Marigolds for Malice

Poppyville is preparing for its Wild West Days celebration, and the local historical society has been excavating a site tied to the town's founding. What comes out of the ground is a body, and it is not an antique one.

Elliana Allbright, perfumer and proprietor of Scents and Nonsense, is pulled into the investigation once again. Her enchanted garden and her instinct for scent give her a way of reading people and places the official inquiry lacks, and the trail runs back through Poppyville's own history to the reason someone would kill to keep it buried.

Published in 2018, Marigolds for Malice is the third Enchanted Garden Mystery and a cosy in the traditional mould: a small California town, a close cast of neighbours, a corgi, and a murder solved without gore. It follows Daisies for Innocence and Nightshade for Warning.