Five Charming Cozy Mysteries With Garden Themes For The Spring

by Esme Addison

Cozy reading is a delightful way to relax and unwind, and what better time to indulge in it than during the spring season? As the weather gets warmer and the days grow longer, it’s the perfect opportunity to enjoy a good book while surrounded by the beauty of nature. Books with garden themes that feature flowers, plants, and herbs are particularly fitting for the season. They offer a peaceful and tranquil escape, allowing you to immerse yourself in the serene world of gardening while enjoying a good mystery.

So, whether you’re a seasoned gardener or simply enjoy the beauty of nature, cozy mysteries with garden themes are sure to provide a comforting and enjoyable reading experience this spring.

Firstly, let’s define what a cozy mystery is. Cozy mysteries are a subgenre of crime fiction that typically feature an amateur detective solving a murder or other crime in a small, often rural or village, setting. These novels are characterized by their gentle, lighthearted tone and lack of explicit violence or sexual content.

Reading cozy mysteries during the spring is a delightful way to welcome the changing of the seasons. As the temperature increases and the days grow longer, cozy mysteries with garden themes allow you to lose yourself in the beauty and tranquility of nature while still enjoying a good mystery.

So why should you consider picking up a cozy mystery with flower, plant, herb, and garden themes this spring? For one, they offer a unique and refreshing take on the typical murder mystery. Rather than focusing on the gritty urban settings and tough detectives often found in crime fiction, cozy mysteries provide a more laid-back approach. The inclusion of gardening and nature themes adds an extra layer of charm and coziness that will leave you feeling relaxed and uplifted.

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Moreover, cozy mysteries with garden themes are perfect for those who enjoy gardening. As you read, you’ll be transported into a world of gardens, flowers, and plants. You’ll discover new types of flowers and herbs, learn how to care for them, and even gain inspiration for your own gardening projects.

A Botanist’s Guide To Parties And Poisons by Kate Khavari

London, 1923. Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh is the first woman to hold the position at University College of London. When she attends a dinner party for the school, she expects to engage in conversations about the university’s large expedition to the Amazon. What she doesn’t expect is for Mrs. Henry, one of the professors’ wives, to drop to the floor, poisoned by an unknown toxin. Dr. Maxwell, Saffron’s mentor, is the main suspect, and evidence quickly mounts. Joined by flirtatious fellow researcher Alexander Ashton, Saffron uses her knowledge of botany as she explores steamy greenhouses, dark gardens, and deadly poisons to clear Maxwell’s name. Will she be able to uncover the truth, or will her investigation land her on the murderer’s list? 

I enjoy a historical mystery with flowers. The Saffron Everleigh Mystery series delivers flowers, plants and herbs in a botanical and academic setting.

If you love historical novels, this mystery has the boon of manners and mores of the time which always gives a mystery nice complexity. A Botanist’s Guide To Parties And Poisons is the second book in the Saffron Everleigh Mystery series.

A Flicker Of A Doubt by Daryl Wood Gerber

With a theater foundation tea and an art show planned at Violet Vickers’s estate, Courtney is hired to create charming fairy gardens for the event. It’s not so charming, however, when her best friend Meaghan’s ex-boyfriend turns out to be Violet’s latest artistic protégé. Even worse, not long after Meaghan locks horns with him, his body is found in her yard, bludgeoned with an objet d’murder.
 
There’s a gallery of suspects, from an unstable former flame to an arts and crafts teacher with a sketchy past. But when the cops focus on Meaghan’s business partner, who’s like a protective older brother to her, and discover he also has a secret financial motive, Courtney decides to draw her own conclusions. Fearing they’re missing the forest for the trees, and with some help from Fiona the sleuthing fairy, she hopes to make them see the light . . .

I was sooo excited when I discovered Daryl was writing a cozy mystery about fairies Yes, I said fairies. And fairies have gardens, right? This is a fun, cute cozy mystery with whimsy and beautiful coastal California settings.

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A Hex For Danger by Esme Addison

The small town of Bellamy Bay has its share of skeletons in its closet, but it isn’t used to bodies turning up in the local history museum. After all, this coastal North Carolina town is much like any other…except, of course, for the mermaids.

