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    The Garden Plot
    The Garden Plot
    The Garden Plot
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Garden Plot

    Written by Marty Wingate

    Narrated by Erin Bennett

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Pru Parke always dreamed of living in England. And after the Dallas native follows an impulse and moves to London, she can't imagine ever leaving-though she has yet to find a plum position as a head gardener. Now, as the sublet on her flat nears its end, the threat of forced departure looms. Determined to stay in her beloved adopted country, Pru takes small, private gardening jobs throughout the city.

    On one such gig in Chelsea, she makes an extraordinary find. Digging in the soil of a potting shed, Pru uncovers an ancient Roman mosaic. But enthusiasm over her discovery is soon dampened when, two days later, she finds in the same spot a man's bludgeoned corpse. As the London police swarm her work site, ever inquisitive Pru can't quite manage to distance herself from the investigation-much to the dismay of stern Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Pearse. It seems that, much as he tries, even handsome DCI Pearse can't keep Pru safe from a brutal killer who thinks she's already dug up too much.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 1, 2016
    ISBN9781515973959
    The Garden Plot

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    Reviews for The Garden Plot

    3.5/5

    42 ratings10 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The Garden Plot was a perfect cozy mystery. Set in England, the characters were well-drawn and likable. The mystery keeps you guessing and the story moves along at just the right pace. A little romance is thrown in and in cozy tradition, you are sure all will be well by the last page. I enjoyed this story very much and hope to read more from this author.
    • 3/5
      Pru Parke moved from Texas to England to pursue her dream of being an English gardener. She found an affordable home to sublet and began accepting odds and ends gardening jobs. She gave herself one year to find her dream job, but that year is almost up. Mrs. Wilson offers her an opportunity to transform a neglected garden, but Pru finds a mosaic appearing to date to the Roman period in the garden's shed when she digs. When she comes back the next morning, she discovers a body. She becomes a little too involved in the investigation and finds she enjoys the inspector's company. Will her nosiness get her in trouble? Will she find a job, or will she return to Texas?I enjoyed listening to the audio version of this book. It was the perfect type book for my commute to work. While the book is not without fault, the recurring characters are enjoyable. The solution did not seem all that realistic, and the author needs to work on developing some lines into red herrings. Hopefully the next installment will improve.
    • 4/5
      This is the first book in the Potting Shed Mystery. I had read the others in this series, but missed the first one so went back and listened to this one. Pru Parke wanted to find out if she had any family in England, so she gave up her job in Dallas, Texas and gave herself a year to live in England and find a permanent job as head gardener at a private estate, Her hope was to be able to stay in England permanently. When her mother died, she had no family left in the U.S. so felt that England was where she was meant to be. When she is working on designing a garden that has become overgrown, she stumbles upon a mosaic on the floor of the gardening shed. The next day, she finds a body.

