My name is Lillian Rose Jayne. Lilly. I’m 65 years old, and coming back to life.

Let me explain.

Many years ago, over forty, I married a man who left me a few years later for another woman. While that should have left me heartbroken, it really didn’t. But back then getting married was expected of women, and I felt like I’d failed. My parents had me move home, and assured me that wasn’t so. Then they sent me to graduate school for business. Business skills were lacking in the Jayne family, and we all decided that needed to change if our fortunes were going to change. Happily, they did.

I was very good at business, but not so great at romance until I met Alan Macmillan. Alan was the great love of my life. We traveled around the world, but made Goosebush our home. After my folks passed on, we took over the care and maintenance of the family home, Windward. Life was glorious, but fate had other plans for my happiness. Alan passed away almost two years ago, leaving me with a broken heart.

But he didn’t leave me with an empty house. His graduate assistant, Delia Greenway, had moved in to help him with his final book. He’d asked her to stay, to take care of me. I’m not supposed to know that, but I do, and will be forever grateful for Alan’s final act of kindness. Delia is a wonderful housemate.

Then there’s Tamara and Warwick O’Connor. Tamara and I have been friends for over sixty years. She and Warwick have been taking good care of me, forcing me to get back out into public again. It was their idea that I host a garden party. I still can’t believe I said yes. Thankfully all of my friends are pitching in, and helping me get my gardens ready to the public unveiling. By public I mean public. Everyone we’ve invited has said yes. Rumor has it that my first husband is back in town with his third wife, Merilee. I’m hoping they don’t find out about the party, but I doubt I will have that much luck.

Between my friends and my garden, I’m coming back to life. For the first time in a long time, I’m looking forward to getting back into Goosebush business.

You can read more about Lillian in Pruning The Dead, the first book in the NEW “Garden Squad” cozy mystery series, released January 29, 2019.

Post-retirement aches and pains can’t prevent sixty-five-year-old Lilly Jayne from keeping the most manicured garden in Goosebush, Massachusetts. But as a murder mystery blooms in the sleepy New England town, can a green thumb weed out a killer?

With hundreds flocking to her inaugural garden party, meticulous Lilly Jayne hasn’t left a single petal out of place. But the picture-perfect gathering turns unruly upon the arrival of Merilee Frank, Lily’s ex-husband’s catty third wife. Merilee lives for trouble, so no one is surprised after she drinks too much, shoves a guest into the koi pond, and gets escorted off the property. The real surprise comes days later—when Merilee is found dead in a pile of mulch . . .

Lilly wishes she could stick to pruning roses and forget about Merilee’s murder—until her best friend and ex become suspects in an overgrown homicide case. Now, aided by the Garden Squad, an unlikely group of amateur crime solvers with a knack for planting, Lilly knows she has limited time to identify the true culprit and restore order to Goosebush. Because if the murderer’s plot isn’t nipped in the bud, another victim could be pushing up daisies!

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Meet the author
Julia Henry is delighted to be writing the Garden Squad series for Kensington. The debut of the series, Pruning The Dead, was released on January 29th. Julia wrote the Clock Shop series as Julianne Holmes, and writes the Theater Cop series as J.A. Hennrikus.

She blogs with the Wicked Authors and Killer Characters. Visit her website at JHAuthors.com and follow her on Twitter at @JHAuthors

All comments are welcomed.