Hi, I’m Emma Justice, and I’m a Texas flower farmer. People often ask me how many acres of land I have on my flower farm. It’s almost embarrassing to admit that I don’t own an actual farm. I have a home on the edge of town with an enormous back yard. There’s enough space to expand my gardens, but I’m still fairly new at this. I don’t want to expand too fast and get myself in trouble. The life cycle of plants have five stages, and there’s no rushing them. So, I’m not going to put pressure on myself to grow the business too fast.

April in Texas is lovely. The days are longer and warmer, but I still like to get an early start in the gardens of my little flower farm.

Earlier in the week, I weeded the beds, and today was focused on fun and dreams. Zinnias were always a big seller at the farmers market. I chose three beds for planting them. Afterward, I planted cosmos, sunflowers, impatiens to sell as potted plants, and lavender.

I have a little herb area. My best friend, Sophie, owns the local bakery and she buys most of the herbs. Brett Tirabassi owns Anytime Coffee House, and he buys herbs too. These are not money makers for me, because I want to support their locally owned businesses.

The farmers market is where I make most of my money. Although, I do deliver some flowers to local businesses. As much as I enjoy growing my beautiful flowers, I also enjoy getting out and about and seeing my friends.

The flexibility with my job has allowed me to help the police solve a couple of murders. Not that they asked for my help, but people aren’t scared of me. They’re willing to share information, and it turns out that I have a knack for catching killers.

The seeds were planted, and I’d worked up a good sweat. It was time to put my gardening tools in the shed in my yard.

The wind blew my ponytail so hard that my hat flew off and the hair slapped my face. I sneezed. Removing my sunglasses, I couldn’t help but notice how brown the sky had turned. I looked right and left. A dust storm was blowing in. I’d been so focused on planting flowers, I hadn’t noticed earlier.

I sneezed again and headed into the house. My dog was at the vet’s getting a check-up and grooming. Thank goodness Cowboy hadn’t been outside breathing in the brown dust.

The ominous feel of the brown sky and windy conditions sent a shiver up my spine. I hoped the dust storm wouldn’t turn deadly. I wasn’t sure how our little town would react to another unnatural death.

Bleeding Heart Librarian: A Texas Flower Farmer Mystery, Book 3
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: April 2025
Format: Digital, Print

Emma Justice is friends with the local librarian and brings her extra flowers once a week. On a hot July morning, when people are gathered outside the closed library past opening time, Emma calls the police. The librarian’s body is found in the building and beside the body is a pink and white bleeding heart plant.

Tess Carranza was a lovely person dedicated to children and patrons of the library in Lutz, Texas. Tess recently confided to Emma about her fear someone was using the library to gather information to commit crimes. Emma didn’t get the entire story from Tess before her death, but now she’s determined to stop the crime and catch Tess’s killer.

About the author
Jackie Layton is the author of cozy mysteries with Spunky Southern Sleuths. Her stories are set in Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina. She lives on the coast of South Carolina, where she enjoys walks on the beach and golf cart rides around the marsh. Reading, gardening, and traveling are some of her favorite hobbies. Jackie always keeps a notebook handy to write down ideas for future stories. Many of her ideas come from people watching and watching Dateline and American Greed.