book dragged just a little bit toward the end for me. It was just a little bit, though, and not enough for me not to want to keep going and find out what happened. I am only adding that so other readers will know that if you feel the same way – don’t give up. Push through because the ending is worth it.
Other readers may not feel that it dragged, however.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own and a positive review was not required or requested.

I rate this light, pleasant cozy mystery 3.5 stars rounded up. It is the perfect mystery for gardeners, with descriptions of flowers, gardens, compost and more. It checks all the cozy mystery boxes: no bad language, graphic violence or gore, and no sex. This book won an award for debut crime novel.
Maggie Walker has returned to her favorite place where she has fond memories of summers with her
beloved Gramma. She gets involved in a community garden project with Violet Bloom. Violet has organized a community garden in a vacant piece of land in the fictional Massachusetts town of Marlowe, set in the Berkshire mountains.
But then bad things happen. She is badgered by a local "real estate" developer, Carl Henderson, who embodies the quintessential definition of shyster developer. In addition she meets and old nemesis, from high school, Catherine Whitacker, who is now married to her old beau Sam Whitacker. To top it off her greedy cousin Simon is demanding more money from their grandmother's estate, even though it is settled.
But then things go from bad to worse when a body is discovered in the community garden. Maggie's friend Violet is missing and Maggie decides to investigate to clear her friend's name.
One quote, describing Violet's house: "Like pretty much everything I'd observed about where Violet was concerned, the walk leading to her front door was a tidy progression of bricks. Well_tended beds sporting spring flowers and emerging perennials surrounded the carpet of green grass at the front of the house."
Thank You Sara Eslami at St. Martin's Press for sending med this eARC through NetGalley.

The Gardener's Plot by Deborah J. Benoit is a well-written mystery with plenty of suspects and a cozy, small town setting. The main character Maggie is faced with all sorts of challenges, from a cousin who wants 'his share' of their grandmother's estate, to detectives who want her to stop 'investigating', to disappearances and murders. Underneath it all is a detailed gardening theme that will appeal to the green-thumbed.
I found the book a bit difficult to get into and ended up skipping sections of in depth descriptions and repetition of theories, not once feeling like I'd missed something important.
I appreciate getting an ARC of #TheGardenersPlot from #NetGalley, but doubt I will be reading further in the series.

A fun mystery I have already recommended to friends. Like the small town community garden with mystery built in. A cozy that should not be missed.

I like cozy mysteries as they aren't too violent, fun characters and some specialize in areas such as cooking, baking, and in this case gardening. Those who garden should enjoy this one as there is a lot of talk about it. I'm not a gardener so that part didn't grab me as much but the mystery is good.

First in series with this and it did take some pages to set up who is who and why people are where they are. Maggie has a history in town but is back to live there now. There are issues with acceptance, an inheritance but thankfully a friend who makes the story better.

While I thought the start was a bit slow it did pick up and things were solved and well explained, which I ask for in a cozy. The set up allows for a second book but not a cliffhanger.

I loved this cute cozy mystery. We follow Maggie, who’s just found a corpse in her community garden. The corpse of a man who has been annoying the entire town to sell their properties so he can build a new community. There’s no shortage of people who didn’t get along with the recently deceased. But then her good friend, Violet, goes missing and it’s down to Maggie to find Violet and figure out who in her community could be a killer.

I liked Maggie, and loved her relationship with her best friend Sally, but there were a few things that absolutely drove me crazy. In 2024, I find it hard to believe that anyone under the age of 50 wouldn’t have caller ID and wouldn’t make sure to keep their phone on them (especially after finding a dead body early in the book). While I expect a lot of meddling by the MC of any cozy, a lot of the meddling done by Maggie and Sally didn’t lead to anything and could’ve been resolved by some straight communication. Overall though, I really enjoyed the dialogue and the overall development of the characters. I hope Maggie comes back in another caper!

Thank you to Deborah Benoit, NetGalley and St Martins Press for this ARC.

Setting the murder mystery in a local garden plot was interesting. As someone who knows absolutely nothing about gardening, I got a taste of it without being completely lost.

At the same time, Maggie didn't really have any agency. She just sort of flounders along, reacting to things happening. At times, her friend pushes her to solve the mystery after Maggie, and the friend is actually the one who cracks the case in the end. Maggie almost felt more like a side character.

Also, it made no sense at the end that the dog couldn't lead Maggie all the way to where her owner was, because the building had scratches on it from the dog trying to get in. They have this great tracking dog who just decides to give up the search halfway to his destination.

Finally, I was a little sad that one of the victim's was a nice person we actually met. I'm more a fan of the dead jerk trope, or at least someone who never meet on the page.