Sunflower Seed of Doubt
(2025)(The fourth book in the Harvest Festivals Gone Wrong Mystery series)
A Story by Maisy Marple
When agricultural photojournalist Penelope "Penny" Maxwell reluctantly returns to her hometown of Meadowvale to save her family's struggling garden supply store, she expects spreadsheets and inventory challenges—not murder. But as the annual Sunflower Harvest Festival transforms the pastoral valley town into a golden panorama, Penny finds herself in the middle of a shocking crime when the festival's domineering organizer, Caroline Sheffield, is found strangled in her prize-winning sunflower field. When Penny's childhood friend Sam Turner is wrongfully accused, she must put her photographer's eye for detail to work solving a mystery with roots deeper than Meadowvale's famous blooms.
Armed with her camera and assisted by Wesley Harmon, the town's science teacher with botanical expertise, and Gloria Finch, the retired postmistress who knows every piece of town gossip, Penny navigates a field of suspects with compelling motives: a resentful nephew denied credit for his agricultural innovations, a rival farmer publicly humiliated, a festival chairman being blackmailed, and a determined real estate developer whose plans were thwarted by the victim. As Penny develops her photographs and her investigation, she uncovers secrets hidden within the agricultural community while facing resistance from local law enforcement convinced they have their culprit.
In this cozy mystery filled with small-town charm and agricultural intrigue, Penny discovers that some secrets are worth killing for—and that the most valuable things can grow in unexpected places. With time running out and her friend's freedom at stake, she must use her keen eye and outsider's perspective to separate red herrings from genuine clues. Set against the backdrop of golden sunflower fields and a community celebration turned deadly, "Sunflower Seed of Doubt" weaves a tale of betrayal, ambition, and the surprising connections that can bloom when we least expect them in the fertile soil of home.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Armed with her camera and assisted by Wesley Harmon, the town's science teacher with botanical expertise, and Gloria Finch, the retired postmistress who knows every piece of town gossip, Penny navigates a field of suspects with compelling motives: a resentful nephew denied credit for his agricultural innovations, a rival farmer publicly humiliated, a festival chairman being blackmailed, and a determined real estate developer whose plans were thwarted by the victim. As Penny develops her photographs and her investigation, she uncovers secrets hidden within the agricultural community while facing resistance from local law enforcement convinced they have their culprit.
In this cozy mystery filled with small-town charm and agricultural intrigue, Penny discovers that some secrets are worth killing for—and that the most valuable things can grow in unexpected places. With time running out and her friend's freedom at stake, she must use her keen eye and outsider's perspective to separate red herrings from genuine clues. Set against the backdrop of golden sunflower fields and a community celebration turned deadly, "Sunflower Seed of Doubt" weaves a tale of betrayal, ambition, and the surprising connections that can bloom when we least expect them in the fertile soil of home.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Maisy Marple's Sunflower Seed of Doubt