Pruning the Dead

Garden Squad Mystery Series, Book 1

By: Julia Henry

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

With hundreds flocking to her inaugural garden party, meticulous Lilly Jayne hasn't left a single petal out of place. But the picture-perfect gathering turns unruly upon the arrival of Merilee Frank, Lily's ex-husband's catty third wife. Merilee lives for trouble, so no one is surprised after she drinks too much, shoves a guest into the koi pond, and gets escorted off the property. The real surprise comes days later - when Merilee is found dead in a pile of mulch.

Lilly wishes she could stick to pruning roses and forget about Merilee's murder - until her best friend and ex become suspects in the overgrown homicide case. Now, aided by the Garden Squad, an unlikely group of amateur crime solvers with a knack for planting, Lilly knows she has limited time to identify the true culprit and restore order to Goosebush because if the murderer's plot isn't nipped in the bud, another victim could be pushing up daisies!

©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Grieving Gardener Helps Solve Murder

Lilly Jane’s head and heart have been in a fog since her husband died a couple of years ago. Her husband, Alan was well known for his garden parties, and Lilly promised to continue them after he was gone. So all her friends gather round to help her plan and put on the kind of party that would make Alan proud. Everything goes off without a hitch, and the party is a big success until Lilly's first husband’s third wife, Merilee Frank, pushes Tamara O’Connor, Lilly’s best friend into the koi pond. Merilee’s mean spirited comments have been getting her into trouble all around the small town, embarrassing her husband, Pete Frank and making enemies of a lot of the residents of Goosebush,, Massachusetts. A few days later at a town clean up, Merilee is found dead in a locked potting shed, with a pair of gardening sheers sticking out of her. The top suspects are Tamara and Pete. But Lilly is having none of it, believing both are innocent. The overall story is very good. The narration is first rate. I would have liked it better if some of the political correctness were eliminated, since it added nothing to the story. One of my favorite characters is Delia, Lilly’s late husband’s research assistant, and now friend to Lilly. I loved the research into the town history. Great resolution to the murder.

Smart cozy mystery

The story moves along very nicely. The characters are well developed. The ending was achievable for the reader to figure out, but smart. There were many possibilities and no one obvious.
I listened to it on 1.5 X and found the narrator easy to listen to.
Will read the next book.

too long

Easy too wonder off. There are too many details to hold my attention. A good wholesome story, however i probably will not continue with the rest of the books.

Not worth it

I can't recommend this book to anyone. It moves slowly and the mystery is more of a subplot than the main focus.