The Broken Bridge (Succulent Sleuth Series #1)
by Iris March
My Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f
Blurb:
An abandoned backpack. A damaged walking stick. A broken bridge. What happened on the Buckeye Trail?Succulent-savvy sleuth, Molly Green spends her day tending her eco-friendly garden center, inherited from her beloved grandparents. She wants nothing more than to nurture her nursery and share her plant passion with the world.
When a hiker goes missing on the Buckeye Trail that runs behind the garden center and a bridge on the trail is damaged, the police suspect foul play. As clues mount up, Molly fears she may know who is to blame, perhaps someone in her own family.
To make matters worse, Molly must navigate the inconvenient appearance of an overly talkative colleague, pulling her from her path to uncover the mystery of the broken bridge.
Can she discover what really happened that day on the trail? Or will the spikes and thorns surrounding this mystery take Molly out as well? Find out in the first book of the Succulent Sleuth Cozy Mystery series, The Broken Bridge.
My Review
I received a free copy through BookSirens and voluntarily reviewed it.
The broken Bridge caught my eye when I saw it on BookSirens as I love cozy mysteries and the plant theme as well as the hiking trail theme sounded fun and interesting. It took me a bit of time to get into the book and get used to the writing style, but when I did I was able to enjoy it. The book also feels just a bit different from most cozies which took some getting used to, but mostly worked well. I liked reading about Molly, the garden center and the hiking trail that starts at the parking lot next to the garden center.
The mystery felt a bit slow to start, there’s a tense prologue of a runner finding sinister clues on the trail he’s running and then the story goes back in time to show Molly in the shop and her meeting the hiker that later goes missing. Which was a bit confusing until I realized it went back in time. Even then it took a while before it really felt like the mystery got going. I did like how Molly handled things and ruled out some suspects throughout the book, it felt satisfying when she ruled someone out. The mystery did keep me guessing, but some of the events and thoughts of Molly felt a bit strange at times or I didn’t quite get why she thought certain things or how she made certain mental leaps. The events that led her to confront the killer also felt a bit too convenient and I felt she acted a bit recklessly at times. I did like the twist and reveal about who the killer was and their motive.
I liked reading about Molly and the garden center she runs with her twin May. There are some other employees as well and Molly and May both have a family, May has two twins and a husband. And Molly has a husband already as well, which was quite refreshing as I haven’t read many cozies where the main character already is in a relationship. It took me some time to get a grip on all the characters and their relationship to each other. There also is an interesting sort of side plot line about some mysterious items Molly finds in the store and it doesn’t get resolved by the end of the book yet, so maybe that will continue in future books.
To summarize: The Broken Bridge is a solid start to this series. It took me some time to get into the book at first and get the hang of who everyone is, but after that I enjoyed it more. The mystery also took some time to get going, but I liked how things progressed. I enjoyed how Molly actually clears some possible suspects of suspicion during her investigation and the reveal of who the killer is was a nice twist. I did feel Molly acted a bit recklessly toward the end and it was a bit too convenient at times. I liked reading about Molly and her twin running the garden center as well as the theme of the hiking trail nearby. I thought it was interesting Molly already has a husband at the start of the series as I haven’t read many cozies with that. I enjoyed reading this one and plan to continue the series.
A garden center and a nature trail for setting? Perfect! Sounds like a solid background for a series. I like that the character seems to already be settled in her relationships, too, so the focus is on the mysteries.
The garden center and nature trail were such a great setting, I think this will be one of those series that gets better as it progresses, I look forward to book 2. And it was nice to see the main character already settled in her relationship, not that I mind romance sub plot in cozies, but this sure was nice for a change. And you get to see a whole different dynamic with the romance this way.
Very pretty cover! I guess it was okay enough that you’re interested enough to read on. Glad you enjoyed it that much. Great review!
I think this will be a series that gets better as it progresses, I am definitely interested enough to read on.