Death and Daisies (A Magic Garden Mystery #2) by Amanda Flower @crookedlanebks #bookreview #mystery

Title: Death and Daisies

Author: Amanda Flower

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Publication Date: November 13, 2018

Page Count: 308

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

National bestselling author Amanda Flower returns with her second floral Magic Garden mystery, perfect for readers of Paige Shelton and Sheila Connolly.

Florist Fiona Knox left behind her gloomy life for a magical garden in Scotland, but a murder on her shop’s opening day spells doom.

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 later (made a trifle less unpleasant by the presence of handsome Chief Inspector Neil Craig), 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 terribly 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 in Death and Daisies, national bestselling author Amanda Flower’s second enchanting Magic Garden mystery.

Death and Daisies by Amanda Flower is the second book in the cozy A Magic Garden Mystery series. Each book of this cozy mystery series has it’s own mystery to be solved within the book so they could be read as a standalone if choosing to do so. However the characters personal stories do carry over from book to book so reading in order is always best.

Readers were introduced to Fiona Knox in the first book of the series when she got a call from a lawyer in Scotland informing her that her godfather had passed and she would be inheriting his estate. Within days of receiving the call Fiona’s fiancé ran off with the cake decorator and her flower shop went out of business so what better to do than hop on the next flight to Scotland and claim her inheritance.

Now Fiona feels like she’s getting her life back on track in Duncreigan, Scotland becoming the caretaker of her godfather’s magical garden and cottage and opening her own shop. However, the parish minister Quaid MacCullen is not a fan of Fiona and the magical garden she’s inherited and makes that fact well known so when he’s found murdered Fiona ends up a suspect and needing to clear her name.

While I haven’t been able to catch up with all of Amanda Flower’s cozy mysteries I have however really enjoyed the ones that I have read and this was no exception. This series takes readers to Scotland and mixes in a touch of magic making it a unique read but along with likable characters and a solid mystery it’s definitely a series I’ll keep coming back to to see what else is in store.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

Amanda Flower, a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. She also writes mysteries as USA Today bestselling author Isabella Alan. In addition to being an author, Amanda is a librarian in Northeast Ohio. This is her second Magic Garden mystery.