Maggie is thrilled to be back in the small town where she spent so much time as a child. She loves gardening and is excited to help Violet get a community garden off the ground. But when opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found – and Maggie finds a body in one of the garden’s plots. Violet’s absence catapults her to the top of the police suspect list, but Maggie is convinced her friend is innocent and sets out to prove it.

This appears to be the author’s first novel, and it was a pleasant surprise. The small town atmosphere is alive and well, with many of the stereotypical residents – the gossip, the town bully, the cliques – but it all worked. I liked Maggie, and I liked the tidbits about gardening and plants.

I wasn’t surprised to learn who the victim was, and there were plenty of suspects to consider. Thanks in part to the red herrings scattered about, I kept changing my mind about who the killer was, but I started to suspect one person more than the others a bit before Maggie and the rest figured it out. I did not work out the motive, but it made sense given the character.

There’s nothing on Goodreads or Amazon to indicate that this is the first book of a series, but I hope it is, as I would love to read more about this town and these people, and maybe pick up more gardening hints too.

3.5/5 stars

Thank you Minotaur Books for the advanced reading copy!

This was such a cute and interesting read! Super unique storyline and love the community garden feature. It could be hard to keep track of all the characters, but in a non-distracting way that made the story super unpredictable. Maggie was a super cute and likeable main character. Cozies always come with a feeling of unrealistic coincidence to me, but this one didn't have too much of that to be frustrating in any way. Overall a cute and cozy mystery with a big twist and loveable MC.

‘maybe she was watching us and smiling at the crop of gardeners she’d grown’

My dog absolutely hated this book because I planned on taking a quick sneak peek at chapter one before bed and proceeded to stay up half the night because I couldn’t put it down and I’m not the only one to love it. It won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel competition in 2023. I can’t wait to see what she grows next!

‘maybe she was watching us and smiling at the crop of gardeners she’d grown’

My dog absolutely hated this book because I planned on taking a quick sneak peek at chapter one before bed and proceeded to stay up half the night because I couldn’t put it down and I’m not the only one to love it. It won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel competition in 2023. I can’t wait to see what she grows next!

I had a great time while reading this. Maggie is a great character. After some tragedy, she left her grandmother's home. A place that always made her feel safe and loved. She is trying to make a life, living next door to her best friend, and working with Violet to open a community garden. She does have some push back, her cousin Simon is making a nuisance of himself wanting more of the inheritance than he has a right to, an obnoxious real estate agent who won't take no for an answer when it comes to selling her house, and a weird rivalry with a woman she went to school with who seems to go out of her way to be hateful towards Maggie.
Then she finds a body.. along with the rest of the community gardeners, although from the way the police are acting it seems she is more of a suspect than a witness. And when no one can find her friend Violet, the woman she was opening the Garden with, and the police don't seem that interested in finding her, Maggie and her bestie go off on their own to figure out where Violet is, and who really killed the person in the garden plot.

Maggie and her friend are of course repeated.y warned away from the investigation by a hunky Statie.. Could there be some chemistry? I hope so! but they are determined and actually discover evidence the police missed.. I really enjoyed going along with Maggie as she investigates and gets herself in a bit of hot water both with the police and with the killer.

This was a fun and fast-paced read that had me entertained from beginning to end, and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for book 2!

This is a small town cozy mystery with gardening themes.

Maggie returns to her hometown and takes over an old house. She offers to help Violet with a community garden, but on opening day there is no sign of Violet. When a body is found in the garden, Maggie is a suspect.

Maggie becomes the amateur sleuth, trying to find Violet and figure out why there was a body in the garden. I liked Maggie's character, and there were quite a number of secondary characters all of whom contributed to quirky village life.

Several subplots kept you guessing, as Maggie tries to uncover what is going on.

Hopefully the start of a series.

The Gardener's Plot was a truly delightful cozy mystery. Ms. Benoit is an author I have not experienced until now, but I find her writing to be very captivating and charming. Overall this was a super enjoyable book, and I look forward to more in the future!

What to do when a dead body shows up in one of the plots on opening day of the community garden?
Maggie Walker, assistant to the project leader, is having a bad weekend. Now she is a "person of interest." What will this tragedy mean for the gardens in the Berkshires? Here are four things I liked about this one:

🌼 The cover! How delightful to have such a bright and flowery cover for a November cozy release.

🌷 Maggie is a lovable and relatable MC. I would be up for more mysteries featuring her well-intentioned meddling. Her sidekick Sally is a perfect investigative partner. The mystery kept me in the dark until the last couple of chapters.

🌹 Hanging out with the gardeners is a good way to learn some tips.

🌻 The author went meta and had the characters watching 'Murder, She Wrote' in one of the scenes while wishing they had a clear line of clues like Jessica Fletcher.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

A missing person, a dead body and a community garden kick off this first in a new small town cozy amateur detective series. I liked protagonist Maggie Walker, the quirky cast of older side characters, the touch of romance, the misdirections and the charm of the Berkshires setting.

