Vine and Punishment
(2026)(The sixth book in the Bellford Garden Society Mysteries series)
A Story by Cynthia Rowan
A prized tomato. A fake lawsuit. A dead man behind the potting shed.
Meg Trammell already has enough on her clipboard. Belle Day is supposed to be the Bellford Garden Society’s sweetest event yet: a June potluck, a seedling sale, and the official launch of Burt Kessler’s long-awaited Bellford Belle tomato. The town is ready for deviled eggs, bourbon lemonade, and one very dramatic first-fruit tasting.
Then a certified letter arrives claiming the Bellford Belle infringes on a patented seed line. Suddenly, Bellford’s beloved tomato is at the center of a legal threat, Burt’s life’s work is in jeopardy, and Jackie Pham’s Hardware & Feed could be on the hook for selling the seedlings.
When the man behind the claim turns up dead behind Thelma Bunch’s potting shed, the murder weapon points straight at Jackie. Meg knows her best friend didn''t kill anyone. Probably. Almost certainly. But Jackie has a motive, a public threat on the record, and one inconvenient lie she refuses to explain. Now Meg has to untangle old grudges, quiet payoffs, stolen letterhead, and a trail of ruined growers before Bellford’s phone tree convicts Jackie before the sheriff can.
Because in Bellford, secrets grow fast. And some of them have very deep roots.
Vine and Punishment is Book 6 in The Bellford Garden Society Mysteries, a funny, twisty small-town cozy mystery full of Southern charm, found family, garden club chaos, amateur sleuthing, and enough pie to qualify as evidence. Perfect for fans of character-rich cozies, nosy neighbors, and murder with a side of mulch.
Genre: Mystery
Meg Trammell already has enough on her clipboard. Belle Day is supposed to be the Bellford Garden Society’s sweetest event yet: a June potluck, a seedling sale, and the official launch of Burt Kessler’s long-awaited Bellford Belle tomato. The town is ready for deviled eggs, bourbon lemonade, and one very dramatic first-fruit tasting.
Then a certified letter arrives claiming the Bellford Belle infringes on a patented seed line. Suddenly, Bellford’s beloved tomato is at the center of a legal threat, Burt’s life’s work is in jeopardy, and Jackie Pham’s Hardware & Feed could be on the hook for selling the seedlings.
When the man behind the claim turns up dead behind Thelma Bunch’s potting shed, the murder weapon points straight at Jackie. Meg knows her best friend didn''t kill anyone. Probably. Almost certainly. But Jackie has a motive, a public threat on the record, and one inconvenient lie she refuses to explain. Now Meg has to untangle old grudges, quiet payoffs, stolen letterhead, and a trail of ruined growers before Bellford’s phone tree convicts Jackie before the sheriff can.
Because in Bellford, secrets grow fast. And some of them have very deep roots.
Vine and Punishment is Book 6 in The Bellford Garden Society Mysteries, a funny, twisty small-town cozy mystery full of Southern charm, found family, garden club chaos, amateur sleuthing, and enough pie to qualify as evidence. Perfect for fans of character-rich cozies, nosy neighbors, and murder with a side of mulch.
Genre: Mystery