Title: A Sprinkling of Murder
Author: Daryl Wood Gerber
Series: A Fairy Garden Mystery #1
Publisher: Kensington
Release Date: June 30, 2020
Pages: 304
Book Source: NetGally
“Since childhood, Courtney has loved fairies. After her mother died when Courtney was ten, she lost touch with that feeling of magic. A year ago, at age twenty-nine, she rediscovered it when she left her father’s landscaping business to spread her wings and start a fairy garden business and teashop in beautiful Carmel, California. At Open Your Imagination, she teaches garden design and sells everything from fairy figurines to tinkling wind chimes. Now she’s starting a book club tea.
_ _
But the light of the magical world she’s created inside her shop is darkened one night when she discovers neighboring dog-grooming business owner Mick Watkins dead beside her patio fountain. To make matters worse, the police suspect Courtney of the crime. To clear her name and find the real killer, Courtney will have to wing it. But she’s about to get a little help from an unexpected source …” – Amazon
Kim’s Review
A Sprinkling of Murder is a fabulous start to A Fairy Garden Mystery series by Daryl Wood Gerber! I had just finished a different cozy mystery that was just okay and what makes the difference between that one and a great cozy is showing not telling when it comes to the story, characters I could see myself being friends with in real life and wanting to come back book after book to read what is going on in their lives, and a hobby or town that is talked about in detail. Gerber does all three of those things perfectly in A Sprinkling of Murder.
Getting to know Courtney, her friends, the fairies, and the pets (there were as many pets as people… if not more!) was very enjoyable. Courtney has a great community in her little village and the fairies and fur babies added another level to it all.
There was no jumping right into the story with a love interest which is a nice change of pace. And even better, for a moment I thought there might be a love triangle, but I was happy to see that potential mate was already with someone else by the end of the book. Courtney isn’t hooking up with a police officer or someone on the newspaper staff so I’m looking forward to seeing how Gerber deals with that in future books, since so many authors have their amateur sleuth getting help from people in those professions in their book series.
One of the things that draws people to cozies is the hobby or cooking that the series centers around, and learning how to make fairy gardens is such a fun concept. I am super excited to take the knowledge I gather from A Sprinkling of Murder and make one (or many!) for my backyard.
Disclosure: Some of the links we use are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.