This one threw me for a loop a couple of times! Mysteries and gardening - 2 of my favorite things! Maggie is back in the town where her grandmother lived and between an annoying cousin trying to get money and a guy ending up dead in the brand new shared gardening plot things get crazy!
I enjoyed the narration.

4 stars!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader copy!

Publish date: 11/05/2024

The Gardner's Plot introduces Maggie, a master gardener, who purchases her grandmother's home and moves back to her hometown. During the opening day of the community garden that Maggie volunteers at, she comes across a boot in the dirt. Once she pulls the boot up, she realizes there is still a foot inside. The story follows Maggie as she tries to find answers to the murder.

Murder mystery and gardening had me sold! The narrator was great to listen to and I overall found this story entertaining. I like the small-town vibes of this book and loved the gardening ties. It was a great, quick read. Not too twisty or suspenseful, but very enjoyable all the same.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC for review.

Maggie has returned to the small town of Berkshires, where her late grandmother used to live, to start afresh. For the past several weeks, she's been helping her friend Violet set up a community garden. But on opening day, a dead body was found burried in one of the plots, and Violet was nowhere to be found.

A suspenseful and immersive murder mystery with a nice small town backdrop. I really enjoyed this book, I only wished the "cute detective" was more charismatic and had something more for himself besides being "cute" - the attempt at creating a sort of romance between Maggie and him was unnecessary.

🎧 Audiobook : 4/5 the narrator was quite good if we overlook the way she chise to read the "Catherine"'s name.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing this audiobook for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Gardener's Plot is a mystery set in the Berkshires, and not surprisingly it features garden plots, shared by a community of characters in the small town of Marlowe. I read this book during a stressful week, and it was one of those mysteries that felt kind of hygge. There was murder of course, but nothing too violent or dark. Sometimes, that is just what you need.

Maggie Walker has moved back to her hometown, and as she is a master gardener, she has volunteered to assist Violet Bloom in the opening of a community garden. But on the day of the grand opening ceremony, Violet is nowhere to be found. Then a body is discovered in one of the plots.

I read that this may be the beginning of a series, and it had that feel. We learn just enough about Maggie's backstory to be intriguing, but not enough to totally fill out her character. One is left with the feel that there is more to learn about Maggie. The town is populated with quirky characters, and I really liked Maggie's sidekick, Sally.

The mystery was not too hard to figure out, but it was fun getting to the solution. If there are more installments to this series, I will definitely check them out.

The audio of the book was an enjoyable listen, almost soothing, if that is not too weird to say about a murder mystery book! I think listening enhanced my enjoyment.

Thank you to NetGalley, Deborah J. Benoit, and St. Martin's Publishing Group for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After some tough losses Maggie is living in the house she inherited from her Grandmother. The town and the house hold good memories and Maggie quickly becomes involved in setting up a community garden. On the garden's opening day ,allotment gardeners are waiting for the gates to open, anxious to start digging and planting. Maggie is waiting for Violet, the project leader, to appear but as opening time comes and goes, the gardeners get restless and Maggie unlocks the gates. The excitement turns to horror when Maggie sees a boot sticking out of a plot and the boot is attached to a foot. Police discover the buried body of a sleazy real estate developer who's been trying to buy up local property for a housing development. Not only is there a murder to be solved but Violet is missing and there seems to be a connection with the murder. Maggie is certain her friend wasn't involved but as Maggie and her best friend, Sally follow Violet's trail it appears Violet was the last to see the dead man alive. Stern reprimands from the police don't deter Maggie and Sally but when Sally disappears Maggie is forced to the sidelines.
This debut mystery shows promise for more entries in the series and has been awarded the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award. I listened to the audio version and felt the narrator did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life . Thanks to Netgalley and Minotaur for the advanced copy..

Title: The Gardener's Plot
Author: Deborah J. Benoit
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: November 5, 2024

I received complimentary eARC and ALC copies from Minotaur Books, a division of St. Martin's Press and Dreamscape Media via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted

T H R E E • W O R D S

Light • Cozy • Pleasant

📖 S Y N O P S I S

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.

