I wanted to read it for the cover, I read it for the plot and it was love at first pages as I loved Julia and the garden.
I'm a keen gardener and those descriptions of flowers and gardens made me happy. The mystery made me happier as it's well plotted and full of surprises. I guessed the culprit but i couldn't guess the motive and it was a surprise.
Julia is a great character: she's a mature woman who's using her life experience to investigate and to manage her dog.
Jake is a lovely dog and a quite realistic one: cozy mystery pets are usually perfect; you dream of owning/being owned by one of those perfect pets. Jake is a not-such-a-good-boy and i couldn't help loving this underdog in dog format.
The setting is lovely, made me wish i could go for a walk there, and the characters are quirky and likeable.
It's the promising start of a new cozy series and I can't wait to read the next book.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine