Member Reviews

I think Jake may be my all time favorite character ever!! This book was so cute with such a fun mystery. Can't wait for the next in the series!!

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This is a fun, quick read. In it, we are introduced to Julia Bird, who is relocating after a divorce. Early in the book, she meets a new friend--while out walking she comes upon a woman walking dogs and one of them is not as controlled as the rest. When she learns that the poor pup=-Jake--isn't going to make the cut as a companion dog, Julia ends up with him. The setting is entertaining and cozy, too--you get to learn lots about the village and its inhabitants. All seems to be going well until Julia finds a body buried in her back yard.

This promises a great start to a new series. I'm looking forward to the next one!

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An English Garden Murder is the first Julia Bird village cozy mystery by Katie Gayle. Released 5th May 2022, it's 254 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The other two books in the series are also currently available on KU.

This is such an engaging modern village cozy with a genuinely appealing female amateur sleuth who's in her late middle age, intelligent and earnest and generally well meaning. Despite a long career in social services in London, a recent divorce (her husband married the gardener), and other major curveballs, she maintains a mostly positive outlook on life. Having acquired a cozy cottage in a cozy village in the Cotswolds, she's ready for the next adventure which includes a cozy garden with some chickens. What she wasn't planning on was discovering skeletal remains under the garden shed she's had pulled down to build a chicken coop. It doesn't take long until more crimes are uncovered and she discovers that life in a village might not be more peaceful and crime-free than in London.

The author has a deft touch with humour and there were lots of scenes which surprised a grin or giggle out of me. The characters are well rendered and (mostly) believable within the allowable framework of the genre. I was particularly impressed by the dialogue which flows well and freely. The usual small town eccentric characters are present and the plot moves along at a good pace.

I also liked that instead of the usual trope-y antagonistic and incompetent local police force, protagonist Julia has an unexpected ally in the form of young DI Hayley Gibson. They strike up a surprisingly good cooperation to solve the mysteries.

The main mystery is self contained in this volume, so it works well as a standalone. There are currently three books extant in the series making it a good candidate for a long weekend binge read or buddy read. Genuinely well written and fun to read.

Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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A brilliant start to a series. I love cosy murder mysteries. I am very excited to read more in this series.

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Wonderful. Quirky. Fun. An addictive cosy mystery that's so hard to put down. Beautifully written and sharply observed. Loved it.

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⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was an entertaining start to a new English cozy mystery. Julia Bird, divorced, retired, and recently of London, moves into a picturesque Cotswolds cottage to start the next phase in her life. When a body is discovered under her shed, things get complicated...

I enjoyed this one a lot. The setting was quaint. The characters are likable. It had a cute dog. The mystery was well plotted and kept me guessing. A fun read from start to finish. I can't wait to see what this author has in store for these characters in the next book!

**ARC Via NetGalley**

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Cozy mystery fans looking for a new series to get their teeth into need look no further than Katie Gayle’s fabulous Julia Bird mysteries, which kicks off with the addictive first installment, An English Garden Murder.

Julia Bird has left her old life in London behind for a fresh start in a gorgeous village in the Cotswolds. Julia is immediately charmed by her new home and cannot wait to become part of village life, but no sooner has she started making some arrangements to her cottage that she finds a very nasty surprise: a dead body belonging to a young woman who has been residing under her old garden shed for decades! With Berrywick not being a bustling metropolis, Julia soon realises that if she wants this mystery to be solved, then she will need to turn detective herself. With her adorable puppy Jake in tow, Julia begins to get to know her new neighbours and immediately realises that they all have got something to hide!

As Julia begins to do some digging, she is soon convinced that she has the culprit in her sights – until Jake makes another terrifying discovery that puts her back at square one: her chief suspect has been found drowned! Julia is worried that she will never solve this murder, but life in Berrywick is full of unexpected surprises and if Julia wants to solve this mystery, then she must watch her step because there is somebody in the village who has killed twice already and who is willing to do whatever it takes to keep their identity a secret – including killing Julia who is getting far too close to the truth…

M C Beaton fans will be bowled over by Katie Gayle’s latest mystery, An English Garden Murder. A fun read that delivers everything readers could possibly want from a cozy mystery, An English Garden Murder is a witty and delightful crime novel full of delicious red herrings, rural mischief and bucolic charm that is impossible to put down.

Julia Bird is a wonderful heroine. She is smart, inquisitive, kind-hearted and gutsy and I am already excited about what she will get up to next!

Cozy crime fans looking for an enjoyable and entertaining British mystery are not going to want to miss out on Katie Gayle’s fantastic new crime novel, An English Garden Murder.

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This cozy mystery is the first of the Julia Bird series. I loved getting to know this eclectic cast of characters as the well crafted mystery unfolded. Dead bodies accumulate as Julia maneuvers her way through village life. As the suspect list grows, Julia learns that a quaint village holds secrets from the past that could be deadly. This cozy was very entertaining with a dash of humor. I look forward to the next book in this engaging series. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

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After entertaining cozy mystery readers with the Epiphany Bloom series, Katie Gayle is back with a brand new cozy mystery series, this time set in a Costwold village of Berrywick. So far I have only read about Costwold in romance books but in this book it becomes a scene of secrets and dead bodies as Julia Bird, a recently retired social worker, finds out when her dream of living the quiet, peaceful and mundane country village life gets shaken after discovering not 1, not 2 but 3 dead bodies, one being unearthed from under the shed of her own recently purchased property!

With a whole new plethora of interesting characters and a very cozy setting (minus the bodies), this is another series I am sure I will enjoy very much.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture and the author Katie Gayle for the e-Arc of the book.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

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Release Date: May 5, 2022

📖📖📖📖📖

Julia is moving to the country for a fresh start and the small village of Berrywick seems ideal. But when Julia discovers not 1, not 2 but 3 dead bodies she starts to look at everyone in the village with a bit of side eye. Along side her new friend DI Inspector Hayley Gibson, she pieces together the puzzle. Can they figure it out before the body count rises again?

This book is the introduction to Julia Bird and her investigative prowess. I thought the author was delightfully cheeky making Julia a fan of the #epiphanybloommysteries and referencing it. I really enjoyed the small village, quirky characters and the seemingly non nonsense Julia. I LOVE that the police presence in the book is female and not the romantic interest. It’s a fun new twist. There is an overarching storyline that I’m very invested in finding out more about! I would highly recommend this book!

#juliabirdmysteries #katiegayle #Anenglishgardenmurder #englishgarden #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #cozymysteryseries #bookouture

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This book ticks all the boxes of a classic cosy read. If you love crimes committed in chocolate box villages of the English countryside you can’t go wrong with this read. While it’s fairly easy to guess the murderer early on, the quirky cast of characters and pace make for an easy and enjoyable read. Huge thanks to the author, Katie Gayle, and publisher, Bookouture, for this advance review copy. Views my own. 4*

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I found myself really enjoying this book. The main character, Julie, is intelligent and quite likeable. She has recently retired to a charming little cottage in the Cotswolds and decides to get to work and truly make it her own. As she's doing some hard work, she tears down an old shed, unfortunately finding the remains of a young woman. Julie decides that she wants to find out what's happened. This charming little cozy is filled with so many wonderful characters and I enjoyed the author's detailed descriptions of the village and the inhabitants. Fun read.

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Really lovely cozy crime featuring newly retired social
worker Julia Bird, who has moved to an idyllic country village. Within days she is making friends and finding bodies. Having befriended the local DI Julia is embracing some detecting of her own, while juggling her naughty puppy and the building of a chicken coup in her garden.

Highly recommended and another great series to follow I hope, as Julia Bird definitely has the promise to be a character who could feature in more tales from the village.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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I love the Katie Gayle “Epiphany Bloom Mysteries”, so I was so excited when my friends at Bookouture wrote about a new series that Ms. Gayle (or should I say Ms. Gayles?) is writing, featuring a, what I’ll call, “middle aged”, recently divorced woman (Julia Bird) who ends up solving mysteries in a small English town (why do we not have quaint villages full of mysteries here in the US like the British do??). I loved this story, which read like a modern day Agatha Christie. Well-plotted and well-paced, I didn’t want to put it down. If you like cozy mysteries, you’ll love this one!
thank you for my copy!

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I really liked this book! The main character Julie is smart and likeable. She has retired to a charming cottage in the Cotswolds and gets to work making it hers. Upon tearing down an old shed she finds the remains of a young women. Julie gets to work to find out what happened. So many wonderful characters and the description of the scenery was exquisite.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

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This book has all the elements of a classic cozy murder mystery, set in a picturesque English village where newly divorced, newly retired Julia Bird has just moved in. When dead bodies keep popping up around her she finds herself in making her own investigations as she gets to know the villagers and the local detective on the case. If you like a challenging whodunnit you may be a little disappointed but if you like feeling smug working out the murderer early on, this is the book for you. A real page turner; I read it in 2 sittings. You'll fall in love with many of the main characters and I for one will be looking out for Julia's next adventure

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An English Garden Mystery is the first book in the new Julia Bird Mystery series, a delightful cozy mystery. Julia Bird has recently purchased a small cottage in the village of Berrywick in the Cotswolds, She is making a big change in her life after a recent divorce ad retiring from her stressful and emotional job as a Social Worker. One of the first things she does is adopt a chocolate lab puppy, Jake, who has failed out of Guide Dog training. Second thing is to get chickens, but she needs a coop built. When her shed is knocked down to make way for the coop, Brendan, the grandson of the builder uncovers a skeleton. Suddenly she is the talk of the village. The skeleton is old, but then she finds a second body, an older woman who has recently had some issues with some of the villagers. With her garden being a crime scene, and the local police being run ragged, Julia decides to do some investigating on her own.

This was a great start to this cozy mystery series. I loved Julia's character. She has had some major life changes and is really adapting well. Not being used to sitting around and doing nothing, Julia is out and about walking Jake and checking out the village. She is friendly, has a keen sense of observation, and is a good judge of people. I enjoyed seeing how she and DI Hayley Gibson moved through their tentative mistrust to friendship and eventually reluctant partner. Berrywick is full of quirky characters that add to the humour in the story. Jake is a hoot. A puppy that seems to find trouble wherever he goes, but oh so lovable. There also seems to be a possibility of a romantic interest for Julia. The mystery was well developed, with several suspects, some red herrings and a surprise ending. I really enjoyed An English Garden Murder and will definitely pick up the next book in the series.

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This book was an enjoyable read. It had personable characters and a good plot. It fit well into the cozy mystery category as it was set in a small English town and had an amateur sleuth, in this case retired social worker, Julia Bird. I highly recommend this book to other cozy mystery readers.

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Julia Bird chose this quiet Cotswald village for its rustic charm, the quiet, the feeling that it would be
ideal for her unplanned retirement. She did not think she would find a dead body on the first day that she moved into
the cottage.

The body discovered buried in her garden shed for over twenty years is now a crime scene. She cannot get on
with her plans for having chickens and a chicken coop till this mystery is solved. Trying to solve this in a
village where secrets can remain hidden forever and where the residents can clam up against "outsiders" is
legendary. This is very much so as getting information out of the villagers is near impossible. People "know"
stories and hints abound but getting them connected is the issue.

A typical cosy, this was very pleasant reading. Descriptive of the area and its inhabitants. The shops, the
library and the villagers all made up for a very nice read.

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‘An English Garden Murder’ by Katie Gayle is the story of Julia, a recent divorcee whose husband has left her for the gardener. Now living in the Cotswolds, Julia is trying to move on and start a new life. A quiet life. But when a body is found buried in her garden a quiet life is the last thing she is going to get. The local police force is spread extremely thin, so Julia finds herself investigating the murder – and becomes embroiled in more than she bargained for. As she gets to know her neighbours, and becomes mum to a wayward puppy, the ex-social worker finds her skills from a previous life in London very useful. Will she be able to catch the killer before anyone else gets hurt?

Katie Gayle has a delightful touch, marrying the quaintness of village life with humour and kindness. Julia is a likeable character, with determination and grit. She wants to become a part of the community – just not in quite the way it turns out. She has seen everything in her life in London social work, so is not phased when death turns up on her doorstep. This charming and well-written cosy mystery has an ideal setting, believable characters and the potential for many more stories. I really enjoyed it and was delighted to find that there’s more Katie Gayle books in the offing.

I was given this ARC for review.

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