The Rhyme of the Magpie by Marty Wingate + a Giveaway

Hello, all! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Marty Wingate's The Rhyme of the Magpie. Wingate, the author of the Potting Shed mystery series, kicks off her new Birds of a Feather series with Rhyme.

Julia Lanchester has split with her father. It's all thanks to the fact that he decided to remarry just six months after the death of Julia's mother. To her mother's best friend, no less. Julia had been working as his assistant - the famed Rupert Lanchester is the host of a popular nature program - but left to take a position with a tourism office instead, cutting off all contact with Rupert. But when Rupert shows up for an unannounced visit just before his new wife calls to say that he's gone missing, Julia is concerned. And when the body of a man her father has been known to butt heads with is discovered nearby his cabin retreat, she knows she must find out what's going on.  

Marty Wingate has temporarily set aside the Garden Shed mysteries to begin a new UK based cozy series her with the first Birds of a Feather outing.Fans of the Garden Shed stories will find a lot to like in Julia and this new series. Rhyme has the same charm of the other series, but features a younger heroine with a different set of family issues. And of course the focus on birding and environmental issues rather than gardening.

The tone of this first outing is quite similar to Wingate's other series. While I would have liked to see something that stands out just a bit more from the other works, I found Rhyme no less enjoyable than Wingate's previous mysteries.

Fans of cozies - set in the UK in particular - should really give Wingate a try. Her stories are great fun to curl up with!

Rating: 3.5/5

There is a tour wide giveaway courtesy of the good folks at Alibi for this one. To enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter below:

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To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

The Red Book of Primrose House by Marty Wingate + a giveaway

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Marty Wingate's second Potting Shed Mystery, The Red Book of Primrose House. Do note that there is a tour wide giveaway with this one. Be sure to read through to the end to enter.

When we last left Pru, she had just been hired on as head gardener at Primrose House. It was a position she'd dreamed about for ages. And not only that, it allowed her to stay in England and it was close enough that she and her new love interest could still manage a relationship.

Pru couldn't be more excited about her new position as head gardener of Primrose House. The current state of the gardens is... well... pretty awful, but Pru is bolstered by the discovery of Humphrey Repton's original Red Book for the estate. The book, something Repton was known for, outlined all of the man's plans for the grounds and will allow Pru to bring them back to their original and historic state, with a  little twist. A local journalist plans to chronicle the restoration through a series of blogs, but with each new installment something on the estate is vandalized. At first it's small - the primroses, specially ordered for Primrose House, are demolished in what could have been a rabbit spree. When an old shed catches on fire and then the yews are mangled, everyone agrees it's something much more sinister than hungry bunnies. 

Then one of Pru's staff is found murdered. Though the authorities are certain the killer is in hand, Pru knows they couldn't be more wrong. 

As with the first installment, The Garden Plot, Wingate once again brings readers a quirky cozy packed with fun characters, gardening history, and suspense. It's a blend that I quite enjoy - especially the gardening history (I'd wondered where the title came from and was pleased that it was explained early on in the book - it's the kind of interesting factoid that sends me searching for more info!).

I thought this one had a bit of a rough start, though, with a few minor hiccups in the narrative. Nothing major, just that the writing didn't seem quite as smooth in transitioning us from London to Primrose House and the early days of Pru's relationship.

All in all, though, this is a series that I find I'm really looking forward to continuing.

And now for the giveaway:

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To see more stops on the tour be sure to visit the official TLC tour page here.

The Garden Plot by Marty Wingate + a Giveaway

Hi, everyone! Today I'm part of the TLC book tour for Marty Wingate's The Garden Plot. There's also a tour wide giveaway with this one so do be sure to read through to the bottom to enter.

Pru Parke is in a precarious position. After interning at one of England's famed gardening spots and honing her skills to compete with her UK counterparts, she's given herself a year to find a position that will allow her to stay in England. With her year almost up and no solid job in sight, she's afraid it might be time to throw in the towel. In the meantime, she's keeping her hopes up and taking any garden job she can find, which is why she takes on the job at the Wilson's. A garden grown rampant and in need of an expert hand is a dream come true for Pru. But when she discovers a body in the Wilson's garden shed, that dream turns quickly into a nightmare. 

Generally, but admittedly with a few exceptions, you've probably noticed that cozy mysteries aren't my cup of tea. When I heard about Wingate's debut, though, I was more than a little curious. A Texas ex-pat and a garden theme set in England? I thought I'd give it a try - and I'm certainly glad that I did!

The Garden Plot is cute - bordering on being just a bit too much so for my taste but it's saved by Wingate's obvious knowledge of England and gardens as well as the added Roman history. Because a big part of the plot hinges on the possible discovery of a Roman artifact, this element is really very interesting.

I liked Pru and her various friends and acquaintances. There's just enough quirkiness to balance out the lightness for a jaded reader like me (I'm really not that bad, I just have a tendency to gravitate towards darker mysteries in general). And it's set in the UK - I'm a total sucker for that anyway :)

It was fortunate too that this one came up in my reading schedule when it did because I was suffering a massive book hangover thanks to Quebert and the best way to overcome that issue seems to be reading something completely different. With the exception of the murder, you kind of can't get much more different than Wingate's first Potting Shed mystery. There is a second book in the works and I will be looking forward to following more of Pru's adventures!

(As an aside, I've so far really enjoyed each of the titles I've reviewed from Random House's Alibi imprint. If you haven't yet checked them out, they do have something to satisfy every flavor craving in the genre!)

And now for the giveaway. To enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter below. Time is short so don't wait! As I mentioned this is a tour wide giveaway so if you've already entered on another stop there's no need to re enter here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the TLC book tour here. And for more on Marty Wingate and her books, you can visit her website here.