This was an enjoyable, quick debut that was good on audio and had a great cover. I'd definitely pick up another one whenever it comes out. Recommended for fans looking for a feel-good story light on grit. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Typical cozy mystery characters. I did enjoy the best friends aspect of the story. The friendship seemed real, and was enjoyable to read. The plot was simple, though the author did a good job at portraying the gossipy movements of a small town. There were a few moments that bordered on boredom, but the author quickly got the story moving again.

My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions expressed are my own.

3 out of 5 Stars!

When Maggie Walker volunteers to help to set up a community garden, she is shocked to find a body in one of the plot's opening days. Maggie grew up in the Berkshires community, and she has come back for a fresh start. When Violet Bloom asked for her help in the community garden, she jumped at the opportunity to do meaningful work. So, it is surprising when Violet isn’t at the community garden opening day to help. And when the body is found, there are rumors about Violet's disappearance being connected. Maggie wants to solve this murder, and find her friend.

First off, can we discuss how ADORABLE the cover of “The Gardener’s Plot” by Deborah J. Benoit is. This book really stood out, especially in the mystery/thriller section. I am so used to dark and mysterious covers, so this was a breath of fresh air! I felt like the story was a slow burn. There is a lot of buildup and character introductions. It was a slower pace than I would like, with lots of characters to remember and lots of conversations happening. I really did like the plot, it was simple yet refreshing. Benoit did an excellent job at making this a realistic mystery. I felt like everything said and done took at a normal pace.

I really liked our main character, Maggie. She was so smart and determined. I felt like she was making realistic assumptions and actions. I would have liked to learn more about her backstory, she kept hinting at it, and I was waiting for her just to finally open up. Leaning into that, I felt like there were some unanswered questions when finishing the book. Maybe Maggie will be making another appearance in a sequel so we can get those questions answered?

Overall, I wish the execution of this book was better, but I really did not see the ending coming. I still enjoyed this mystery, with such a refreshing take and different from what I normally read in this genre.

Pick up “The Gardener’s Plot” by Deborah J. Benoit on November 5th, 2024!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Deborah J. Benoit, and Netgalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This is a good mystery with great characters. Maggie has come home, and it hasn't been easy for her. She has her friend next door, but she also has an old enemy who will not leave her alone. Her cousin thinks he should have gotten more money from their grandmother's will and there is a man who keeps bugging her to sell her house. She has gotten involved in a community garden with another woman, but when the woman doesn't show up for the opening day, Maggie is left to go on. But then she discovers a dead body in the garden. The other woman is nowhere to be found. Her husband has been searching for her and no one has seen her. As Maggie and her best friend start asking questions, someone keeps trying to stop them. Will they find the killer before it is too late?

This book intrigued me with the premise of a murder with Maggie trying to figure out what happened in the community garden.

The author did a great job with all things gardening in the story. The story was a bit slow for me and I lost interest in the middle. I did like the ending and did not guess the killer.

Patricia Santomasso did a good job on the narration.

Thank you @dreamscape_media @minotaur_books for a copy of the book.

3.5 ⭐️ stars
This is a first in series book by an author I have never tried before. I’m not really a gardener, but it was interesting to read and gardeners may really enjoy this series.
Maggie is putting her life together in her grandmother’s home, which she purchased. Maggie is getting to know people in the town and participating in community events. She faces quite a bit of opposition in her new life from a developer who wants to buy her house and a cousin who thinks he is owed something more from the grandmother’s estate via Maggie personally.
Maggie’s relationship with the police is fairly negative throughout the book as she stubbornly investigates and doesn’t share all she knows with the police.
The mystery is good. The murderer fairly well hidden. There were clues that could go in more than one direction.
I’d like to read about these characters again.
I had access to an ebook and audiobook version. The narrator did a good job.
Thanks to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this book.

This is an amazing debut novel ❤️ I despise gardening with a passion, having been forced spend so much of my childhood doing just that. My grandma had a huge garden. By huge, I mean we had an apple orchard of about 20 trees, and her garden was longer than the orchard. I decided to read this book, out of all the countless others, though, because one of the characters is named Violet, like my grandma. Just made me smile. Not that it has anything to do with the book.

We don't have a community garden where I live, but I am sure lots of people have them were they live. Could you even imagine going on planting day and finding a dead body half sticking out of the ground? Question: would you use that same plot for the garden after the police cleared it? Eat anything that came out of the ground? Even if the body had only been in the ground for a couple hours? 🤮

I loved everything so much. The murderer was one of the people I suspected, which isn't saying much because I just suspect everyone. Then I can say 'I knew it!' at the end 😆

I really hope this becomes a series!!! Would love to see more books.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free kindle book. My review is voluntarily given.

The Gardener's Plot by Deborah J. Benoit is a captivating cozy mystery that immediately drew me in and kept me engaged until the final page.

