Secure A Copy The Red Book Of Primrose House (Potting Shed Mystery, #2) Developed By Marty Wingate Provided As Audio Book

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, This was an entertaining, cozy mystery, Pru Parke is an England and has landed a dream job, She is restoring the gardens at an eighteenthcentury manor house, If only someone wasn't trying to sabotage her work by acts of vandalism and, if only, her employer would quit sending her emails filled with her latest "good ideas.
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Pru is busy working on restoring the gardens on a very short timeline, She is also trying to maintain a longdistance relationship with Inspector Christopher Pearse who is also massively busy in London, When vandalism turns to murder, Pru begins investigating to clear her employees and winds up putting herself in danger,

I had figured out the murderer early on but it was still entertaining to watch Pru investigate, The story was filled with interesting characters, Even the most minor, like the nosy neighbor, were wellrounded people,

I enjoyed watching Pru try to juggle her work responsibilities with her growing romance with Christopher, I also enjoyed seeing her work out her relationship with her newlydiscovered family, I think what I liked best was the the romance was between two fiftysomethings who had lives and histories that had to be balanced,

Fans of cozy mysteries and gardeners I don't know a dandelion from a petunia myself will enjoy this story, This was my first book by this author, and I liked the characters, the setting and the storyline, I didn't figure out whodunnit until just before the reveal, but that's not unusual, so I'm not going to hold that against the author or the book :

However, I would really have appreciated knowing that this is bookin a series before I started reading it.
As a diehard "read a series in order" reader, I would not have requested an ARC of this book had I known there was a book before this one.
Goodreads does not even indicate that it is part of a series at all, let alone that it's book,

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, sitelink com/article/th

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Jeanie

The Red Book of

Primrose House is a thoroughly enjoyable novel by Marty Wingate, the second in her series entitled Potting Shed Mysteries.
I did read the first one,The Garden Plot, and feel that one can read this without reading the first one, You wont want to miss, however, the exciting mystery and interesting characters while learning more about the richness of British history,

Pru short for Prunella Parke found the position of her dreams as head gardener at the historic Primrose House property about an hour outside of London.
She has several months to restore the gardens as close to the original plans as possible per the Red Book as prepared by the historic landscape architect, Humphry Repton.
It was fascinating to learn that Repton really was a landscape designer inth century England, and his detailed drawings and notes for each garden were prepared and given to the owner of the respective property in his Red Books.
Pru and the current residents of Primrose House would add personal, contemporary touches to the gardens that would not detract from the original intent,

Pru was born and raised in Texas, Her mother was from England and relocated to America after meeting her future husband, Prus father, Pru was unaware of any family on her mothers side of the family, but she hoped to find if there was anybody who might remember her mothers family.
Her search during her precious few free hours bring a surprise that is one of the very last things she could have anticipated!

Her life affords little time for romance, yet romance blooms in the form of Inspector Christopher Pearse, met in the course of a previous investigation.
His occasional presence as they find occasional weekends for him to visit becomes a lifeline literally,

As she hired and worked with assistants and local vendors, challenges occurred that ranged from vandalism to the gardens and landscape materials to the current residents sudden change of ideas to incorporate into the design.
The vandalism suddenly changes course when a vicious murder occurs in the garden, Frustrated with the local investigators, Pru keeps eyes and ears open, especially when someone is arrested in whose innocence she believes, And as she continues to work on completing the garden on time and help free the wrong suspect, she learns, too late, about another red book this one deadly.


This wellwritten, extremely wellplotted mystery is a fascinating novel, I particularly enjoyed learning that elements of the story have historic roots no pun intended and how landscape architects could pass on “asbuilts” long before the days of computers, design software, and plotters.
The characters are threedimensional, several of whom seem to have hidden motives as Pru attempts to resolve the vandalism, then the murder, I did not anticipate the actual murderer or the one responsible for the vandalism, having considered, then disposed of, those solutions, If I could have done anything differently, I might have have the murder occur earlier with less vandalism to built the suspense a bit more quickly, It might have been enjoyable to see a sketch, or several sketches, that laid out the overall garden plan to be able to picture, for example, where the terrace is, where the walls are, where the focal point that the current residents continued to toss out ideas for are since these are part of everyday activity.
Overall, I absolutely enjoyed the novel it satisfies the enjoyment of a cozy mystery as well as an interest in elements of history and more than a hint of romance.


I highly recommend this novel to adults of any age who enjoyed The Garden Plot, those who appreciate Britishstyle mysteries, unexpected plot twists, and engaging characters.


OBS would like to thanks the author and TLC Book Tours for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review,