A Body in the Backyard: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #4
3/5
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About this ebook
Extreme gardening often involves gnomes and planted bodies…
It's just an ordinary day for octogenarian sleuth Myrtle Clover—until her yardman discovers a dead body planted in her backyard. This death isn't cut and dried—the victim was bashed in the head with one of Myrtle's garden gnomes.
Myrtle's friend Miles recognizes the body and identifies him as Charles Clayborne… reluctantly admitting he's a cousin. Charles wasn't the sort of relative you bragged about—he was a garden variety sleaze, which is very likely why he ended up murdered. As Myrtle starts digging up dirt to nip the killings in the bud, someone's focused on scaring her off the case. Myrtle vows to find the murderer…before she's pushing up daisies, herself.
Elizabeth Spann Craig
Elizabeth writes the Southern Quilting mysteries and Memphis Barbeque mysteries for Penguin Random House and the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink and independently. She blogs at ElizabethSpannCraig.com/blog , named by Writer’s Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers. She curates links on Twitter as @elizabethscraig that are later shared in the free search engine WritersKB.com. Elizabeth makes her home in Matthews, North Carolina, with her husband and two teenage children.
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Pretty is as Pretty Dies: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #1 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Progressive Dinner Deadly: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #2 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Death Pays a Visit: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #6 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cooking is Murder: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #11 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Body in the Backyard: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #4 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Body in the Trunk: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #12 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death at a Drop-In: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #5 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Dyeing Shame: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #3 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Body at Book Club: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #6 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder on Opening Night: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #9 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cleaning is Murder: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #13 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cruising for Murder: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #10 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hushed Up: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #15 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edit to Death: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #14 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death of a Suitor: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #18 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder on the Ballot: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #17 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dash of Murder: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #19 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Body in the Attic: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #16 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death at a Diner: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #20 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Myrtle Clover Christmas: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #21 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Toast to Murder: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #24 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder at a Yard Sale: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #22 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Myrtle Clover Mysteries Box Set 1: Books 1-3: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDoom and Bloom: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery, #23 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Body at Bunco: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Myrtle Clover Mysteries Box Set 2: Books 4-6: A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for A Body in the Backyard
25 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Myrtle, though in her 80's, is busy sleuthing. A dead man has been found in her garden, bashed in the head with HER garden gnome. Her neighbor Miles recognizes him as a young relative. This isn't the first murder Myrtle has solved as this is book 4 in the Myrtle Clover Mysteries. I kept having timeline difficulties which would interrupt my reading. i.e., Myrtle is in her 80's. Her son, Red is the police chief and he has a toddler Jack. OK, can you sorta see my dilemma here .. who had the late baby! Miles is in his 70's, yet it is his cousin who is murdered, but he is in his 30's. Anyway I decided to close my mind to the timeline and enjoy the book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Body in the Backyard is a cozy mystery featuring spunky octogenarian Myrtle Clover. Myrtle's gardener finds a body in her backyard setting Myrtle of on solving the mystery mystery of whodunit. The lengths that Myrtle goes to trying to talk with potential subjects is too funny. While there is no great mystery in the book the characters are interesting and the story is entertaining.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Myrtle Clover is definitely worth meeting. She's the most fun character I've met in a while. Some of the other characters are also fun. The main problem here is what you find a lot of in the ebook market: this is essentially a draft product rather than a finished one. Yes, a good copy editor would help, but what ever happened to writers who learned the tools of the trade? The mystery is slight, and is revealed a bit too easily. An interesting twist on a common flaw here: while many authors have difficulty showing us rather than telling us, this author seems to do both. Much better to drop all the telling and simply let us watch Myrtle in action. Occasionally, her uniquely fun voice suddenly gets lost, which is disconcerting, but this is most likely due to the writer failing to go back and check everything.Many readers will have fun with this, but I can't help thinking what a shame it is that a writer with such talent doesn't put in the extra work to make her story shine.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, family-dynamics, humor Read from May 18, 2014 to September 30, 2016Crazy fun cozy mystery with truly nutsy characters. Gets you laughing until you can't stop. Great stress buster! The publisher's blurb even gives a hint as to it's comedy.Kathy Schrecongost gives a decent reading if you have the ability to alter speed to taste.