Daisies For Innocence

Bailey Cattrell is also Bailey Cates is also Cricket McRae. This is the third series she's written that I've read and if the first book is any indication of what's to come, it'll be the best yet.

The first series she wrote was as Cricket McRae and it was a Home Crafting series. I loved it; the MC was intelligent and independent and I found the different home crafts in each book fascinating. The second series, currently ongoing, is the Magical Bakeshop series she writes as Bailey Cates. It's cute, the magic is interesting and I enjoy them, but the MC is a bit more wide-eyed innocent and there's an air of immaturity (in the sense of age and experience).

In Daisies for Innocence the author has come full-circle while retaining a little of show more the magic of the Bakeshop series. Ellie's a little more world-weary, and she's coming out the other side of that time in life when you really figure out who you are. Gardening, the meaning of flowers, and aromatherapy are the backdrop and the subtle magic here is closer to magical realism than paranormal. She weaves interesting facts about flowers and crafting natural products into the narrative gracefully and while it's clear that the author believes in living light upon the Earth, she's never preachy about it.

The plot is well-structured and the mystery all comes together towards the end so there's no telegraphing the murderer early on (although in retrospect there was one scene...). My only real complaint about the book was the unrealistic animosity and lack of professionalism shown by one of the detectives and the over-compensation of the other. Both threw the rhythm of the book off a bit since neither were subtle; otherwise, this was an excellent start and I'm really looking forward to the next one. show less

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Elliana Allbright has a fantastic place in Poppyville, California. At the front of her lot is Scents & Nonsense, her store, where she sells items scented from the flowers in her very own garden. The Enchanted Garden fills the side and back yards right up to the front of her tiny house. I can picture it so clearly in my mind with her bird bath and other whimsical touches surrounded by flowers that bloom all year. Even a few extra special varieties.

Ellie has a gift of matching the right scent to each person for any occasion and her Gamma’s journal is the guidebook to everything growing in the garden. Everything is coming up roses until her friend and employee, Josie Overland, is pushing up daisies, dead in the show more garden. Not so enchanting.

The was a fun read. Because of the location of the body, Elliana is the prime suspect. One of the officers on the case is best friends with her ex so she knows she isn’t going to get much help there but his partner, Detective Lupe Garcia, has a more open mind and actually investigates. I liked that Ellie didn’t just jump into the investigation. She stayed in touch with Garcia and they shared infomation. We meet several unique characters throughout the book. Friends from her high school days, friends that Ellie made before her divorce and new friends since opening her store. Ellie shop also has a resident feline and she has a Welsh Corgi named Dash too.

The book started a little slow for me but soon I was fully engaged and stayed up until early in the morning to finish. The mystery has its share of plot twists to keep readers guessing and I was surprised to learn I had picked the right culprit from the bunch.

I loved the aromatherapy theme and was thrilled to see the blends at the end of the story.

Bailey Cattrell has planted all the seeds to get this series off to a blooming start. show less

I love a good cozy mystery and I absolutely loved this one. The MC owns an aromatherapy shop, and she blends her own scents and recipes. Like The Good Witch, she has a knack or gift as well for knowing what people need, so there is a bit of a supernatural, or enchanted, element in this book too, another feature I love. And, of course, her corgi Dash. I love a corgi. It made me think of spring and flowers and walks outside, and had a good solid mystery as well.

Ellie Allbright is the owner of Scents & Nonsense, an aromatherapy shop in the charming town of Poppyville, California. The botanical essences used in her fragrance blends come straight from her own enchanted garden next to her shop. Having recently divorced, Ellie is happy moving on with her life and running her business, until her part-time employee is found murdered outside her store.

It took a while for the mystery to start moving along, but it was hard to figure out once it did. Ellie is dealing with a good cop/bad cop situation with the police investigation -- bad cop sees her as the prime suspect. To save herself, Ellie does her own investigation into the background of the victim, and she's surprised to find several possible show more culprits.

I enjoyed the aromatherapy theme in this book, especially since Ellie has a supernatural gift in knowing just the right scent to give her customers. Her special blends come in handy with the murder investigation too. This was a light and fun cozy, and a great start to a new series.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less

Elliana Allbright owns a shop that makes perfumes, soaps, body lotions, etc., in the town of Poppyville, California. She opened it after a messy divorce from her husband Harris; one in which he kept the restaurant they owned together and bought her out. She has a part-time employee named Josie, and one day she tells Ellie that she's been dating Harris and asks if it's a problem. Ellie assures her it isn't, Ellie leaves to run some errands and leaves Josie handling the shop.

She doesn't see Josie again that day, and the next morning her little Corgi Dash goes outside and won't stop barking. Ellie follows, and finds Josie's body just outside the gate to her Enchanted Garden which is in the back of her shop. She calls the police and is show more questioned. Detective Lang, a friend of her ex-husband Harris, is convinced she murdered Josie out of jealousy; convinced because Harris told him Ellie was extremely jealous and probably did it.

Since he's not looking elsewhere, she figures it's up to her to find out who the killer is. At least his partner, Detective Lupe Garcia, is rational and helpful, which gives her hope. When Garcia tells her that it appears Josie was stabbed in the park, but died in the garden, you'd think Lang would realize that it wasn't her fault, but he doesn't. So Ellie starts doing what she can to find out who would want Josie dead, and hopes to find out before Lang puts her behind bars for life...

I really liked the title of the book and the fact of the garden in the back, filled with plants that Ellie uses to make her concoctions. A lot of the book was good, but then there was the taint of Detective Lang...(To see a spoiler on my thoughts about Lang, please see my review on Goodreads).

While the plot was decent, there wasn't really a lot of alternative suspects. No one stood out, and nearly everyone was nice. Those that weren't all seemed to have alibis the night Josie was killed. I didn't feel that we were given enough clues to get close to finding the killer ourselves (and isn't that why we read mysteries?) It was as if people were there, and then discarded along the way - no one was really questioned by Ellie, she just observed them, or pretty much said hi - in other words, they wouldn't have been viable suspects anyway.

This is a light-hearted read and a decent start to a new series. I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on character development and perhaps a little less on the power of aromatherapy. I didn't get the feeling of knowing any of the characters, but perhaps that will be remedied in the next book in the series. A cute cozy mystery for a lazy evening. show less

To have the ability to sense what scents make people peaceful would be a pretty cool skill. That its inherited from groovy Gamma even better. An enchanted garden, essential oil splendiferousness and a Corgi best friend made this light read a goodie.

Ellie Allbright, recently divorced, now runs a custom perfumery in Poppyville, CA, her hometown. She lives in a converted shed, a "tiny house" oacross the garden from her shop, Scents & Nonsense. There is a shop cat and her corgi Dash. Her shop assistant, who was dating Ellie's Ex, is found murdered in the garden. Ellie has to do her best to clear herself of possible murder charges. The local detective, a close friend of Ellie's Ex, is determined to lock Ellie up.

Nowhere near as good as the Magical Bakery series written under the name of Bailey Cates.