This fun, engrossing book takes a look at the surprising influence that gardens and gardening have had on mystery novels and their authors. With their deadly plants, razor-sharp shears, shady corners, and ready-made burial sites, gardens make an ideal scene for the perfect murder. But the outsize influence that gardens and gardening have had on the mystery genre has been underappreciated. Now, Marta McDowell, a writer and gardener with a near-encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, illuminates the many ways in which our greatest mystery writers, from Edgar Allen Poe to authors on today’s bestseller lists, have found inspiration in the sinister side of gardens. From the cozy to the hardboiled, the literary to the pulp, and the classic to the contemporary, Gardening Can Be Murder is the first book to explore the mystery genre’s many surprising horticultural connections. Meet plant-obsessed detectives and spooky groundskeeper suspects, witness toxic teas served in foul play, and tour the gardens—both real and imagined—that have been the settings for fiction’s ghastliest misdeeds. A New York Times bestselling author herself, McDowell also introduces us to some of today’s top writers who consider gardening integral to their craft, assuring that horticultural themes will remain a staple of the genre for countless twisting plots to come. “This book is dangerous. A veritable cornucopia of crime fiction and gardening lore, it faces the reader with multiple temptations—books to seek out, plants to obtain, garden tours to book.” —Vicki Lane, author of the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries

“Readers who enjoy plants and offbeat tales will find Brown’s book a happy mix” (Publishers Weekly). Mankind has always had a morbid fascination with poisonous plants. Over the centuries, poisonous plants have been used to remove garden pests—as well as unwanted rivals and deceitful partners. They have also been used for their medicinal qualities, as rather dangerous cosmetics, and even to help seduce a lover when perceived as an aphrodisiac. Some of these and other uses originate in a medieval book that has not yet been translated into English. This book delves into the history of these plants, covering such topics as: How shamans and priests used these plants for their magical attributes, as a means to foretell the future or to commune with the gods How a pot of basil helped to conceal a savage murder The truth about the mysterious mandrake A conundrum written by Jane Austen to entertain her family—the answer to which is one of the plants in this book These stories and many more will enlighten you on these treacherous and peculiar plants, their defensive and deadly traits, the facts behind them, and the folklore that has grown around them.

Literary chef Tish Tarragon is preparing her English Secret Garden-themed luncheon for Coleton Creek's annual garden club awards, but two days before the event one of the competitors is found dead in his pristine garden. After hearing that he was the favourite to win the top prize this year, Tish can't help being drawn into the investigation...

Welcome to the Mountain Valley Garden Club! First line of business: find out why one of the garden clubs members is murdered at the first garden club meeting of the year. Mountain Valley is a quiet, horse friendly community, with hitching posts throughout the town, and colorful flowers woven in the towns countryside surroundings. One can stop at The Big Bean for a steaming cup of coffee, and swap gardening tips with a neighbor. One may even be sipping a latte, unknowingly chatting with a murderer, or sharing a muffin with the woman who makes it a habit of having affairs with other womens husbands. There is a good looking new police chief in town, and his first major case is to find a killer. Former police chief, Brice Johansson, has shared his suspicions with the new chief, which might be helpful in solving the homicide. Supposedly, Candace Hatcher, the town divorcee, is looking for a new husband. Can she perchance be dating the murderer? Is it even conceivable the murderer is one of the towns prominent senior citizens? Who knows what dark secrets lurk in the small town of Mountain Valley?

The star of public television's top garden show, Louise Eldridge is something of a celebrity. But when a dead body is planted in her backyard, she's in for notoriety of a different kind. . . Summer is the season for disquiet in Louise's Sylvan Valley cul de sac, and the tradition continues when an uninvited guest crashes a neighborhood soiree. Five years ago, Louise identified Peter Hoffman as the "mulch murderer." Now he's been released from a Virginia state mental institution. Leaving the party doesn't put enough distance between Louise and Hoffman, who has a thing or two to say to her—and actually has the nerve to follow her home to air his grievances. Shaken by the incident, Louise and family decide to take a little R&R at the beach in the hope that Hoffman will have moved on by the time they return. When they get back from vacation, Hoffman's moved on all right—but not in quite the way Louise had hoped. He's been missing for seven days, and Louise is the one who finds him. . .buried beneath her native azalea patch. Things go from bad to worse once the police learn that someone saw Louise planting one of the nights she was supposed to be out of town. With suspicion buzzing around her, she starts doing some snooping among her friendly—and not-so-friendly-neighbors, including high-powered attorney Mike Cunningham, who may have had a shady business deal going with Hoffman; Hilde, an apprentice gardener with something to hide; and Hoffman's own widow, whose relationship with her husband wasn't exactly a bed of roses. But before Louise can make any serious headway, another murder victim turns up—felled by a garden claw covered in Louise's fingerprints. Now, with more than just her television career in jeopardy, Louise will have to dig up some serious clues to bring a killer to light—before another person winds up as fertilizer. . .

Meet Prunella ‘Pru’ Parke, an American gardener who digs up murder and mystery wherever she goes. Dallas girl Pru’s always dreamed of living in England — a country of lush green gardens, endless drizzle and ruggedly handsome groundskeepers. She moves to London on a whim, to find that no one in the city wants to hire her. Except for wealthy Vernona Wilson, who’s quite desperate to be rid of her unsightly old potting shed. Pru dusts off her spade and gets to work, under the watchful eye of a snooping neighbor. She expects to dig up dirt. But nothing like this. An ancient Roman mosaic and a bludgeoned body. Whose secrets has she stumbled on, buried in the soil? Dishy Detective Christopher Pearse is on the case. But Pru can’t wait for him to piece it all together. Not when there’s a brutal killer out there who thinks she’s already dug much too deep . . .