Bailey CattrellReseñas

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.

I had been looking forward to this book, because I was pretty impressed with the first one. Although I'm a fan of Cattrell's other work, I really fell for this series' backdrop of a woman who creates a beautiful garden and uses what she grows to distill her own essential oils, mixing custom perfumes in her small shop. I'm not overly interested in the perfume angle, but the gardening and the tiny house she lives in all sound, not to put too fine a point on it, enchanting.

This sophomore entry doesn't disappoint as far as the garden and the distilling goes, and the slight hint at paranormal gifts that was in the first one is expanded upon here, but there's a love triangle in the making, which is always disappointing. Luckily, the murder mystery was pretty good; the resolution managed to take me almost completely by surprise.

I'll definitely read a third one, if it's in the offing, and there's a recipe for lavender shortbread in the back of this one I'm itching to try.

The series name implies a cutesy factor in these stories, but thankfully, there isn't. Even the brief mentions of fairy houses the MC has throughout the garden have a more mysterious, spooky edge to them.

While getting ready to open their town's historical museum, the Greenstockings (women's business organisation) finds a sealed up butter churn they believe is a time capsule. During the opening ceremony, they find a number of items from the gold rush days, including a rather sizeable nugget. Later the night, the local historian is murdered in the museum with all the items stolen - except for the nugget, which had been taken by the police to the bank.

While the mystery goes in unexpected and interesting directions, the murderer was telegraphed by the author from their first appearance, so the ending held no surprises for me. It didn't keep the story from being interesting though; the plant lore sprinkled throughout, and the solid female friendships, as well as the low key romance, all held my attention and kept me reading. There were some bits that didn't work so well here and there; parts that felt awkward, as if the editor added them to 'zest' the story up, but they were mercifully brief.

An enjoyable read by a reliable author; I always look forward to the new release notices for these books.

I read this one for the Murder Most Foul square in Halloween Bingo

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 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.½

I think that either the director or the reader of this audio version needs a lesson in pronunciation. The story itself was good, perhaps I'll try the 3rd book as an ebook instead of an audio.

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.

Ellie runs a custom perfume shop. She lives in a Tiny house, which is on the opposite end of her garden from her shop. She was contacted about her tiny house being featured in a national magazine. The journalist is found dead the next day. Ellie's brother's girlfriend is a suspect.

Ellie owns a natural perfume shop in Poppyville, CA. Her business group is helping to open a new local history museum. Unfortunately, a professor, who was helping to open the museum, was found dead in the museum. Among the artifacts was a photo that was a dead ringer for Ellie.

Love this new series

Another great book by Ms. Cattrell.

This is the third book in the series and I really wanted to like it as well as the first two (although I did like the second one better than the first, I will admit). But I was turned off completely when I found out what the professor was doing.

First, they find an old butter churn and discover that it's a time capsule from the 1800's. When, among much fanfare, it contains an old botanical notebook, Ellie finds it's hot to the touch - at least for her. The rest of the items - a diary page and large gold nugget among them - seem to be just pieces of history.

But the professor who takes charge of everything (save for the nugget which has been removed to the bank) for the museum. While the botanical notebook haunts her, Ellie goes to see if she can look at it again and finds the professor dead and all the items missing.

Now, of course, Detective Max Lang thinks she's guilty, but Ellie isn't going to sit still while he tries to pin a murder on her. She's determined to figure out where the notebook is, and who stole it and why...

This book started out well enough, and it was discovered that Ellie's ancestor was the woman in a photo found in the churn. I thought this could be interesting. But it wasn't. It seems the esteemed professor was going to write a book on the photo and the botanical notebook, which would have both belonged to Ellie as the rightful descendant. And she wasn't going to ask Ellie if it was okay to do so, or include her in the book, or ask for her help. Basically, she was going to steal the items for her own profit. I didn't like this one whit, and I didn't feel sorry for her death after that.

I also don't like Max at all. I get that he's the friend of her ex-husband. But did he hate her when they were married, too? Or did he just develop that when they got divorced? There's no reason at all for his attitude unless he loves her ex-husband Harris and is jealous of her for having been married to him. He's a character the book could do without.

It disappointed me so much that I didn't much care for the book after that. And I cared even less for Ellie's "relationship" with Ritter. Which isn't a relationship at all. He goes away for work months at a time, only returning while he's waiting to leave again. He doesn't have any plans to really have a future with her if he's never there. Just around often enough to make sure she isn't seeing anyone else. Nope. No future in that.

