Murder in the Secret Garden (A Book Retreat Mystery, #3) (Berkley Prime Crime)

by Ellery Adams

Things really go to seed in the newest novel in the New York Times bestselling Book Retreat mysteries...
 
There is a hidden garden bordering the grounds of Jane Steward’s book-themed resort—a garden filled with beautiful but deadly plants such as mandrake and nightshade. Tucked away behind ivy-covered walls and accessible only through a single locked door, as described in the pages of Frances Hodges Burnett's classic novel, the garden is of special interest to Jane’s current group of guests, The Medieval Herbalists. But when one of them turns up dead, Jane must discover whether a member of the group has come to Storyton Hall to celebrate their passion for plant lore or to implement a particularly cruel means for murder.
 
With thousands of books at her disposal, Jane believes she has the proper materials to solve this deadly problem. If she’s wrong, however, she may lose something far more precious than the contents of Storyton’s secret library...

• ISBN10: 0425265617
• ISBN13: 9780425265611
• Publish Date: 2 August 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Berkley
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780425265611

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

Work with me here for a minute:  imagine a Clive Cussler novel in all it's rip-roaring, unbelievable adventuring; now try to imagine opening a Dirk Pitt novel and finding a pretty decently written romance.  All the Dirk Pitt silliness is there, but really, it's a romance.   ...   That's how I feel about this book.  Ellery Adams writes cozy mysteries - and this is a cozy  mystery, but she has the imagination of a fantasy writer - and the story is definitely fantastical.  Now, I know she's not the first to mix the two things; there's a whole sub-sub genre for cozy paranormals.  But this one, for some reason I can't put my finger on, feels weirder than the rest.  Like someone's trying to wear plaid and polka dots together.   Jane is the manager of a book retreat resort in Virginia that sounds divine: a place to go where no electronic devices are allowed, full tea is served every day and there might be more libraries than rooms.  But she's also the caretaker of a hidden library; one that holds treasures unknown to the public, like Shakespeare's missing play, or an unknown copy of Gutenberg's bible.  And the library is magically able to hold much more than it should be able to. Jane and her staff are part of some ancient secret society tasked with being the caretaker of these books and doing whatever is necessary to save and preserve them.   Then there's her love interest - a man she finds out is a thief called The Templar.  But is he?  As this is the 3rd book in the series, she finally finds out what's what with him and it's as out-there as her backstory.   But across the top of all of this is a very mundane, run-of-the-mill, murder mystery with very real, mundane suspects.  The mystery is good; although not book related, it is related to gardening and a medieval herbal group who is staying at the resort.     As I write this, I think what makes the story feel weird is that there are two very distinct layers here and they're like oil and water - they don't interact with each other at all.  This fantastical secret library and it's secret societies have nothing whatsoever to do with the mystery or the people involved in it.     So, it's good, but it's sorta weird.  I'll read the next one though; maybe it will homogenise the mystery and the fantasy a bit better.

[Silvara]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

I received this book for free from Berkley Prime Crime in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The secret garden comparison is what drew me to this book. Unfortunately the garden was barely mentioned. Jane's garden sounds like what the blurb was describing, except for the poisonous plants. And then past the half-way mark of the book, another garden is introduced that has the plants, and is found behind a normally locked gate. But even then, neither garden was in the book for long at all.

I did like Jane, and her twin sons. And the duck race was cute. I liked the Fins, and was curious as to how they had come to be in service to Jane. But I'm guessing that was explained in one of the earlier books. I also really liked the slightly Bond-esque talents all the Fins had. And that there was a cat burglar in the book as well.

I didn't guess who the killer was until the reveal, but I had an idea of who the 2nd killer was. I ended up being right, but had no idea of the why. It all made sense in the end, and I liked how the different mysteries were tied together.

I liked how close Hannah and Victoria were. It was really sweet in some parts of the book. I also really liked Tammy and hope she will appear in future books in the series. Overall, I liked the book. But you shouldn't go into it thinking there will be any similarities to The Secret Garden, even though they're compared in the blurb.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon