Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Body in the Garden

While this book was longer than it needed to be, like most mysteries are, I still found it immensely entertaining. The writing is sharp, the characters intelligent and likable, and the mystery — not particularly strong, but at least somewhat unusual. The most enjoyable aspect of this book is the portrayal of friendships — there are several of them here: old, new, past, budding and ending — and I enjoyed them all.

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bamboopanda's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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blewballoon's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I went into this with low expectations, I just picked the audiobook from the ones I had available because the narrator seemed alright. I ended up enjoying this very much! If you like Pride and Prejudice and you like Sherlock Holmes, you will probably enjoy this too. The characters were interesting and complex, they brought a lot of life to the story and added more to the stakes. Lily is a great protagonist, not just a gender-flipped Sherlock Holmes, she has her own personality and tendencies. The author did a good job of illustrating how quick witted she is, while also giving the reader enough information to keep up with Lily and feel satisfied by her realizations and how she handles a situation.

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bookwyrmknits's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This is an enjoyable series starter, with just enough believability that I didn't object when most of the sleuthing took place. Lately I have learned that I enjoy historical mysteries, even when I don't know enough about the era to know when the author is playing fast and loose with the facts. (That said, I greatly appreciated Schellman's historical notes at the end of this volume.) This one was fun, with enough similarity to other Regency novels I've read that I was able to slip back into a familiar genre and just enjoy the ride.

Content note: While this is a murder mystery, the death is not described in much detail. The book itself is not quite a cozy mystery, but the level of detail surrounding the death (aka the lack of gore) is very similar to that genre.

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