Please welcome Bailey Cattrell!

Nightshade for Warning is the second in the Enchanted Garden Mystery series featuring aromatherapist and perfumer Elliana Allbright. After divorcing her philandering husband, she opened her dream business, Scents & Nonsense, in her hometown of Poppyville, California. Her almost supernatural sense of smell combined with her ability to intuitively know what fragrances will help her friends and customers overcome difficulty or simply bring them pleasure has made her business take off like a rocket.

The Enchanted Garden behind her shop is chock-full of rambling plants, bird houses and windchimes, winding paths, tumbling terrace beds, and myriad herbs and flowers from which she distills the concentrated scents that are the hallmark of her unique perfumes. For this, she uses the ancient copper alembic her gamma left her along with an illustrated garden journal Ellie has come to realize contains more than a little magic.

The garden is open to her customers and friends to sit, sip tea, and nibble on the cookies that her best friend, Astrid Moneypenny, bakes up every morning. Miniature garden tableaus, gnome doors and fairy gardens are tucked into crevices and nooks all over the space. Dash the corgi and Nabokov the Russian Blue shop cat provide Ellie company and keep an eye on things, while Ellie herself lives in a super-efficient tiny house at the back of the property.

In Nightshade for Warning, Ellie is missing Ritter Nelson, her new beau who is on a research project in the Alaskan tundra. He’s only been gone for a few weeks, but there are months to go. It’s a welcome distraction when journalist Blake Sontag wants to feature her tiny house in a national magazine. She’s proud of her small-scale home, and Ellie’s business group, the Greenstockings, see it as a terrific opportunity to spread the word about their adorable tourist town with its Old West flavor and access to outdoor activities.

Then her younger brother, Colby, turns up with his Westfalia van and a new girlfriend, Larken. Ellie adores her brother, and takes to Larken – a wildcrafter and herbalist after her own heart – right away.

Things are looking up until Sontag is poisoned, and the police focus on the last person to see him alive – Colby’s girlfriend, Larken. It doesn’t help that she had extensive herbal knowledge and the poison that killed the journalist was plant-based.

Detective Max Lang has held even more of a grudge against Ellie ever since she proved herself innocent of the murder he tried to pin on her months before, so it’s not easy when Ellie agrees to help Larken. But she plunges in with the help of Astrid and the other members of the Greenstockings to uncover the murder victim’s past in Poppyville, a mysterious land grant, an old family secret – and plenty of motives for murder. In the process, she learns a bit more about her magical abilities, and a new admirer challenges her determination to stay true to Ritter despite his long absence and sometimes confusing communications.

The book includes recipes for Astrid’s Lavender Shortbread Cookies and the Peppermint Foot Polish that Maria Canto loves so much.

Next up? Potions and Pastries, the seventh in the Magical Bakery Mystery series that I write as Bailey Cates, will release in November, 2017, and I’m currently working on the third Enchanted Garden Mystery, tentatively titled Marigolds for Malice.

For more information about all my books (and pen names), please visit www.baileycates.com.

Cozy Monday

Nightshade for Warning (Enchanted Garden Mystery #2) by Bailey Cattrell (Berkley Prime Crime, 2 May 2017).

In this second Enchanted Garden mystery, we learn more about Ellie Allbright, the horticulturalist/aromatherapist and her business Scents & Nonsense, which she opened after her bitter divorce.

Ellie is excited about being interviewed for Conscience Magazine about her tiny house.  She's hoping that the writer, former Poppyville boy Blake Sontag will put in a few good words about her shop and garden as well.  


When her brother Colby and his new girlfriend Larken turn up for a visit, she arranges to meet them at their hotel for dinner.  Coincidentally, an acquaintance of Ellie's, Cynthia Beck is dining there, and she invites the three of them to join her and her companion, who happens to be Blake Sontag.

Sontag is inexplicably rude to all of them, and provokes Larken  to leave in the middle of the meal, with Colby not far behind.

The next morning, the housekeeper finds Sontag in his room, dead, apparently poisoned by some herbal tea.  When it turns out that Larken was the last to see him -- and that she's an herbalist-- she immediately becomes the prime suspect.  

Ellie is certain that Larken is innocent, and determined to prove it.  Her investigation plunges her, and those close to her, into a confusing mess of family disagreements, professional betrayals, and downright nastiness.  

Despite all the unpleasantness, this is still a story of healing and forgiveness, and is an enjoyable read.  

I look forward to spending more time with Ellie and her family in the third book in the series, which the author is currently writing.


The publisher has generously offered a copy of Nightshade for Warning to one of my readers.  Please comment below before 12:01 a.m. on Monday, May 15th.  Entries from the US only, please.  

Please don't forget to include an email address where I can contact you if you win!

TC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this book.

Cozy Monday

Daisies for Innocence (Enchanted Garden #1) by Gailey Cattrell (Obsidian mass market paperback, 5 January 2016).

The name of the shop -- Scents & Nonsense --  that Elliana Allbright opens after her divorce was a sign that I'd love this book.

Though it's somewhat uncomfortable to still be in the same small town as her ex, but Poppyville is Ellie's hometown, and she has no desire to leave.  She's got a lovely tiny house behind the shop, and a glorious garden, which she harvests for her custom perfumes.

One afternoon, her part-time employee, Josie Overland springs the news that she's involved with Harris, Ellie's ex.  Ellie's stunned, but assures Josie that it won't affect their relationship.

Despite what she says to Josie, Ellie is troubled, and has a sleepless night.  She even takes her dog out for a walk to try to relax.

The next morning, when she's out in her garden, she discovers Josie's body.  After the police check it out, the inform Ellie that Josie has been murdered.

Because of Josie's revelation the day before, Ellie is a suspect.  The situation is worsened when it turns out that the lead detective on the case is Harris' best friend, Max,who has never liked Ellie.  When Ellie finds out that Harris has told everyone that she killed Josie, she decides that she can't trust Max to remain unbiased and decides that she has to find out who killed her friend in order to clear her own name.

Ellie is a well-constructed character, and anyone who's ended a difficult relationship will empathize with her.

The process of distilling floral essences is described in great detail, and will be of interest to anyone curious about aromatherapy.  There are also some tips and suggested blends at the end of the book, though, unfortunately, no indication of when the next in the series is due.



The publisher has generously offered a copy of Daisies for Innocence to one of my readers. Please comment below by 12:01 a.m. on Monday, January 18. Please don't forget to include an email address where I can contact you if you win. Entries from the U.S. only, please.




FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this book.