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A Catmint Cottage cosy English village garden mystery with a ginger cat sleuth
I inherited a cottage, a nursery, and a murder. In that order.
My name is Flora Reed, and until three weeks ago, I was a London copywriter whose greatest horticultural achievement was killing a cactus. Then a solicitor's letter arrived informing me that my estranged grandmother left me Catmint Cottage Nursery in the Oxfordshire village of Heatherford. The pictures showed climbing roses, charming stone cottages, and what the estate agent called "tremendous potential."
What they didn't show: the leaking roof, the mountain of debt, or the ginger tomcat on the doorstep who clearly believes I'm the help.
Marmalade -- yes, that's actually his name -- has opinions about everything, particularly my gardening skills. Or lack thereof. When he keeps pouncing on one section of the antique rose beds, I assume he's spotted a mouse. Instead, I find the body of Gran's former part-time gardener sprawled among the roses, very thoroughly dead.
The police call it a tragic accident. The village calls it gossip gold. I call it suspicious, especially when I discover someone's been forging Gran's signature on land sale documents and my polished cousin Imogen keeps pressing me to sell the nursery to a "heritage trust" that seems awfully keen to pave over the gardens.
Between dodging my neighbour's exploding irrigation systems (Dr Percy's eco-inventions are... enthusiastic), getting reluctant crime-solving advice from Rowan Vale the reclusive thriller writer next door, and trying to keep Marmalade from investigating every compost heap in Oxfordshire, I'm supposed to solve a murder, save a business I don't know how to run, and work out why Gran left everything to the granddaughter she barely spoke to.
The killer thinks a city girl with no gardening experience will be easy to scare off. They've clearly never met a stubborn copywriter with something to prove. Or a ginger cat with a talent for finding bodies.
Perfect for readers who love:
• Cosy British village mysteries
• Ginger cat detectives with attitude
• Cottage garden and nursery settings
• Amateur sleuths starting over
• Clean mystery with proper puzzles
• First-person narration with humour
• Found family and community
Welcome to Heatherford. Mind the roses -- they bite.
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