Helping to run the family business, an herbal apothecary while keeping her supernatural secret hidden is no easy feat for water witch Aleksandra Daniels.  But somehow she’s still found time to help her friend Celeste, who has her own Caribbean mermaid heritage plan the annual Mermaid Festival. 

As fun-seekers throng the beaches, Alex gets to know and is intrigued by renowned artist Neve Ryland, who’s in town to decorate the local park with a mermaid-themed mural. Celeste, however, is less enamored with the artist, as Neve has been spending entirely too much one-on-one time with her boyfriend Jasper, director of Bellamy Bay’s history museum. Then, a reception for Neve ends abruptly when the artist is found dead in his office. 

The police investigation nets Celeste who asks Alex to find the true culprit. With the help of her magically-inclined aunt and cousins, Alex dives in to clear her friend’s name. But there was more to Neve Ryland than met the eye…and Alex fears she may be in way too deep. Will she catch the crook or be next on the hook?

This is my book! A Hex For Danger is the second book in the Enchanted Bay Mystery series. This series is set in an herbal apothecary and full of enchanted flowers and plants and healing herbal blends.

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Marigolds For Malice by Bailey Cattrell

Elliana Allbright is happy running her perfume shop, Scents & Nonsense, in the charming town of Poppyville, California. And she’s even happier when she can use her inherited abilities to infuse her perfumes with an extra special something that eases woes or solves problems for her customers. But she’ll need those abilities and more when murder comes to town.

Ellie and her women’s business group, the Greenstockings, are helping to open a new museum about local history, and while sorting through the collection of artifacts they discover a time capsule from the days of the Gold Rush. Among the contents is a strange botanical manuscript, recognized by local history professor Eureka Sanford as extremely rare and valuable. When the professor is found dead in the museum, Ellie has no choice but to sniff out the murderer… but this one may have roots that are as old as Poppyville.

This is the third book in the Enchanted Garden series. I love this series because the magical elements are lightly done and it’s full of flowers and plants. I’m also a big fan of the author Bailey Cattrell, who also writes as Bailey Cates.

Death and Daisies by Amanda Flower

Fiona Knox thought she was pulling her life back together when she inherited her godfather’s cottage in Duncreigan, Scotland—complete with a magical walled garden. But the erstwhile Tennessee flower shop owner promptly found herself puddle boot-deep in danger when she found a dead body among the glimmering blossoms. One police investigation and a handsome Chief Inspector names Neil Craig later and Fiona’s life is getting back on a steady—though bewitched—track. Her sister Isla has just moved in with her, and the grand opening of her new spellbound venture, the Climbing Rose Flower Shop in Aberdeenshire, is imminent.

But dark, ensorcelled clouds are gathering to douse Fiona’s newly sunny outlook. First, imperious parish minister Quaid MacCullen makes it undeniably clear that he would be happy to send Fiona back to Tennessee. Then, a horrific lightning storm, rife with terrible omen, threatens to tear apart the elderly cottage and sends Fi and Isla cowering under their beds. The storm passes, but then, Fi is called away from the Climbing Rose’s opening soiree when Kipling, the tiny village’s weak-kneed volunteer police chief, finds a dead body on the beach.

The body proves difficult to identify, but Kipling is certain it’s that of the parish minister. Which makes Fiona, MacCullen’s new nemesis, a suspect. And what’s worse, Isla has seemed bewitched as of late…did she do something unspeakable to protect her sister? The last thing Fiona wanted to do was play detective again. But now, the rosy future she’d envisioned is going to seed, and if she and Craig can’t clear her name, her idyllic life will wilt away. 

Okay – So, I have not read Mum And Mayhem – But, I have read this author’s Amish Candy Shop Mystery which I really enjoyed, so, I feel confident that this series is also amazing. It’s in Scotland (a place on my bucket list) and it has a magical garden. This series is in my audiobook TBR – and I expect I will love it. Death And Daisies is the second book in A Magic Garden Mystery.

While we’re on the topic of books with plant and herbal themes, I want to share a Youtube video I created with some of my favorite books with flower, plant and herbal themes. I discuss A Botanist’s Guide To Parties And Poisons on this video, and also Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary. Heads up – great book but because. of the darker tones not so cozy. But really good with lots of herbal themes.