Poisoned Bloom: A Morrow Bay Mystery - First-Person Cozy Mystery with Suspense, Romance & Botanical Forensics, (Paperback)

When a charismatic mayoral candidate drops dead at his own fundraiser, the town of Morrow wants a simple answer. A rival to blame. A tidy story to swallow with their coffee. But June Calder knows plants don't play tidy.<br>June is a botanist with a greenhouse, a stubborn sense of right and wrong, and a past she keeps locked tight. At the fundraiser she spots a rare hybrid that should not exist in this climate, and minutes later the candidate collapses. The official line says allergy. June's lab says something colder: a plant alkaloid microdosed with precision. Someone didn't just want him scared. Someone wanted him controlled.<br>As grief curdles into a public witch hunt, evidence surfaces that frames Ida Belle, the Salt Sisters' fierce, no-nonsense captain and the moral backbone of June's new life. The town turns fast, because towns always do when fear needs a target. June won't let them take Ida Belle. Not even if clearing her drags June's own ghosts into daylight.<br>Digging through old horticulture files with obsessive archivist Ellis Rook, and clashing with steady Deputy Theo March over rules versus urgency, June uncovers a buried 1990s hybridization program tied to the very waterfront land everyone is fighting over. Pages are missing. Names are blacked out. And a field code from June's former world resurfaces like a stain that never washed out.<br>The deeper June goes, the clearer the truth becomes: this murder wasn't born from politics alone. It was grown, grafted, and nurtured over decades of grudges, cover-ups, and quiet betrayals. The killer knows the town's bias, knows how to weaponize it, and knows exactly what June has been running from.<br>Poisoned Bloom is a twist-rich cozy mystery where forensic botany meets small-town secrets, found family loyalty, and a heroine forced to choose community over hiding. Expect greenhouse sleuthing, salt-air tension, sharp moral stakes, and a slow-burn partnership with a deputy who believes in truth even when it hurts. The covert history stays in the background, but its weight presses on every choice June makes.<br>If you love cozy mysteries with a smart, grounded female sleuth, tight pacing, and a fresh hook you haven't read a hundred times, step into June's greenhouse. The flowers are beautiful. The roots are deadly. And the past is already planted

• Poisoned Bloom: A Morrow Bay Mystery - First-Person Cozy Mystery with Suspense, Romance & Botanical Forensics, (Paperback)
• Author: Independently Published
• ISBN: 9798275975567
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2025-11-25
• Page Count: 292