Green Thumb

I have garden designs in my head. I love pouring through seed catalogs, gardening magazines, and Pinterest, looking at all the lovely plants and imagining them in my yard. While I enjoy reading and dreaming about my garden, I don't actually do much with it. Sadly, I tend to neglect my houseplants and most die of thirst. As for the yard, I tend to let things fend for themselves. Perhaps that's why I enjoy the gardening cozy mystery. I get to think about the garden while others do all the work!

Gardening cozies feature, of course, gardeners. Most are professionals working as landscape designers, florists, or people having other, similar careers. Many of these books also include gardening tips.

Looking for an educated look at plants? Want a unique gardening shop in which to putter around? Check out The Peggy Lee Garden mysteries by Joyce and Jim Lavene. Peggy Lee is a botanist who owns a garden shop in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I love the scent that engulfs you when you enter a florist shop. If you can't make it to your local florist, why not try a fictional one? Kate Collins pens the Flower Shop mysteries. Set in New Chapel, Indiana the series features Abby Knight, owner of Bloomers Florists. Bretta Solomon also owns a flower shop, the Flower Shop, in River City, Missouri in the series by Janis Harrison.

Nina Quinn is a landscape designer with a difference-she does surprise garden makeovers in the Nina Quinn mystery series by Heather Webber.

In Virginia, near Washington DC we find Louise Eldridge, an organic gardener who becomes the host of a PBS gardening show on TV in the series by Ann Ripley. While Louise is close to Washington DC and politics (her husband is a CIA agent) Casey Calhoun is even closer. She's a gardener for the White House in The White House Gardener mysteries by Dorothy St. James.

Garden Clubs are great ways for gardeners to get together. They're also a way to find murderers. Alisa Craig gives us the Grub-and-Stakers series which takes place in Lobelia Falls, Ontario, Canada while Susan Wittig Albert takes us back to the 1930's in Darling, Alabama with the Darling Dahlias.

As outdoor gardening is coming to a close for the season, at least in my part of the world, now is the perfect time to pick up a gardening mystery. I hope you'll give one a try!

Currently Reading...

I'm currently reading The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose by Susan Wittig Albert. This book is the third in her Darling Dahlias Mysteries. The mysteries take place in the small town of Darling, Alabama and revolve around a group of ladies who belong to a gardening club, The Darling Dahlias. In addition to being a gardening mystery, it is also a historical mystery taking place in the 1930's.

The Historical Cozy

     Ever wish you could travel in a time machine? While we may not have a Tardis at our disposal, we do have books. It's not only history books that can teach us about the past; cozy mysteries open all different time periods up for our exploration-and we don't have to worry about giving up indoor plumbing!
     Probably one of the first cozies I read was a historical cozy-Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters, the first Amelia Peabody mystery. To this day it is one of my favorite series, and fortunately for everyone, it's a long running one. The series starts in the "supposedly enlightened decade of 1880" (Peters Crocodile on the Sandbank) and introduces us to Amelia Peabody, an Englishwoman who has just inherited a tidy sum and decides to travel to Egypt. This series gives us a great picture of Victorian Egypt, humor, and a bit of romance. The first book was published in 1975 with the most recent addition, the 19th book in the series, published in 2010! Elizabeth Peters imbues these books with historical accuracy as well, she actually is an Egyptologist!
     I love when I discover non fictional characters in fictional works. Amelia Peabody meets up with several "real" people, Howard Carter, for instance. This feat is also accomplished in Robin Paige's Victorian/Edwardian Mysteries. While the main characters are fictional, every book has them meet a notable figure of the time; Rudyard Kipling, and Lillie Langtry, for example. The series takes place in England from the mid 1890's to 1903.
     Sometimes the main character is a true historical person. Beatrix Potter stars in the The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter by Susan Wittig Albert.
     Although the Victorian time period is one of my favorites, never fear, there are lots of other eras to be found in cozy mysteries. What about the Great Depression in the United States? Check out The Grace and Favor Series by Jill Churchill. Fancy a look at WWII England? Try The Manor House Mysteries by Kate Kingsbury. Rhys Bowen writes two of my favorite historicals-Molly Murphy is an Irish immigrant who becomes a private investigator in turn of the century (20th century that is) New York City in the Molly Murphy Mysteries while Lady Georgiana is a member of the royal family (she's 34th in line for the throne!) in 1930's England in the Royal Spyness series.
     Perhaps you'd prefer something a little more recent. What about the Murder a Go-Go series by Rosemary Martin? This series features Bebe Bennett in 1960's New York City. Something a little further back? Try Margaret Frazer's Dame Frevisse series; she's a medieval nun in England (Dame Frevisse is the medieval nun, not Margaret Frazier).
     Whatever time period you decide to explore-I know you'll have fun, and you just may learn something as well!