My thanks to NetGallley and Minotaur Books/St. Martins Publishing for the ARC of "The Gardener's Plot" in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, a pleasant soothing read. But fans of quirky cozies might find this one bland and a little too connect-the-dots generic. Very skimpy on character development, which I'm assuming the author will continue to flesh out if this is the start of a series.
Here's what I did like. Deborah J. Benoit's love of the art and craft of gardening comes through in almost every page. Her descriptions make the hard work and joy involved in developing a 'green thumb' accessible to readers like me - who think of gardening as unattainable to comprehend, as geometry, chemistry and quantum physics.
I also loved the darkly humorous discovery of the body buried in the community garden, with one foot sticking out.....like something you'd see in one of the more mischievous Alfred Hitchcock TV series episodes. That scene led me to believe that maybe I was in for some kind of oddball black comedy, but the book left me sadly disappointed in that area. There's not a shred of humor in sight anywhere.
The rest of "The Gardener's Plot" was simply okay at best, with amateur gardening sleuth Maggie and best friend Sally deciding to go about Miss Marple-ing the small down in search of the killer. Their constant detecting naturally doesn't sill well with police detective Quinn, leading to countless repetitious warnings for them to knock it off. .
There is, however, a well done harrowing showdown with the murderer, but with characters this thinly drawn, it's hard to work up any genuine excitement about it.
I suspect cozy lovers won't want to miss this, but if Maggie and Sally's mystery-solving careers continue, there's some huge room for improvements here.

The Gardener's Plot is a nice cozy mystery novel that you will want to grab on a rainy day and curl up with. This is my first book by this author and it was definitely a pleasant read for me. The garden aspect of this novel was actually interesting and did not take away from the mystery. The protagonist is likeable, kind, and smart. She makes for a great lead and I believe if this author plans on continuing her universe with this FMC, she will continue to have successful books.

Overall, this is a nice read, nothing too crazy, and worth the time!

Big thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This is a debut novel for Deborah J. Benoit, and I’m certainly hoping there will be more. As the double-entendre title suggests, it has a gardening theme, with gardens figuring strongly in the main character’s profession, the setting, and the mystery that she sets out to solve. Maggie Walker is a master gardener who writes a column for a gardening magazine. She has just inherited her grandmother’s home in the Berkshires, a place of sweet childhood memories, where her grandmother tenderly introduced her to gardening.

It’s not as easy as that, of course. Her grandmother’s will stipulated that, as the eldest grandchild (and the closest to her), Maggie should have first dibs on buying the house and its adjoining (and far more lucrative) wooded lands. Newly separated and awaiting a sudden divorce, she wants to start over in a place where she has cherished friends and can pursue her journalism career afresh. What decides it for her is her soon-to-be ex’s equally sudden death.

When she gets to town the plots thicken, so to speak. She gets involved helping a local gardener/wealthy philanthropist set up a community garden. She is harassed by a local realtor, brother of a childhood friend who is basically a snob and a bully. The realtor wants to buy her land and will not be turned away. One of the gardeners who has reserved three plots in the new garden is crude and rude and also bullies her for what he perceives as her ineptitude. Her cousin Simon wants what he considers his rightful part in Grandma’s house and is truly a pest.

All this happens before, during, and after the core of the story. On the the morning of the community garden launch, Violet doesn’t show up. She leaves a cryptic note on Maggie’s door that she’ll be late, and no news for her husband and kids. She simply vanishes. Then Maggie almost literally trips over a dead man in one of the plots. The shovel that killed him is in her best friend Sally’s backyard mulch pile. Maggie gets strange notes, multiple hang-ups, unidentifiable messages, parcels sent to her but delivered to the wrong address.

Smart, quick-witted and unwilling to run and hide, Maggie, with her friend/neighbour/assistant sleuth Sally, doggedly searches for answers to her own personal mystery and that of the dead man and the disappearance of Violet. This is mostly a fast-paced, tightly-written debut. There are maybe a few too many characters, and Maggie’s dead husband, though important to her own personal mystery, pops into her mind a bit much. The gardening aspects are nicely woven in. There is just enough detail to engage gardeners without boring non-gardeners. In the manner of cozy small town mysteries, it’s a bit slow in the build-up to the community garden murder. But this is otherwise an excellent start.

Title:  The Gardener's Plot  
Author:   Deborah J. Benoit 
Genre:  Mystery       
Rating:  3.8 out of 5

After life threw Maggie Walker a few curveballs, she’s happy to be back in the small, Berkshires town where she spent so much time as a child. Marlowe holds many memories for her, and now it also offers a fresh start. Maggie has always loved gardening, so it’s only natural to sign on to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden.

When opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found, and the gardeners are restless. Things go from bad to worse when Maggie finds a boot buried in one of the plots… and there’s a body attached to it. Suddenly, the police are looking for a killer and they keep asking questions about Violet. Maggie doesn’t believe her friend could do this, and she’s going to dig up the dirt needed to prove it.

This wasn’t a bad read, although Maggie veered over the line to nosiness as opposed to investigating at times. To me, it wasn’t believable that apparently so many people in this town had land lines instead of cell phones, and that no one ever carried their cell phones with them. Not realistic. The small town feel was well-done, and I enjoyed the gardening aspect, but I probably wouldn’t read any more books, if this were a series.

Deborah J. Benoit is from Massachusetts. The Gardener’s Plot is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

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