Garden mysteries (mind the foxgloves)
Herbalists, nursery owners and one very patient monk. The best cozy mysteries for people who'd rather be in the garden.
Gardeners make terrific detectives. They're patient, they notice when something has been disturbed, and they know which pretty plant on the windowsill could stop a heart. These are the garden mysteries I keep recommending, from medieval herb beds to a Texas herb shop.
A Body in the Bee Balm
Claire Willowbrook · The Foxglove Nursery Mysteries, book 1
A retired hospice nurse inherits a plant nursery, a goose named Custis, and a dead neighbor in the display garden. The county calls it his heart. Marta has sat with four hundred deaths and thinks the timing is wrong. Out October 25; join the letter below and you'll hear the morning it goes live.
Thyme of Death
Susan Wittig Albert · China Bayles Mysteries, book 1
China Bayles left a career as a criminal lawyer to run an herb shop in a small Texas town. Each book is built around a plant, and you'll learn as much about herbs as about murder. A very long series to grow into.
Find it on Amazon →A Morbid Taste for Bones
Ellis Peters · The Cadfael Chronicles, book 1
Brother Cadfael keeps the herb garden at Shrewsbury Abbey in the 1100s, and knows exactly which plants can kill. Historical, quietly clever, and the grandparent of every herbalist sleuth on this list.
Find it on Amazon →The Garden Plot
Marty Wingate · Potting Shed Mysteries, book 1
Pru Parke is a seasoned American gardener starting over in England, and her new job comes with a murder. Proper horticultural detail from an author who clearly knows soil.
Find it on Amazon →Pushing Up Daisies
Rosemary Harris · Dirty Business Mysteries, book 1
Paula Holliday swapped city life for a small-town gardening business, and a restoration job turns up a long-buried secret. Brisk, funny and grounded in real dirt.
Find it on Amazon →The Murder at the Vicarage
Agatha Christie · Miss Marple, book 1
Miss Marple's first case, and her garden is her lookout post: nothing passes her hedge unobserved. Still one of the best village mysteries ever written.
Find it on Amazon →More lists like this, the week's Kindle Unlimited finds, and a free short mystery when you join.
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