💭 T H O U G H T S

As an avid gardener, the cover and title of The Gardener's Plot made this an easy add to my 2024 anticipated releases list. I don't read too many cozies, yet I was in need of a light palette cleanser after several fairly dense reads, and this one was the perfect fit.

Told through Maggie's voice as she tries to solve what really happened for a body to turn up in the community garden plot, the plot moves along with a consistent pace with clues being offered up at just the right time. From the start, it's easy to see Maggie has the personality for amateur sleuthing. While there are hints at a romantic relationships, to me it wasn't at all believable and would have been best left out of the plot altogether.

I really loved the idea of the community garden being the center of the plot. The idea was different and not like any cozy I've read before. It was also enjoyable to get some background and helpful tips on successful gardening. I wish a little more of the story had actually taken place at the garden.

The audio, narrated by Patricia Santomasso, was simple and made for easy listening. Her voice is clear and she manages to use different intonations to distinguish when different characters are speaking/thinking.

The Gardener's Plot had many of the makings of your typical cozy mystery, yet it could have easily been shorter and been just as effective. Deborah delivers a solid debut, and while I could see it being turned into a series, I think it would be better left as a standalone. I'd be curious to see what she does write next.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• cozy mysteries
• gardening
• female sleuths

⚠️ CW: murder, death, gun violence

I originally had this on my kindle, but I was able to also get the audiobook version and then I tore through it! Loved the story, the characters and really hope there will be more books in this series.

The narrator was Patricia Santomasso and she was enjoyable to listen to, I really liked that the characters weren't all 20 somethings.

I would like to thank Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to read/listen to this story.

I recommend this story to all that love a good cozy mystery.

The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit promises an intriguing blend of cozy mystery and community gardening, but sadly, it fails to deliver on its potential due to an insufferable protagonist and some frustrating narrative choices.

The story begins with Maggie Walker, a newly widowed woman, who is working with Violet Bloom to launch a community garden. On opening day, Maggie finds a note from Violet saying she’ll be late, but by the time the event begins, a body is discovered buried in one of the garden plots. Violet, however, is nowhere to be found, and soon she becomes the prime suspect. Maggie, despite her lack of experience, decides to take matters into her own hands and get to the bottom of Violet’s disappearance and the mystery surrounding the murder.

At first glance, the premise is intriguing—community gardens and murder mysteries do make for a compelling combination. However, the execution falls flat primarily due to Maggie, the story’s central character. Maggie’s character is not just unlikable, she’s exasperating. She comes across as the embodiment of everything frustrating about the “boomer” mindset, constantly assuming she knows better than everyone around her, even when she clearly doesn't. For example, when the police detective mentions the possibility of helping her look for the note Violet left, Maggie dismisses the offer, saying she no longer has the note. Yet, in a dramatic twist halfway through the novel, Maggie discovers she still has the note—crumpled up in her pocket, no less—rendering any potential forensic evidence useless. This type of impulsive, irrational decision-making is a recurring issue throughout the book and undermines the integrity of the investigation.

While one might expect a cozy mystery where the civilian sleuth is an amateur trying to outsmart incompetent police officers, in The Gardener’s Plot, the police are actually doing their job quite competently. Maggie’s interference is, more often than not, a hindrance, and her assumption that she knows better feels both misguided and frustrating. Additionally, her reluctance to share any important information with the authorities—such as the mysterious phone calls she’s receiving—further adds to the tension of watching her bumble through the case.

Another aspect that irked me was the awkward attempts at romance. The book repeatedly brings up the "cute cop" trope, hinting at a potential relationship between Maggie and the detective, but there is zero chemistry between them. Their interactions are limited to mundane conversations about the murder, and the supposed romantic tension feels forced and unrealistic. It’s as if the author tried to wedge in a romantic subplot for the sake of it, even though it adds nothing to the narrative.

