Ashley Hollow

Murder Among the Roses

A prize-winning rose.
A locked greenhouse.
A killer hiding among the petals.

Mystery writer Emma Hart and Packer, her Loyal Golden Retriever, arrive in Ashford to judge the annual Rose & Bloom Festival. Still rebuilding her own life, Emma plans to observe, take notes, and avoid trouble. But trouble blooms fast when Victor Ashcombe, both a local adversary and brilliant horticulturist, is found dead inside his greenhouse on opening night.

Authorities blame pesticide exposure. Emma notices the crushed white rose in his hand and the tension no one else can quite disguise.

In a town where the Golden Rose Award brings prestige and profit, motives grow like weeds. Longtime rival Lillian Frost and Victor’s disinherited nephew, Daniel, quickly rise to the top of the suspect list as his rare black rose nears a lucrative patent.

With Packer sniffing out clues and gossiping locals whispering half-truths, Emma digs deeper into secrets Ashford would rather keep buried.

When a second “accident” rocks the festival and a storm seals the town in, Emma learns too late that some thorns are meant to draw blood, and she may be next.