From Garden to Grave

The Leafy Hollow Mysteries, Book 1

By: Rickie Blair

Narrated by: Petrea Burchard

Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

Murder. It’s a perennial problem.

Verity Hawkes is a shut-in. After two years bunkered in her apartment, the only thing that gets her out is the disappearance of her beloved but eccentric aunt. As she takes over her aunt’s landscaping shop, she’ll need to go from hoarder to horticulturist in a hurry....

Her new home of Leafy Hollow is quaint, except for her most obnoxious client. When a series of freak accidents kills the customer, all signs point to Verity as the killer. 

The hunt for answers is on, and Verity must question a tipsy carpenter, a bacon-peddling vegan restaurateur, and her dreamy landscaping competitor to keep her new life afloat. Failure to find the truth could put her back in a confined space for much more than two years....

From Garden to Grave is the first book in a series of delightfully funny cozy mysteries. If you like lovably quirky characters, deceptively idyllic Canadian villages, and twists you won’t see coming, then you’ll love Rickie Blair’s Leafy Hollow Mysteries series. 

Buy From Garden to Grave to plant a new seed of mystery today!

©2018 Barkley Books (P)2019 Barkley Books

Very satisfying cozy mystery

I'd give this 4.5 stars if I could. It started off a little slowly, but picked up well. The author has a very understated sense of humor - in some places I laughed out loud. The narrator, Petrea Burchard, is a very gifted voice actor. She created distinct and appropriate voices for each of the characters, so it's always clear who is speaking. When I closed my eyes and listened, I was completely carried away.

Cozy mystery, good story & narration

Verify goes to clear up her presumably dead Aunt's estate. This cozy mystery has murder, current & past. The uncovered secret life of her Aunt, small town rumors, a financially challenged landscaping business, a falling down cottage, & several possible villains. I look forward to listening to the next book in this series.

I was given an ARC, but voluntarily left this review

very good

Different, fun and funny. I like that there are really 2 mysteries here. The characters are great and the "whodunit" keeps you guessing.
Looking forward to the second book - can't wait to see what's next in the big mystery.

Surprisingly Entertaining

From Garden to Grave is a new cozy mystery series with entertaining characters and a well plotted mystery. Verity Hawkes is smart engaging and quirky. She's has hidden depth which makes her interesting. The plot is well written with lots of twists and turns and a quick pace that kept me interested. I didn't figure out the resolution until the end. I strongly recommend this book.


I received this book for free in exchange for an unbiased review.

Loved, Loved, Loved It!!

This book was excellent! I like cozy mysteries and listen to them regularly, but mostly because they are easy to listen to without having to think very hard. This book, however, was definitely one of the best cozy mysteries I’ve ever heard. It had mystery (really two different ones) and humor, and even a touch of sadness. The humor was awesome. I laughed out loud several times while listening. The narrator was excellent. I even liked her men’s voices, which is usually awful coming from a woman. She enunciated well, pronounced the words correctly, put the right emotions and inflections in at the right times, she was all-around fantastic. I received this book for free from Audiobook Boom in exchange for my unbiased opinion. It took a lot for me to leave this review because I’ve already purchased the next book in the series and am in a hurry to go listen to it.

Review from Garden to grave

I have read all the books in the series except for the very first one. I was excited to get it on audible. I love listening to books on audible! I thought the narrator did an excellent job!! There’s enough going on with the plot to hold your interest. I would consider this a cozy mystery as there’s no major violence or sexual scenes. This genre is one of my preferred genres for reading or listening. I also enjoyed seeing how Verity met all the people (& animals) in her life that continue on through the next books in the series. It’s also nice to get a little backstory to Verity before she moved to Leafy Hollow! Enjoy!!

Great series!

I can't believe i haven't tried this series before now! Verity Hawked is a recluse but the disappearance of her aunt has her travelling to her home to find her. She ends up against her will taking over her aunt's landscaping business but ends up in over her head. Due to some crazy accidents she ends up becoming a suspect in a murder. She must come out of her shell and track a killer before she's next! This book had me chuckling out loud quite a few times and I fell in love with the characters. I will definitely be reading this entire series!

Entertaining

From Garden to Grave is the first book in the The Leafy Hollow Mystery series by Rickie Blair.

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narration.

