Review: The Corpse by the Creek by Iris March

The Corpse by the Creek (Succulent Sleuth #5)
by Iris March

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
Volunteer water sampling. Development deals. A dead businessman in the woods.

While volunteering with a local stream restoration group, Molly and her husband, Scott, expect to end the day with nothing more to show for it than muddy hiking shoes and water samples. Instead, they stumble upon a dead body left in the woods behind the Buckeye Trail. The victim turns out to be Upton North—an unpopular developer with business ties to half the town and enemies to match.

As Molly starts asking questions, she uncovers a web of grudges involving tenants, activists, and business owners. She’ll have to follow clues from forest trails to forgotten basements—and confront just how far greed and intimidation pushed the wrong person too far.

With a busy garden center to manage, and a beloved black and white cat occasionally underfoot, Molly digs into another Succulent Sleuth case where the roots of the crime run deep.

My Review

I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

I really like this Succulent Sleuth series and this one arrived at the perfect time when I was in the mood for nature themed reads. I like this series following Molly who runs a plant store with her twin and cousin and the setting of this small town close to a hiking trail. I had a great time reading this one, seeing more of the characters and seeing the mystery play out.

Molly finds another body in this book while she’s out with her husband Scott doing volunteer work for the local stream restoration group. The body belongs to a developer and it quickly turns out not many people liked him. There are multiple people who could’ve had a motive and Molly and her friends and family get involved trying to solve this mystery.

I liked the mystery. There was a good amount of progress and I liked how some suspects got ruled out before the end. And even then I wasn’t quite sure how had done it, lots of possible suspects, but none seemed quite right. I like how Molly has help from her friends and family with figuring out the mystery. The reveal was a good one and I liked how it made sense more information came to light. I also liked how Molly used a plant clue to figure out who did it.

I really like reading about Molly and her friends and family. Seeing her run the plant business with her twin May is fun and I also liked seeing some of their employees and how they interact all together. She goes on a sleuthing mission with employee Theo in this book, which was fun. I also like how this series has a married couple and it’s fun reading about Molly and Scott together. In this book they’re trying to become foster parents, which was interesting to read about and I am curious to see how that will develop in future books. I also liked how Molly and Scott team up for some sleuthing in this book. There also were some great scenes with Shannon and Molly and Shannon talk about some things and I am curious how that will impact future books too.

The plant theme and the nature focus with the trail and some eco conscious decisions the characters make is a fun theme and vibe for this book. I liked the scenes that took place on the trail and it’s clear how much Molly enjoys nature.

To summarize: This was another great read in this series. I like the nature focus and the plant store theme of this series. It was fun following Molly as she solves another mystery. I like how her friends and family help with the sleuthing. The mystery kept me guessing and I couldn’t figure out how the killer was, the reveal was a good one and made sense when the details were revealed. I like reading about Molly and the characters around her. This one has some fun scenes involving Molly and her husband Scott, they are trying to become foster parents and go on a sleuthing mission together. I also liked the scene involving Shannon and how she and Molly talked about some things. All in all I had a great time reading this one and look forward to the next book.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.