Buried in the Rose Tunnel
(2026)(The first book in the Blackthorn Cottage Garden Mystery series)
A novel by Claire Bessey
Buried in the Rose Tunnel is a warm, addictive British cozy mystery filled with village secrets, garden intrigue, clever amateur sleuthing, and a rescue cat who has no respect for personal boundaries. Perfect for readers who love English village mysteries, gardening cozy mysteries, clean whodunits, women amateur sleuths, and cat mystery books, this first-in-series mystery delivers charm, suspense, humour, and a strong hook that pulls readers straight into the world of Blackthorn Cottage.
Esme Hart never planned to stay in Alderwick. Burned out, broke, and more comfortable writing product copy than handling compost, she arrives in the village expecting to sell the neglected cottage nursery she has inherited and move on. Instead, she finds Blackthorn Cottage tangled in debt, local gossip, family history, and one very opinionated rescue tom called Badger. Then a man turns up dead in the rose tunnel, and Esme realises that somebody in this picture-perfect English village is willing to kill to keep old secrets buried.
Now Esme has a failing garden business on her hands, a village full of suspicious neighbours, and far too many people with a reason to want the victim gone. There is the polished family connection pressing her to sell. The practical supplier with a temper and a history. The wealthy local figure with a vested interest in Blackthorn land. The charming villagers who know more than they admit. And somewhere in the middle of it all lies the truth about Esme’s father, whose name still carries the stain of a scandal nobody wants reopened.
With no real gardening skills, no police training, and no plan beyond staying afloat, Esme starts digging. But the more she learns about Blackthorn Cottage, the dead man, and the village itself, the clearer it becomes that this murder is tied to something older, uglier, and far more personal than anyone wants her to see.
Set in a picturesque English village and packed with roses, secrets, suspicious locals, clean mystery twists, and cosy atmosphere, Buried in the Rose Tunnel is the perfect read for fans of British cozy mysteries, village murder mysteries, gardening mysteries, cottage mysteries, cat cozy mystery series, and clean amateur sleuth fiction.
Genre: Mystery
Esme Hart never planned to stay in Alderwick. Burned out, broke, and more comfortable writing product copy than handling compost, she arrives in the village expecting to sell the neglected cottage nursery she has inherited and move on. Instead, she finds Blackthorn Cottage tangled in debt, local gossip, family history, and one very opinionated rescue tom called Badger. Then a man turns up dead in the rose tunnel, and Esme realises that somebody in this picture-perfect English village is willing to kill to keep old secrets buried.
Now Esme has a failing garden business on her hands, a village full of suspicious neighbours, and far too many people with a reason to want the victim gone. There is the polished family connection pressing her to sell. The practical supplier with a temper and a history. The wealthy local figure with a vested interest in Blackthorn land. The charming villagers who know more than they admit. And somewhere in the middle of it all lies the truth about Esme’s father, whose name still carries the stain of a scandal nobody wants reopened.
With no real gardening skills, no police training, and no plan beyond staying afloat, Esme starts digging. But the more she learns about Blackthorn Cottage, the dead man, and the village itself, the clearer it becomes that this murder is tied to something older, uglier, and far more personal than anyone wants her to see.
Set in a picturesque English village and packed with roses, secrets, suspicious locals, clean mystery twists, and cosy atmosphere, Buried in the Rose Tunnel is the perfect read for fans of British cozy mysteries, village murder mysteries, gardening mysteries, cottage mysteries, cat cozy mystery series, and clean amateur sleuth fiction.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for Claire Bessey's Buried in the Rose Tunnel