Murder & Moonflowers (The Herbalist #1) by Leslie Leigh

Cozy Mystery Novella, 1st in a Series

I'm an avid cozy mystery fan!! I absolutely adore this genre. So, when I came across the eVersion of Murder & Moonflowers (The Herbalist #1) by Leslie Leigh on Amazon's website, I downloaded it to my Kindle immediately!! Murder & Moonflowers (The Herbalist #1) by Leslie Leigh is a novella and is approximately 117 pages in length. Murder & Moonflowers is a quick read and can be read in a few of hours.

I received my copy of Murder & Moonflowers (The Herbalist #1) by Leslie Leigh for free. The following is my unbiased review/opinion of Murder & Moonflowers (The Herbalist #1) by Leslie Leigh. Happy reading!

I really enjoyed reading Murder & Moonflowers. The writing is solid and grabbed my attention from the start and held it through to the very end. Suffice it to say that the plot development and storyline are solid throughout this read as well. It contained a nice mix of dialogue between the various characters and good storytelling by the author. I enjoyed the many aspects of the small town feel and the setting of Arizona... Plus, I enjoyed reading about the main character being an herbalist with her own practice.

I liked the 'red herrings' offered in Murder & Moonflowers. Although, I had pretty much guessed who the killer was halfway through reading Murder & Moonflowers. However, I was still uncertain at that point in time as to the killer's motive and if he/she was working alone or not?? This question was resolved by the end of Murder & Moonflowers.

My only minor complaint about the plot/storyline of Murder & Moonflowers was its ending. I wouldn't suspect that real life events would end the way in which they did in this work of fiction... I simply can't imagine the killer confessing why he/she did what they did to main character before being arrested by the police. But this is fiction, right? Tidy endings that answer unanswered questions are sometimes required for readers to be satisfied.

Most all of the cast characters presented in Murder & Moonflowers were likable ones. The character development and interactions all of them  had were good ones, with the exception of one character... The character of the sheriff was a tough guy/bully, as he harasses the leading character about being an herbalist and calls her a witch. He eludes that she's a major suspect before the cause of death was even determined and he continues to act like an ass for much of this novella.

The following is a plot summary for Murder & Moonflowers (The Herbalist #1) by Leslie Leigh, which I found on Amazon's website:

Murder awakes in the town of Catalonia, Arizona.

Melissa Michaels is an herbalist and nutritional healer operating a market in the sleepy town of Catalonia, Arizona. When a client dies mysteriously from something even the Medical Examiner cannot decipher, gossip runs amuck and local law enforcement officials make wild speculations.

When Melissa herself, along with other townspeople, fall under suspicion, a local doctor hires a handsome private investigator to give Melissa a hand, and the two of them race against time to solve the mystery before mounting evidence leads to wrongful accusations and false arrests.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this novella and would recommend it to other cozy mystery enthusiasts. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of The Herbalist Series. I'm giving Murder & Moonflowers (The Herbalist #1) by Leslie Leigh a rating of 8 stars out of 10 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!