Marigolds for Malice
Series: Enchanted Garden Mystery Book #3
Author: Bailey Cattrell
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Page Count: 336
My Rating:
Book Summary
In the third captivating Enchanted Garden Mystery from Bailey Cattrell, Elliana Allbright will need to dig up clues from the past to weed out a killer…
Elliana Allbright is happy running her perfume shop, Scents & Nonsense, in the charming town of Poppyville, California. And she’s even happier when she can use her inherited abilities to infuse her perfumes with an extra special something that eases woes or solves problems for her customers. But she’ll need those abilities and more when murder comes to town.
Ellie and her women’s business group, the Greenstockings, are helping to open a new museum about local history, and while sorting through the collection of artifacts they discover a time capsule from the days of the Gold Rush. Among the contents is a strange botanical manuscript, recognized by local history professor Eureka Sanford as extremely rare and valuable. When the professor is found dead in the museum, Ellie has no choice but to sniff out the murderer… but this one may have roots that are as old as Poppyville.
More Facts for Readers about our Sleuth:
Main Sleuth: Elliana Allbright
Physical Description: Hispanic female, (I can’t recall specific ancestral country, sorry!)
Business: Scents & Nonsense, Aromatherapist and Perfume Maker (storefront on the boardwalk)
Location: Poppyville, California
Pet: Dash, a white and tan Welsh Corgi, and Nabby, a gray cat
Love Interest: Ritter Nelson, former high school crush
Family: Grandmother and mother both passed but who are mentioned regularly. A brother, two half-sisters, a step-mother, and a father who live elsewhere in another state.
Cussing? No, soft words only
Diversity? Yes! Our sleuth is of Hispanic heritage and her grandmother is referred to a lot both in terms of culture, and in terms of inherited gifts. I don’t know that specifically either her ex-husband, current crush, or friends are of Hispanic descent, and honestly, it doesn’t matter much to me, but I think having diversity is important. The main detective Lupe Garcia is Hispanic and also very intelligent compared to her narrow minded male partner who reads to me like a typical white male.
My Review
I breezed through Book 3, “Marigolds for Malice” in the Enchanted Garden Mystery series by Bailey Cattrell and loved ever minute of it. Once again the cover art for the book is divine and very enticing, but I came back to learn more about main sleuth Ellie, her town Poppyville, and love interest Ritter. Things are going smoothly at “Scents & Nonsense” and the Greenstockings women in business group is hard at work thinking of tourist attractions as usual to pull people in. As they’re setting up the Heritage House museum, one of the items, an old butter churn, is actually a time capsule. It’s filled with interesting gold-rush era items and a mysterious picture of a woman who looks exactly like Ellie. When local author and historian Eureka Stanford ends up dead, the question remains – were these items really worth killing for?
I love a good story and with this novel you get two in one! There’s the historical story that unfolds around the items from the time capsule, and the main story about who killed Eureka. And once again we’re introduced to all new flowers and plants and their magical properties, as well as Ellie’s gift for intuiting and recognizing key clues throughout the plot. There’s a little romantic rivalry in this book as well – let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a tiny bit of a love triangle? This book is well written and highly detailed with again, plenty of suspects, motives, and clues. I’m already looking forward to book 4…