      Author Marty Wingate has created a character who is somewhat naïve and even gullible at times. Pru ends up helping the detective, Chief Inspector Pearse, and someone thinks she knows more than she does. The mystery was very well constructed initially, but began to slow down somewhat in the middle of the book. There was a lot going on that seemed irrelevant, but ends up that they were clues to the murderer. The relationship which developed with Detective Chief Inspector Pearse was a nice addition to the plot and allowed Pru to have access to some information that might not have been so easily obtained. The gardening information is well done in the novel for those readers who are interested in gardening and yet not overdone to be a deterrent for readers uninterested in the subject. Hopefully future books will continue to allow the reader to be an armchair traveler to other great gardening and historical sites through England. I did enjoy this story and there is a wide scope for subject matter to be featured in future novels. This is a nice cozy mystery series for those who enjoy the English setting and more staid mysteries.
    • 3/5
      Pru is from Texas but her mother was English. After the death of her parents there is no reason to remain in Texas and she moves to England as she has wanted to do for a long time. A trained and experienced gardener, she is giving herself one year to find a permanent position as Head Gardener at an estate. When the book begins, her year is almost up and she is still taking whatever gardening jobs she can find. It's not for want of trying, she has sent lots of resumes out and has received many no thanks letters in return.One afternoon while starting work in a new customer's garden she goes into a shed and finds two interesting things, a partially uncovered mosaic in the dirt floor that looks Roman and a dead man's body in a corner. The characters are well developed, dialogue good and I learned the English names for several plants I know by other names. I also liked the tie to Roman art and history. Otherwise it's pretty much written to the cozy formula but it's a fun plot and a nice diversion from real life.
    • 4/5
      Gardener Pru Parke is hoping to start a new life in England. She is hoping for a job at a historic property, restoring an historic garden, but jobs are hard to come by. Pru has been able to pick up a few private clients, including a couple who have hired Pru to redo their back garden. In the course of digging, Pru discovers potential ancient Roman artifacts. Amid the excitement of possible Roman ruins, a dead body winds up in the back yard, and Pru discovers it. As the murder investigation progresses Pru is also dealing with a strange sense that someone has been in her house, as well as the ever-stressful campaign to find a permanent job. I understand that this was WIngate's debut novel, and it's a really good first book. The mystery is solid and doesn't suffer from the cliches that often plague cozy mysteries. I love the setting in the world of English gardens. The romantic elements don't overwhelm the mystery. They're understated. Very British. I will definitely continue to read this series. I've seen other reviewers say that this book is a cut above the average cozy mystery, and I wholly agree.
    • 4/5
      I constantly complain about cozy mysteries – and I keep on reading them. Anyone wanting to bring up the "definition of insanity" quote can just pipe down, thank you. And see, this book is why I keep trying them. I was cautious at first, and only downloaded a sample at first – but I liked it. And then I spent more than I really expected to to buy the complete book (I tend to resent any Kindle book that costs more than about five dollars), but … I liked it. (Insert very old Life Cereal commercial here.) The tale concerns an American expatriate, who has in her early 50's walked away from her life in Texas to start over in her mother's homeland, England. That was a big step toward winning me over, since I plan on doing the same thing one day, though not, as she does, as a gardener. And right there are some of the reasons why this works where other cozies fall flat: Pru Parke is a unique heroine (in other words, she's not a lovely blonde twenty-something, and yet she's also not in any food service industry). While it's still so unlikely as to be statistically impossible that she will run into enough corpses to constitute a series, at least her occupation leads her into varied settings and allows for easier suspension of disbelief. More to the point, I liked her. I liked her worries about how she was going to pull off her dream, which begins to look less and less likely. I liked her work. I liked the whiff of ineptitude in her detection – it's annoying when an ordinary citizen turns out to be a better detective than the pros on her first time out. And it's also rather nice that I learned something: I never really picked up on the fact that there is a difference between American and English robins. "American robins are blackbirds," she said, and added to explain, "Well, what Americans call robins are quite close to blackbirds here, only with red breasts. We don't have these little guys." - And she's right. English blackbirds are identical in silhouette to our robins. English robins are so very much cuter…
    • 3/5
      This was a nice, light read and I enjoyed the characters quite a lot. 3.5 stars. Pru Parke, gardening American expat in England, was easy to root for and I felt happier than I probably should have that she finally received an acceptance letter for full employ and housing than I probably should have been. The actual murder took a while to happen and get off the ground and once it did, there were the usual things that happen in cozy mysteries that string out the solution. I didn't mind. Pru was pretty active as a sleuth but admittedly she wasn't very good at it but as this was her first go round, she did well to my mind and I'd enjoy reading her adventures again. I also liked DCI Christopher Pearse as a character and liked the relationship they forged around the case as he kept reminding her that she wasn't an officer and she kept putting her spoke in. It was funny. I also loved the portrayal of the creey, nosy neighbor, Malcolm. Very vividly rendered. The culprits were pretty clear before the reveal but only because there literally couldn't have been anyone else responsible. They were well hidden in the story but it wasn't a surprise when the reveal happened. It was easy to see how Pru didn't see it coming but to the reader, who can see the whole scheme, it's clear to see that what seems unrelated is very much relevant. I would definitely read the next book in this series and would recommend it to cozy mystery fans or anyone looking for a weekend read.
    • 5/5
      Pru Parker is an American with two passports. Her Mother was English and her Father an American. Pru is a professional Gardner and Landscape designer. When her Mother die's she decides to follow her dream and move to England for one year. In the hopes she can get a job at one of the many Historical Gardens. So far no luck but she has gotten some jobs in private homes. But when she stumbles upon a dead body in one of those homes she finds herself drawn in. When we meet Pru for the first time she is on the last month of the year she had given herself to find a permanent job in England and she is fast running out of money. She has some friends in England but her Dallas friends plus an old boyfriend want her to come home. She can even get her old job back. But England s more home to her to her than Dallas ever was. Does she stay or go back to Dallas? A well written little murder mystery . I look forward to reading more books by Marty Win gate.
    • 3/5
      Pru Parke, an American gardener and landscape designer, has given up her former life in Dallas to live in England. Pru had lost her mother and had just ended a long-term relationship. Here she was a middle aged American woman in a foreign country, working in a competitive field doing odd jobs as a gardener. She desperately wants a permanent job as a head gardener at a small historic garden. She felt energized, but scared to death. A murder happens and Pru becomes very involved. And the story unfolds ---I really liked Pru's personality, a fun character who was wonderfully portrayed. However, I wasn't able to connect to most of the other characters, finding the relationships too shallow. I did find the Chief Inspector to be rather interesting.The author launches into the story with the prologue which immediately grabbed my attention. Unfortunately the momentum failed to pick up again until well into the book. The storyline fell flat and I lost interest. The Garden Plot was a fast and easy read and had some interesting twists and turns along the way. I did enjoy the gardening aspects of the story, finding them interesting and informative. Unfortunately, I found the book to be just lukewarm and not one I would enthusiastically recommend. 3 stars.I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Marty Wingate has written a delightfully "English" novel, that just happens to also be a mystery. Pru Parke is an extremely sympathetic character. She has become an expert in English gardens. She knows plants and bothhistorical and contemporary English gardens. And she loves everything English. After her mother died, she took her mother's English maiden name. Now after living and working in Texas for nearly 50 years, she is living her dream in England as a gardener. Actually, she is doing gardening jobs as she can get them, while constantly applying for a full time position as a gardener. Pru is intelligent and hard-working and very friendly. The people she meets are eccentric. The house she sublets is filled with odd noises. The murder she encounters is more complicated and convoluted the farther she and the friendly inspector delve into it. For anyone who enjoys comfortable English novels, or a bit of mystery, this is an excellent choice.