The mystery itself was interesting in the beginning, but it was rather quickly ruined in 2-3 paragraphs towards the end when the guilty party just plops down all the detail and information about the murder with little prompting. On top of that, the characters were rather flat, and only seemed to exist as their stereotype; the strong, stern cop, the kinda cooky grandma, and the divorced, 100% helpless ex-trophy wife. She can't even start a stove.

I feel like, with more time, the characters could have taken away from the plot a little less, and the story could have had potential.

Last month I read a few cozies that were not exactly what I had hoped I would get out of the genre. I started reading them for small-town feels and quirky, lovable, real characters. I'm afraid to say the few I read in May didn't exactly fit those vibes. So I was a little bit wary when I first started reading [b:Arsenic in the Azaleas|42650429|Arsenic in the Azaleas (Lovely Lethal Gardens #1)|Dale Mayer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541551563l/42650429._SY75_.jpg|66392557].

I'm happy to report this novel was the new look at the genre that I needed this month. I loved Doreen as a character. She was cute, funny, and relatable, and she had true motivation and appreciation for everything she did in the novel.

[b:Arsenic in the Azaleas|42650429|Arsenic in the Azaleas (Lovely Lethal Gardens #1)|Dale Mayer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541551563l/42650429._SY75_.jpg|66392557] starts off with the main character, Doreen, moving to her grandmother's house in her small Canadian town after a toxic marriage ends in an ugly divorce. Just after moving in, she discovers a dead body on her porch.

As in a lot of cozy mysteries, she tries to look at the case and figure the culprit out for herself, but she doesn't do this in a reckless or dangerous way, in contrast to a lot of cozy mystery heroines. She knows when to step back and let the police handle their job, but she can't help being in the wrong place at the wrong time, nor can she stop herself from finding interesting clues while cleaning out the old house she's inherited.

One thing that made this novel infinitely better was the three pets. There was Goliath, the cat she inherited with the house, who has a love-hate relationship with her Bassett hound Mugs. Mugs is the one who actually discovers most of the disturbing evidence, and insists on Doreen knowing about it. And then there's Thaddeus, the talking African Gray parrot who always says everything twice, starting with "Body in the garden. Body in the garden." He was easily my favorite, and he was great comic relief when the crime was at its worst.

I also hate to say it, with everything that's going on with the police violence in the real world, but the officer Mack was another one of my favorite characters. Although he chastised Doreen often for her involvement, he seemed to not really mind, and they work well together. I kept seeing him as Hopper from Stranger Things. Also, and again I feel bad for saying this with the current climate, but I really hope Doreen is on the force by the end of the series.

Speaking of the series, I definitely want to get my hands on the next book. I really want to see what Doreen and her hilarious animal family do next. And, I'm really rooting for a relationship between her and Mack. I will definitely look to see where I can find [b:Bones in the Begonias|43258124|Bones in the Begonias (Lovely Lethal Gardens #2)|Dale Mayer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545093284l/43258124._SY75_.jpg|67132290] at a low price. This was good and laugh-out-loud hilarious at a time when I needed something to put a smile on my face.

Cute premise in theory, packed with things to like:

- fresh start
- small town (a nosy one at that)
- funny animal sidekicks
- dead body turns up early in

Still just, poor writing and an overall extremely slow pace made it pretty insufferable. The female lead states a billion times (in a small /short read) that "all lawyers" are scum/evil/bad, etc. just because she experienced one bad one. So the reader is supposed to believe that she's a full-grown adult, capable of basic things like feeding herself and living on her own, caring for pets, etc. but that she is so incredibly stupid she believes things like that. It ward hard to take it seriously. Between that and the slow pace just ... not for me.

Read this as a book club selection - the protagonist is a twit and I really didn't care for any of the characters in the book. Not the worst book I've ever read - and far from the best.

Free cozy mystery from Book Bub. Main character was pretty annoying and unbelievable. Equal parts clueless but then also clever?