Ultimately, The Gardener’s Plot is a missed opportunity. While the setting and premise hold promise, the frustrating character of Maggie, coupled with her misguided sleuthing and lackluster romance, make this book a hard one to enjoy. The mystery itself is fine, but the execution of the plot is bogged down by poor choices that lead to an underwhelming reading experience. For fans of cozy mysteries, there are far better options out there that offer smarter, more relatable protagonists and more compelling storylines. Unfortunately, The Gardener’s Plot is not one of them.

This lovely, cosy mystery is perfect for a rainy day on the couch or a quiet night by the fire with a glass of wine. A very enjoyable read.

Thank you to Kelly and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

When Maggie Walker finds a body in the community garden, her small town is shocked and everyone has a theory about what happened. The director of the garden, and Maggie's friend, is missing and all eyes are on Maggie. With the clock ticking and her friend still missing, Maggie an her childhood best friend, Sally, set out to figure out exactly what's going on. With small town charm and a cast of even more charming Characters, The Gardener's Plot is the perfect suspenseful yet cozy mystery.

The narrator's voice is so soothing and easy to understand. Wonderful!

⭐️ 5/5. Gardening, small town intrigue, and missing persons cases?? This murder mystery drew me in right away and kept me hooked the whole time! It was the feel of a cozy mystery but a little more sinister. The problem was, I was emotionally connected to the people who kept disappearing!
I sincerely hope that Deborah writes a sequel because I want more of these engaging characters, this quirky town, and a possible budding romance that I started to sense developing throughout the book #EnemiestoLovers anyone?

After Maggie Walker’s complicated marriage ended, she needed a new start. She sold her condo and moved back to the Berkshires, buying her grandmother’s house. She had grown up there as a kid, helping her grandmother with the gardens. Her grandmother had lived into her 90s, so the upkeep on the house and gardens had slid some in her later years, and Maggie wants to restore them.

In addition to that, she’s going to be helping Violet Bloom with the Marlowe Community Garden. Violet had found a location, set it up, and gotten Marlowe citizens to sign up for the plots. It was an opportunity for those without a yard to set up a small garden, and Maggie had volunteered her time to help with it. Since she trained as a master gardener, she is happy to put her skills to work in the Community Garden.

But the morning they’re supposed to get started, Violet is missing. She’d left a note at Maggie’s, saying she’d be a little late, so Maggie waited as long as the other gardeners would let her before opening the Community Garden for the first time. She feels bad. Since Violet had put in so much work, Maggie knew she’d want to be there for the first day. But Maggie couldn’t keep the others waiting, so she finally opened the gate and welcomed the gardeners in.

Roy Hansen had signed up for three plots, but as soon as he gets started, he’s calling out to Maggie. The plots were all supposed to have been carefully tilled the day before, but his plot has a work boot sticking up from it. Maggie tries to pull the boot up from the soil for him, and finds that there is a foot inside. Someone had used their brand-new community garden to try to hide a dead body.

The police are called and the Community Garden is put on hold for the investigation. Maggie tries to call Violet, but she can’t get ahold of her. Her childhood friend Sally Kendall shows up to help Maggie process the shock, and the women start to ask questions. And when they find out that the man buried in the Community Garden was Carl Henderson, Maggie is shocked. Carl is known around town for coming up with money-making schemes, and his latest was a large real estate development that would include luxury condos and abut the woods out back of Maggie’s house.

Ever since Maggie had bought her grandmother’s house, Carl had been trying to get her to sell it to him. Maggie had rolled her eyes and told him that she wasn’t interested in selling. But when he turned up dead, Maggie wondered if he had been trying to buy her neighbors’ houses as well for his Marlowe Estates. But as she starts asking questions, the police come after her and tell her to stay out of the investigation. But she just can’t. Maggie feels like she owes it to Violet, who is still missing, to find out what happened in the Community Garden.

