Cozy Mystery Garden

Ever since her husband’s affair, Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen has taken a sabbatical from men. The 30-ish divorcée is content to tend her farm and gain a bird’s-eye view of the neighbors from her perch as small-town postmistress. Yet when a hunky city slicker comes to town with no clue about farming, she’s happy to show him the ropes. When pieces of a dismembered body crop up around Crozet, however, the wary townsfolk reckon the handsome stranger is the culprit.

When the owner of a new business digs up buried bones on opening day, the rumor mill in Spicetown comes alive! Figuring out who the bones belong to will open up the cold cases in Spicetown and unearth all the old gossip that was never truly buried. Cora Mae and Chief Harris learn a few things about their fellow citizens along the way.

After helping the captain solve his long overdue case, Doreen’s reputation is well and truly cemented in Kelowna. That’s proven out when a young woman is murdered in her own apartment, and the police start looking at the boyfriend. With the town on edge, this young man seeks out Doreen’s help to prove his innocence.

In this gardening competition, some will win a prize while others get pruned… When amateur sleuth Lena Larsen agrees to host New Oslo's prestigious garden show at her Victorian home, she expects competition to be fierce. She doesn't expect it to be fatal. But after a renowned delphinium breeder is found dead among the prize-winning blooms, Lena finds herself cultivating suspects instead of flowers. With her grandmother's ghost offering commentary from the sidelines (that only Lena can hear), her best friend Charlie serving up local gossip with the tea, and a handsome sheriff who's learned...

Doreen knows her relationship with the police captain has always been on thin ground. She has helped them solve a lot of cases, but she’s quadrupled their work and constantly gets in their way. So no one is more surprised than Doreen when the captain stops by and asks for a personal favor, concerning a cold case from his own childhood.

Who knew a simple trip to the consignment store would find Wendy being strong-armed by two strangers? So not allowed—especially as it could affect Doreen getting her month-end check! Trying to get to the bottom of this is one convoluted story to sort out. Corporal Mack Moreau is not at all happy with Doreen’s new male friend, Bernard, who has the money to keep her in the style she was accustomed to. However, Mack is happy Doreen is staying out of his cases. If only she could stay out of trouble! Then again, Doreen can find trouble like this without any effort on her part.

Tempers flare at the Garden Fair. But it’s not about the floral competition. Politics and a land dispute cultivate a murder. Can she weed through the lies before someone else dies? Massachusetts, 1932. Aggie Burnside volunteers for what she thinks is a routine community event but soon finds out she’s in the middle of a heated partisan rivalry. She’s trying to stay out of the conflict, but when a County Commissioner is killed and her father’s cane is the murder weapon, everything changes. Was it a disgruntled constituent, a zealous volunteer, a protective parent, a political ...

An innocent garden fence construction spirals into a chilling mystery when Della discovers her friend Jim, cold and lifeless, amidst the incomplete project. His death, determined to be from strychnine poisoning, thrusts Della into an emotional whirlwind of mourning and mystery, compelling her to sift through a perplexing web of potential culprits—from a disgruntled ex-wife and her lover to enigmatic strangers shadowed by sinister auras. Della's knack for solving crimes clashes with her intimate grief and Sheriff Jared's protective and romantic endeavors. Amidst the gripping local murder ...

Being a suspect in the murder of her ex-lawyer is not the fun Doreen thought it would be. And, of course, she’s been ordered to stay away from the case, but she can’t help being interested. So, she enlists Mack’s brother, Nick - her new lawyer - to help. Mack’s first priority is to clear Doreen as a suspect. No one in their right mind would seriously believe she’d done the deed, of course.

THESE WOMEN ARE GRAPES DRESSED IN RAISIN COSTUMES… That's Hilde, Emma and Vivien, inseparable friends... On a Mediterranean vacation in the coastal paradise of Vistabelle. But very close to them are murder and mayhem, lobsters and pink sand! Hilde, Emma and Vivien get to work. Appearing harmless, and adorable, they learn details the detectives could never get. Of course, they are not alone in this! Honorio, the elegant, sleuthy cat helps them in this dangerous adventure. Emma believes her late Uncle Roddy inhabit Honorio's body. Our witty friends keep their school spirit and sisterly ...

With Mathew’s murder done and dusted, and her future now wide open, Doreen turns to sorting out her financial world, particularly as her antiques are sold. And helping others is moving up her list of things she wants to do. Especially after finding a young woman who wants to get out of the streetwalker world and to move back home.

A fire breaks out in town, resulting in a tragic death, and Alice's brother, Blue Valley PD Officer Ben Maguire, and newcomer, Detective Luke Evans—who has an irritating way of making Alice blush—lead the investigation. When it is determined that the death was no accident, Alice, Franny, and Owen get pulled smack dab into investigating the case. Will they solve it before you do?

Doreen’s success at solving murders has hit the newswires across the country, but all Doreen wants is to be left alone. She has antiques to get to the auction house and a relationship with Corporal Mack Moreau to work out, not to mention a new friendship to nurture with Penny, Doreen’s first friend in Kelowna, and Doreen doesn’t want to ruin things.

After her ex-husband leaves her high and dry, former socialite Doreen Montgomery's chance at a new life comes in the form of her grandmother, Nan's, dilapidated old house in picturesque Kelowna...and the added job of caring for the animals Nan couldn’t take into assisted living with her: Thaddeus, the loquacious African gray parrot with a ripe vocabulary, and his buddy, Goliath, a monster-size cat with an equally monstrous attitude. It’s the new start Doreen and her beloved basset hound, Mugs, desperately need.

Tensions are high on the eve of the grand opening of Prive, an exclusive gourmet dining club that interior designer Meg Barrett played a large part in decorating. With just the well-heeled owners, the kitchen staff, and Meg gathered for the pre-opening feast, it seems that everyone in the small group is airing their grievances, with their most venomous attacks directed at the notorious sous chef.

Doreen loves gardens, all kinds of them. In the Okanagan, situated at the tip of the desert, water-frugal gardening makes sense. When Doreen sees a lovely xeriscaped garden from a drone video, she’s fascinated. When Mack mentions a mystery surrounding the property, she is mesmerized. Getting the details, however, is no easy feat. That’s because there aren’t many. But digging in and asking questions is something Doreen and her clan are good at, and it doesn’t take long to delve into the mystery in a big way—much to Corporal Mack Moreau’s disgust.

As shooting concludes on the season finale of the TV mystery Mr. & Mrs. Winslow, interior decorator and set designer Meg Barrett can feel the hostility in the air. The show's new director had already alienated the entire cast and crew, and now Meg's boyfriend, Patrick, was ready to throttle him for taking liberties with the script. Meg thought the director was a very lucky man to have gotten out of there in one piece—until a few nights later when she stumbles over his dead body.

The problem with notoriety is unfair expectations. When Mack’s mother Millicent Moreau requests Doreen’s help with a small problem she’s kept hidden for decades, Doreen feels obligated to help. And what harm could it do, after all? Worst-case scenario? It’ll annoy Mack, but that’s something she does on a regular basis, anyway.

Spending time with Mack is always fun, but, when Doreen overhears a conversation that sounds like a murder confession, he disagrees, … until a body shows up. Then he’s suddenly a whole lot more interested. The deceased young man had planned to attend the local college and had hoped to rekindle a relationship with an ex-girlfriend.

Karen Rose Smith presents Book 10 in the Daisy's Tea Garden Mystery series.