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A review by lolasreviews
Dead in the Garden by Dahlia Donovan
3.0
When I saw this book and found out it was a cozy mystery with a gay couple as main characters I immediately knew I had to read this one. I am pretty sure this is the first cozy mystery I heard of with a gay couple and the story sounded pretty interesting too. I would categorize it more as a cozy mystery first and a romance second as the romance doesn't get as much focus due to certain events.
Dead in the Garden is a pretty unique cozy mystery. The set-up doesn't follow the common pattern of a cozy mystery and I kinda liked the different approach. I had read a few reviews before I started this one so I already knew the murder wouldn't be solved in book 1 and I think this helped adjust my expectations. The pacing of the mystery makes a lot more sense if you know there are two more books before things get resolved.
There isn't a clear pool of suspects that you get to know early in the book like with most cozy mystery. In fact the main suspects you only meet toward the end and even then you don't get to know that much about them and the motive isn't clear. But as the mystery isn't resolved yet I find it hard to say much more about it at this point. The progressing was different from most cozy mysteries, which I liked, but it did take some time before we got some suspects and it doesn't quite feel clear who is doing this and why.
It made sense how Valor got involved in the murder, but at times it didn't feel like they were progressing much or that he was doing much. The biggest clues and changes actually were because of what the murderer did. Part of the puzzles he had friends help solve, which was nice to see he had help, although the puzzle wasn't as interesting as it got basically solved off screen and you couldn't solve it yourself. There wasn't as much snooping or talking with people, but more research and thinking about who would be behind this and piecing some clues together.
I thought it was a bit weird how they arrest someone without much evidence and continue to keep him for 3 weeks, I think it was, while the evidence keeps building and it seems clear he isn't the culprit. It also was just sad how this affected all the parties involved. There were also parts where things seemed to move a bit slow and it didn't fully keep my attention at times. For the most part it was a fun read tough.
I am not sure if I like how the story is broken up into three parts, as now you can try out the first part for cheap, but at the same time the story doesn't feel quite complete. And I am not sure if I am curious enough to buy the other two parts.
I liked the romance. It's an already established romance, which works here. Valor and Bishan seemed like a great couple and I liked how much Valor cared about Bishan and also worked with his autism well. We don't get Bishan's point of view, but he seemed to care about Valor a lot too, even tough he doesn't quite articulate it in the same way other do. i thought his autism was handled well form what I can tell. It also was a nice touch how Bishan was Indian and there are some mentions of his close knit family. And it's actually Valor's family who don't like him being gay and now don't speak to him anymore. The focus isn't really on the romance tough, due to events in the book they aren't together as much, but even with them separated it was clear how much they cared about the other.
I liked Valor as a main character, although I would've liked to get a better feel of his personality. It was a bit hard to get a full idea of his personality. I did like how he had a bunch of people who helped him and supported him. There are a bunch of fun side characters, who come alive to varying degrees. I felt like some of the side characters could use a bit more depth as I had sometimes trouble remembering who as who at times.
To summarize: all in all this was a fun start to this cozy mystery series. I liked how it had a gay couple as I haven't seen many cozies with a gay couple before. The mystery and how it progresses doesn't fall in the traditional cozy mystery pattern, which I kinda liked for the most part. The story is split in 3 parts, do the mystery doesn't get resolved here. It also takes some time before we get some suspects, which we don't get to know too well and the motive is still unclear too. The story didn't fully grab me at times, but for the most part I had fun reading this one and I am curious how the mystery will progress. the romance was sweet and well done, but the couple is apart for most of the book, so there aren't as many scenes with them together. I did like them both and they seemed to care about each other. I would recommend this if you're looking for an unique cozy mystery.
Dead in the Garden is a pretty unique cozy mystery. The set-up doesn't follow the common pattern of a cozy mystery and I kinda liked the different approach. I had read a few reviews before I started this one so I already knew the murder wouldn't be solved in book 1 and I think this helped adjust my expectations. The pacing of the mystery makes a lot more sense if you know there are two more books before things get resolved.
There isn't a clear pool of suspects that you get to know early in the book like with most cozy mystery. In fact the main suspects you only meet toward the end and even then you don't get to know that much about them and the motive isn't clear. But as the mystery isn't resolved yet I find it hard to say much more about it at this point. The progressing was different from most cozy mysteries, which I liked, but it did take some time before we got some suspects and it doesn't quite feel clear who is doing this and why.
It made sense how Valor got involved in the murder, but at times it didn't feel like they were progressing much or that he was doing much. The biggest clues and changes actually were because of what the murderer did. Part of the puzzles he had friends help solve, which was nice to see he had help, although the puzzle wasn't as interesting as it got basically solved off screen and you couldn't solve it yourself. There wasn't as much snooping or talking with people, but more research and thinking about who would be behind this and piecing some clues together.
I thought it was a bit weird how they arrest someone without much evidence and continue to keep him for 3 weeks, I think it was, while the evidence keeps building and it seems clear he isn't the culprit. It also was just sad how this affected all the parties involved. There were also parts where things seemed to move a bit slow and it didn't fully keep my attention at times. For the most part it was a fun read tough.
I am not sure if I like how the story is broken up into three parts, as now you can try out the first part for cheap, but at the same time the story doesn't feel quite complete. And I am not sure if I am curious enough to buy the other two parts.
I liked the romance. It's an already established romance, which works here. Valor and Bishan seemed like a great couple and I liked how much Valor cared about Bishan and also worked with his autism well. We don't get Bishan's point of view, but he seemed to care about Valor a lot too, even tough he doesn't quite articulate it in the same way other do. i thought his autism was handled well form what I can tell. It also was a nice touch how Bishan was Indian and there are some mentions of his close knit family. And it's actually Valor's family who don't like him being gay and now don't speak to him anymore. The focus isn't really on the romance tough, due to events in the book they aren't together as much, but even with them separated it was clear how much they cared about the other.
I liked Valor as a main character, although I would've liked to get a better feel of his personality. It was a bit hard to get a full idea of his personality. I did like how he had a bunch of people who helped him and supported him. There are a bunch of fun side characters, who come alive to varying degrees. I felt like some of the side characters could use a bit more depth as I had sometimes trouble remembering who as who at times.
To summarize: all in all this was a fun start to this cozy mystery series. I liked how it had a gay couple as I haven't seen many cozies with a gay couple before. The mystery and how it progresses doesn't fall in the traditional cozy mystery pattern, which I kinda liked for the most part. The story is split in 3 parts, do the mystery doesn't get resolved here. It also takes some time before we get some suspects, which we don't get to know too well and the motive is still unclear too. The story didn't fully grab me at times, but for the most part I had fun reading this one and I am curious how the mystery will progress. the romance was sweet and well done, but the couple is apart for most of the book, so there aren't as many scenes with them together. I did like them both and they seemed to care about each other. I would recommend this if you're looking for an unique cozy mystery.