These things ended the series for me. Even if there were any more books, I wouldn't read them.

Ellie owns Scents & Nonsense, a shop that sells oils, lotions, soaps, etc., in Poppyville, California. She bought it with the money she received from her ex-husband when he bought out her half of the restaurant they owned together. She's been happily creating personal scents for people, along with allowing them to relax in her Enchanted Garden behind the store - complete with miniature furniture and trees with tiny doors.

She's looking forward to a journalist writing a story about her tiny home (a converted garden shed) behind her shop, and her garden for a magazine. She's also pleasantly surprised when she spots her brother Colby's van outside her home; and he has a second surprise for her: his girlfriend Lark.

But during a disastrous meeting with Blake Sontag, the writer, during dinner the evening before, Lark has a minor confrontation where she tells Blake he's a 'horrible person' and stomps off. The next morning Blake doesn't show up for the interview, and it's only when Ellie hears sirens at the hotel that she finds out that Blake isn't coming - he's dead, and from what she can tell of the murder scene, he's been poisoned with Deadly Nightshade, also known as Belladonna. It's not a nice way to die.

Now the police think that Lark may have committed the murder because she had given Blake an herbal tea to help him sleep, and Colby begs Ellie to help clear her name. What can she say? He's her brother, and he's in love with Lark.

So Ellie starts looking around and finds out that more than one person had a reason to want Blake dead; and she's pretty sure the reason is a parcel of thirty acres that's ripe for development. Could one of those people be his reclusive sister Joyous, who wanted to sell when Blake didn't? Or the mysterious Vaughn, who's been seen in the realtor's office? Or even her ex-husband Harris, who's been seen several times with Vaughn...

I have to say that I enjoyed this book more than the first in the series. While it's still centered on aromatherapy, you're not so inundated with Ellie looking at every plant in her garden, telling us the meaning and then using that as a guide to what she should do next. Yes, we still have the lovely garden, and yes, there's still plants and their meanings; but this book is more centered on the murder, which is what a mystery should do.

While Ritter, Ellie's boyfriend, is missing in this second in the series (he's off on his own job in Alaska and won't be back for several months), she's being almost-pursued by a genial photographer who's in town to help with the story of her tiny home, so we don't really have a progression of their still-new relationship to each other, although it seems to be committed so far.

I like the fact that while Ellie investigates she's never pushy with people. She doesn't peek in windows or break into buildings, and that's a plus. It shows she has intelligence, and that's always a good sign in a mystery. She's not weak-willed nor mealy-mouthed around men, even Detective Lang (as she was in the first). Ellie's growing up, and that's a good thing.

When we finally find out the killer, and the reason why, it's as old as time itself, but still quite a surprise, and one I don't think anyone would suspect. I found it to be an easy read and quite enjoyable indeed. As of right now, I don't see a third book in the offing, but since the author also has another series she's penning, that could still be yet to come. I certainly hope so. Recommended.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

Daisies For Innocence is the first book in the An Enchanted Garden Mystery series.

I found this to be a quite interesting new series. It centers around a shop where the owner blends perfume and provides aromatherapy blends for her customers.

Ellie Allbright is life has been a lot more since opening Scents and Nonsense. She has a quaint little store where she mixes perfumes and also provides aroma essences. Behind her store she has a beautiful little garden where she raises many of the plants she uses in her store.

But she has the proverbial bump in the road when she finds her part time employee murdered near the gate to her garden. Josie also worked for Ellie ex-husband Harris, at his restaurant and was also dating him. Based on information from his good friend Harris, Detective Max Lang feels sure that Ellie, out of jealousy, murdered Josie. Fortunately, his partner, Lupe Garcia isn't so sure and is willing to keep an open mind.

Ellie begins to gather more information about Josie past, hoping that some bit of information will point her in the direction of the real murderer.

The author provides the reader with an interesting cast of characters, that most would like to call their friends. Ellie knows that she needs someone to help and select the handsome, Ritter Nelson, brother of the owner of Terra Green Nursery, Thea Nelson. Maybe Ellie's high school crush on Ritter can be rekindled. The author also nicely includes interesting facts about the plants that are grown in Ellie's garden.

Recipes and aromatherapy tips and blends are also included

Will be watching for the next story from Poppyville, CA.