Verity Hawkes is having a difficult time and things get off to a rough start when she returns to Leafy Hollow to see about her missing aunt.

Her aunt’s home is rundown and she has to deal with that as well as trying to save her aunt’s lawn care business.

There is an interesting twist/cliffhanger at the end of the book and Kim anxious to read the next book to see what happens.

The one complaint for me is that I don’t like it when the protagonist puts herself in dangerous situations and in this case they actually did something illegal. I’ll hoping it doesn’t continue in future books.

I received a free audio review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Light, enjoyable cozy mystery

Verity Hawkes has been hiding out in her apartment in Vancouver for two years, ever since her husband, Matthew, died. Now she's gotten a call from her Aunt Adeline's lawyer, Wilford Munson. Adeline's car was pulled out of a river, and while Adeline wasn't in it, neither has she turned up anywhere else. She's missing and presumed dead. And recluse Verity needs to come to tiny Leafy Hollow, Ontario, to settle her aunt's estate, right now.

Reluctantly, Verity takes her first trip in two years.

Her aunt's Rose Cottage, which she remembers so fondly, is in very sad shape. Her aunt's garden has clearly been neglected longer than Adeline has been missing. Her lawn care business is alive, but in the red, because Adeline hasn't been going after unpaid invoices in a while.

This is not going to be the short trip and then back into hiding in her Vancouver apartment that Verity has hoped for. Something is very wrong, and she's not at all convinced her aunt is dead.

Soon, while continuing to believe that she's absolutely going back to Vancouver as soon as possible, Verity is making friends, forming connections, doing small, helpful things for people, getting caught up in trying to run her aunt's business effectively. And, of course, trying to figure out why her aunt disappeared.

The first part of the book had me jumpy (like Verity, I do have anxiety issues), with events that seemed to happen just a little bit too quickly and randomly. Then either the book settled down or I did, and became quite enjoyable. Even across this rather short book, characters grew and developed and showed more depth than seemed likely at first meeting. By the end, I really wanted to see more of most of them.

Recommended for a light read.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

lots of characters

this was lots of fun. interesting characters. great narration. can't wait for the next audiobook.

A book you can enjoy anywhere

Wow, I just loved this book and hope the next book is released soon because I want to find out what happens next. The characters were fun and I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the aunt. The small facts and secrets that Verity found out added a little something to the story and gave a little twist to what promises to be a great cozy mystery series. It also had me chuckling in a few places.
When Verify's Aunt disappears in leafy Hollow, she has to leave her apartment after two years and face her fears to travel to the sleepy town. When she arrives things are not quite what she is expecting, her aunts cottage is run down and her garden business is in trouble. Verity doesn't believe her resourceful and eccentric aunt can be dead and decides to stick around and keep things going for her aunt until she returns. The problem is Verity doesn't know anything about gardening and her first job doesn't go well but it turns even worse when the client turn up dead. It turns out Leafy Hollow isn't so sleepy and as Verity was the last person to have a shouting match with the victim the police are taking a closer look at her. Can Varity solve the disappearance of her aunty? Or more importantly dig up clues that will stop herself from being arrested?
The narrator was good and I liked her use of vocals for all the characters.
All in all I liked this book and I highly recommend it, in fact I am going to suggest my mum listens to it too.

Brilliant

I loved this audio book. Great characters and brilliant storyline.
I highly recommend this book.
Good narration.
❤️😍🤩🤪

An entertaining murder mystery,

I found it a bit silly at the start and wasn´t sure if i would like it, but by chapter 3 i started getting in to it and by the end of the story I loved it. This novel is very well written, easy to read and fun characters which i found easy to imagine. Full of twists and turns and some laughs too.
Definitely recommend reading or listening too.
This review is based on an audio book I received from Audiobooks Unleashed and wanted to give an honest review.

Okay, I'm hooked.

This book was my first taste of Rickie Blair, and already I'm hooked enough to want to read more of this series.
At times comedic, as real-life can be, the Author lures the reader into the mysterious and serious goings-on after Aunt Adelaide's strange disappearance.

The narration was spot-on and wasn't even dented by the unconvincing Northern English accent that was called for in one of the characters. In fact, Petrea Burchard made listening quite a pleasure.

Brilliant book

Brilliant storyline enjoyed this audio book very much
Love every minute for the storyline
Must buy