As Maggie and Sally try to keep investigating on the sly, Maggie also has to deal with an old high school bully, an ex-boyfriend who is now the sheriff, and an annoying cousin who insists he’s entitled to more money from her grandmother’s estate. But all of that barely matters in light of Violet’s disappearance. Did she see something that she shouldn’t have? Is she hiding from danger? Or did something worse happen to her?

The Gardener’s Plot is a a debut novel from Deborah Benoit. It’s a slower moving mystery for readers looking for a calming small town mystery with some gardening tips. It has an old-fashioned feel to it, like it was written decades ago, but with modern twists.

I listened to the audio book for The Gardener’s Plot, narrated by Patricia Santomasso. I thought the narration was good, but it was a little slow in places. That fits with the old-fashioned feel to the mystery, but I did speed up the audio book for a while, to help with my impatience.

I liked this book, but not as much as I wanted to. I thought it had a strong premise, but it could use some tightening up in the storytelling. For example, it took a really long time to find out who it was that Maggie had found in the Community Garden. But keeping in mind that this is Benoit’s first book and a winner in the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel, The Gardener’s Plot could grow into a really solid series.

Egalleys for The Gardener’s Plot were provided by Minotaur Books, and a copy of the audio book was provided by Dreamscape Media, both through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I loved that the discovery of a dead body that kicks off this book is a dead body found buried in a plot of dirt in a community garden! The gardeners who live in this small town are a lively bunch and I enjoyed this tale of spring planting, gossip and squabbling, and the threat of development. Maggie Walker is a feisty protagonist with some great friends and also a few enemies, and that creates a terrific backdrop to her insatiable curiosity. I really enjoyed this on audiobook and look forward to reading more smart mysteries from Deborah Benoit. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook.

The Gardener’s Plot is a very cutesy, fun, and cozy read for murder mystery loving readers who don’t want a ton of suspense mixed in. Patricia Santomasso narrates beautifully and portrays Maggie and other characters seamlessly.

It feels odd to call this cozy considering it involves murder, but gosh is this the perfect book for a rainy day on the couch. I have already recommended it to numerous people as a way to escape reality during election week. Loved the writing and small town characters who band together to solve this mystery.

I finished up another audiobook today! 🎧 It was good, I liked the narrator, and the storyline was interesting enough. 🤔 I don't know that it's one I'd listen to again, though. 🤷‍♀️

The narrator was a female, and she was able to use different inflections for different characters, so it was easier to discern who was talking. Her reading style did bring the story to life for me a bit, especially when I was driving in the car and I could fully pay attention. The pace was medium, I would say, and if I was reading it in a book, I think it would be a slow read for me. There were times that the narration did seem to drag on a bit, but overall, it was nice to listen to while driving. There were definitely times that I had to go back and replay it because I was focusing on something else and missed the premise of that paragraph. But it was easy to understand and it flowed well.

The cover pulled me in right away and I really enjoyed the narrator for this book.
Although the main character sometimes came across as a bit cliché and occasionally frustrating, they made for a generally strong lead.
All in all, it was a pleasant listen to have on while multitasking, though it didn’t leave a lasting impact. May be a good starting place for someone who is looking to venture into this genre

Thank you NetGalley for the ALC of this!

Good start to a new series. I liked that, despite the murder, the story continued to focus on gardening rather than losing the theme in the investigation as some often do. It took me awhile to warm to Maggie but she grew on me and I was intrigued by the myriad of tasks she had to keep up with, especially her various fights for her property from developers and family alike. There was quite a bit of repetition in the book but hopefully that will be smoothed out if this is a series.

3.5/5 stars

Thank you Dreamscape Media for the advanced listening 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 -- especially on audio -- 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.

I hope this book becomes a series, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. This was the perfect cozy mystery, developing as Maggie finds a dead body in the community garden. Full of interesting characters, developing relationships and a peek into small town life, I thought this one was really well-developed, light, fun, and intriguing. Definitely a great read for someone looking for a light mystery!