Murder in the Rain-Barrel Garden

A Willow Flats Cozy Mystery

By: Elise Maple

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A tipped rain barrel. Muddy footprints. A body no storm could explain.
When bookstore owner Amelia Pratt finds Dan Mathers facedown in the community garden after a violent hailstorm tears through Willow Flats, the scene feels wrong—too deliberate, too arranged. The rain barrel that supposedly crushed him is far too heavy to have toppled on its own. The police call it a tragic accident. Amelia disagrees.
Dan wasn’t just inspecting storm damage. He’d been asking questions. Taking photos. Making notes about things some people would rather keep buried.
Two names rise quickly to the surface. Sylvie Calder, whose family operation had recently drawn Dan’s scrutiny—and whose loyalty to her son runs deep. And Jackie Prentice, a fierce competitor who’d made no secret of her frustration with Dan’s “unnecessary paperwork” and unannounced inspections.
But the deeper Amelia digs, the more tangled the soil becomes. Inspection sheets disappear. Soil samples go missing. Rumors spread faster than facts. And someone is willing to use the chaos of another storm to cover their tracks.
The garden was meant to bring Willow Flats together.
Now it’s dividing the town, row by row.
And if Amelia isn’t careful, she may find herself planted squarely in the path of someone determined to protect their secrets—no matter the cost.