Thursday 27 August 2020

Mums and Mayhem (A Magic Garden Mystery #3) by Amanda Flower

Mums and Mayhem (A Magic Garden Mystery #3)

A famous fiddler has been kilt. A magic garden's left to wilt. Does Fiona Knox's father hold the guilt? Will florist Fiona's blood be spilt?


World-famous fiddle player Barley McFee arrives in blustery Bellewick, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, for a grand homecoming concert organized by jeweler Bernice Brennan. Fiona Knox, owner of the Climbing Rose Flower Shop, is starting to regret volunteering to help with the concert. Bernice is an exacting taskmaster, and Fiona has enough tension dealing with her parents, who have traveled from Tennessee to visit Fi and her younger sister, Isla, and to reveal a secret about Fi's birth. But when Barley is found dead in his trailer during the concert's intermission, and his death is shockingly tied to Fiona's father, Fiona discovers there are more secrets surrounding her family than she realized.

Much to the chagrin of handsome Neil Craig, Chief Inspector of the County Aberdeen Police, Fiona delves into the case to clear her father's name. To make matters worse, Fiona learns that Duncreigan, the magical garden that she inherited from her godfather, is dying. At some point during the concert, someone broke into the garden and cut the centuries-old climbing rose--the source of the garden's magic--from the standing stone.

The stakes are higher than ever and Fiona could lose all that she's grown unless she's able to dispel this terrible curse and dig up the truth--fast.  (Summary via Goodreads)



Readers cannot help but fall under a spell when reading the Magic Garden Mystery series by Amanda Flower.  Once you open one of the books in this series, you will be swept away to the little village of Bellewick in Scotland and you won't want to leave !!

There is so much to love in this little village.....you have main character Fiona Knox who moved there from America after inheriting her godfather's property.  This property included a quaint little cottage and a beautiful garden and inside this garden is magic.  Fiona doesn't quite fully understand the magic behind the garden other than that after her godfather died, he left everything to her and she is now the new Keeper of the garden and she possesses the magic to keep it alive.

In Mums and Mayhem, the third book in the series, Fiona and her garden are tested to the full extent when a fiddler player who has come back to Bellewick to perform his coming home concert is killed during intermission, the entire garden dies and Fiona's father ends up a suspect in the murder !!  

Fiona's parents came to Scotland to see Fiona and her sister Isla and hopefully to tell Fiona a secret regarding her godfather and why she was chosen to be the Keeper of the magical garden.  Before Fiona even gets to see her parents she has to help with Barley McFee's homecoming concert.  When he doesn't reappear after intermission is over, Fiona is sent to his tour bus to get him.  Unfortunately she finds him dead in the tour bus and when she finds out that her parents have lied about knowing the fiddler and her father is a suspect in his death, she takes it upon herself to investigate.  Even though her boyfriend is the Chief Inspector and will not be happy with her.....

Mums and Mayhem is full of secrets that need to be told but the holders of the secrets are just as determined to keep them secret as Fiona is to bring them to light.  Once Fiona sees that the magical garden is completely dead, she begins to question everything about why she was picked to tend to the garden in the first place.  Unfortunately her parents are now the only people who can shed any light on that matter but it seems they don't want to share that secret.  

Even though her parents are being secretive and frustrating to Fiona, she still has to clear her fathers name because she knows that he wouldn't have killed Barley....even if he lied about knowing him.

I just love this series and am so glad that I have been able to read all three books in the series.  I can only hope that there will be more and more books to follow.  I love traveling to Bellewick and hanging out with Fiona in the garden, Duncreigan, and her flower shop, The Climbing Rose Flower Shop, and when she visits her friends and the pub.   Who couldn't use a little magic in their life ??  And when they don't have to leave the comforts of their home and can wear their comfy clothes, even pajamas, who wouldn't want to do it ???  I highly recommend the Magic Garden Mystery series...whether you believe in magic or not, you are sure to enjoy the story !!!!


Review by Missi M.


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