Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Weeding Out Lies: A Texas Flower Farmer Cozy Mystery by Jackie Layton. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Weeding Out Lies: A Texas Flower Farmer Cozy Mystery
by Jackie Layton
Weeding Out Lies: A Texas Flower Farmer Cozy Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Texas
Level Best Books (July 11, 2023)
Print length : 302 pages
Flower farmer Emma Justice’s life is firmly rooted in Lutz, Texas where she has recently begun her new business. One morning while delivering flowers, she stumbles upon a prominent citizen. Dead. When a friend is accused of murder, Emma launches her own investigation. She’s used to separating weeds from flowers. Emma will dig for clues, weed out red herrings and cultivate a plan to find the killer.
Author Guest Post
I’m Jackie Layton, a cozy mystery author, and I’m excited to join you today.
I’ve written five books in A Low Country Dog Walker Mystery series, and I live in the Low Country of South Carolina.
My new series is A Texas Flower Farmer Cozy Mystery series, and Weeding Out Lies is the first book in the series.
One thing these series have in common is they are both set in fictional small towns. Heyward Beach, South Carolina was created with parts from some of my favorite beaches. Holden Beach, North Carolina, Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and Tybee Island, Georgia are my favorite beaches.
Lutz, Texas was created to be a good combination of small-town Texas life with touches of German influence because of so many immigrating from Germany to central Texas years ago.
The smallest town I’ve lived in is Wilmore, Kentucky. There are two stop lights, an IGA grocery store, Subway (because don’t most small towns have a Subway?), a florist and a bed-and-breakfast. A unique thing about Wilmore is it’s the home of Asbury University and Asbury Theological Seminary, but it has kept its small-town charm.
In Lutz, Texas you’ll find Anytime House, a town square, Sophie’s Bakery, Paige’s Turn Bookshop, Lone Star Cattleman Bank of Texas, Heart of Texas B&B, Hewitt’s Hardware, Emma’s Flower Farm, Amalfi’s Pizzeria, BBQ Hut, and lots of vintage and antique shops. The thing Lutz is famous for is their Antique and Vintage Festivals. People flock to town for these events.
Many of the business are owned by women, and most of us get along and look for ways to promote each other. For instance, Yarrow Martin is the local florist. She recently fell and broke her hip. She asked me to help until she can heal and get back to work. So, when the Willow Moore is murdered, I agreed to make flower arrangements so folks would keep focused on local businesses instead of paying an out-of-town florist to provide flowers for the funeral.
Technically Emma’s business plan as a flower farmer focuses on growing flowers. She sells flower stems at the farmers market along with a few bouquets for the people who are challenged to create pretty arrangements.
Emma made raised beds from wood scraps. In Weeding Out Lies, she has just begun her business, and there’s still a lot for her to learn. For instance, calculating how many stems she’ll get from a plant. Also, how many stems will she sell at the market? If she takes too many, it’ll be a waste. Too few means a loss of sales.
Emma is concerned with the environment. She takes her own insulated mug to the coffee shop.
She also collects their used coffee grounds and used tea bags to add to her compost. It’ll become good fertilizer for her flowers, and it keeps the grounds out of the landfill.
Here are a few garden tips I’ve learned researching for A Texas Flower Farmer Cozy Mystery series.
- Water deeply and less often. Deep watering encourages deep and strong roots.
- Water at the right time of day. Early morning and evening are the best times because of cooler temperatures and calmer winds, so the soil can absorb more of the water.
- Mulch will help conserve water. It doesn’t matter if you use leaves, straw, bark, or even gravel. The mulch holds the moisture in the ground. In Texas, it’s important to keep your plants watered, even if you have drought-resistant flowers like bluebonnets, coreopsis, and coneflower.
Even if you don’t enjoy gardening, there’s plenty of small-town features in this series.
For instance, most small towns have a small police force or no police force and depend on the county sheriff and deputies for crimes. Lutz is a cozy and tight-knit community. You know the locals, and when a crime is committed you’ve got a better shot at figuring out who the killer is.
Willow Moore is the victim in Weeding Out Lies. She’s the banker’s wife, and she’s days away from getting divorced. Emma finds the body, and Paige Booker, the owner of the bookstore, is the primary suspect. Emma and Paige belong to the same book club and they’re friends. Paige knows Emma is good at solving mysteries in books, and she begs Emma to prove she’s innocent of the murder.
Emma agrees she has a knack for solving mysteries in books, but this is real life. Still, she can’t say no to her friend. Because it’s a small town, people talk to Emma. Some conversations provide clues and others are no help. Emma’s able to converse with teens as well as older adults like the Nelle sisters who are in their eighties.
One technique Emma discovers is helpful is to take food and flowers to people to get them talking. Her best friend, Sophie Becker, helps in this endeavor. You’ve probably guessed that Sophie owns the bakery. Anyway, good food and flowers opens doors and mouths in Lutz, Texas.
I hope you’ll enjoy solving this cozy murder mystery with Emma Justice!
About Jackie Layton
Jackie Layton is the author of cozy mysteries with Spunky Southern Sleuths. Her stories are set in Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina. She lives on the coast of South Carolina where she enjoys walks on the beach and golf cart rides around the marsh. Reading, gardening, and traveling are some of her favorite hobbies. She always keeps a notebook handy to write down ideas for future stories. Be careful what you say around her, because it might end up in a book.
Author Links
Author Website https://jackielaytoncozyauthor.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/JackieLaytonAuthor
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Joyfuljel
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/jackielaytonauthor/
Twitter https://twitter.com/joyfuljel
Goodreads https://bit.ly/37slujv
Bookbub https://bit.ly/37RqGQ8
Purchase Link – Amazon
Enter the giveaway
Weeding Out Lies TOUR PARTICIPANTS
August 9 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – CHARACTER GUEST POST
August 9 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
August 10 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 10 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
August 11 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
August 11 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
August 12 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW
August 12 – Jane Reads -CHARACTER GUEST POST
August 13 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW
August 13 – ebook addicts – AUTHOR GUEST POST
August 14 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 14 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 15 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
August 15 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 15 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
August 16 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 16 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
August 17 – I’m All About Mystery Books – CHARACTER GUEST POST
August 17 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT
August 18 – Novels Alive – REVIEW
August 18 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!
Hi Christy,
Thanks for hosting me today!
You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping!
This looks like a book I will thoroughly enjoy
Sounds like a really great read.
Sounds like a book I will enjoy reading.
Such cute cover art
Beautiful cover