Discover this new series of murder and mayhem. This charming cozy mystery will leave you scratching your head with its twists and turns.Be enthralled by Dotty and her friends’ laugh out loud adventures.Out of work Dotty starts up a gardening business. She unearths more than she bargains for in the shape of human bones.Who is the body in the garden?Can Dotty and her friends get to the bottom of … and her friends get to the bottom of the mystery?
Together, they expose secrets and lies that rock the close-knit community.
Everyone’s peace is about to be shattered.
This is the prequel to the Dotty Drinkwater Mystery Series.
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This is a fun cozy mystery about 3 friends, Dotty, Rachel and Kylie. They are helping out with yard work when they come across the remains of a human in the garden. The police are called in, of course, but the young women decide to keep investigating. They learn about a home that has since closed down, but had been used for people with mental and emotional problems. It also housed unwed mothers. People in the town are strangely silent about the home, which peaks the friend’s interest.
They eventually find enough information to make some good guesses and further their own investigation. This is a quick read, a prequel to book 1 in this new series. I enjoyed it, although there are some English terms that I haven’t come across before.
I received an advanced reader copy of this novella and I am writing this review of my own free will.
A morning or afternoon is all that is needed for this family-friendly mystery about Dotty Drinkwater and her friends, Kylie and Rachel, who meet at the Strawberry tea rooms every Saturday afternoon (with exceptions) as Dotty embarks on a gardening business.
Sorry but at my age this was a bit to chick lit for me. Also being a British book there was a lot of younger generation terminology that I had to guess at. The mystery was okay. The ladies however managed to get them selves in trouble but at least they stuck together and no one went alone.
What a cast of characters!
In this introduction to the Dotty Drinkwater Mystery Series, I really enjoyed meeting the main cast of three quirky twenty-something BFFs that are as entertaining although as different as they can be. Whether you personally relate to them or not, I found their characters to be believable. I liked the occasional humorous antics and interactions of the BFFs as they worked together to solve the mystery.
The subject matter of the mystery could be emotionally distressing for some readers in that it centers around mental health issues and also the way unwed mothers were treated less than sixty years ago.
Recognizing this is a prequel to a series, I understand the author spending a great deal of the book introducing the characters in lieu of in-depth plot development. Had it been a numbered book of the series, I would have subtracted a star for plot development.
This book was part of a free e-book giveaway promotion from a collection of Cozy Mystery Writers; but this review is my voluntary and honest opinion.
This book has a clever plot. I loved the character’s and how the author lets them relate to each other. I was glad I got to read this book. I want to read more from this author! This story makes you think a lot about life too!
An Entertaining and Thought-provoking Read
August 26, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
I expected this story to be a lighthearted and entertaining read but it turned out to be all that and a great deal more. The tale of Dotty and her two bff’s is full of mystery and intrigue…as well as some wicked humour but it also has more sinister and somber undertones. It delves into the inhumane treatment of unwedded mothers and people suffering from mental health challenges in the not so distant past. This aspect of the story had a deep emotional impact on me and added a whole new dimension to the story. All in all I found it to be a book well worth reading and I think it will appeal to a large range of readers. Read as a free ARC but this review is voluntary and is my own unbiased opinion.