Roots of Trouble

Edith Merrick just wanted to write six hundred words about a prize-winning zucchini.

Instead, she's covering a murder.

When beloved dahlia grower Walter Pruitt turns up dead in his own compost heap the morning after Quill Creek's county fair, the sheriff calls it a tragic accident. Edith - retired English teacher, reluctant newspaper owner, and Quill Creek's most dedicated "Garden Notes" columnist - isn't so sure. A missing brass monogram. A time of death that doesn't add up. A ledger that doesn't quite balance.

As Edith starts pulling threads, she uncovers a tangle of old grudges, a prodigal son with something to hide, a developer circling Walter's land, and a secret far closer to home than anyone in town wants to admit. With her sharp-tongued best friend Pearl, a patient (and increasingly exasperated) deputy, and a quietly steady neighbor named Hank at her side, Edith has to decide how far she's willing to go to find the truth - even when the truth might break her own heart.

Roots of Trouble is Book One of The Quill Creek Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in the rolling farmland of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - perfect for readers who love a gentle whodunit, a small-town cast worth returning to, and a garden tip (plus a slice of pie) tucked in at the back.

No graphic violence. No profanity. Just a good, fair-play mystery and a town worth visiting again.