The Larkspur Hollow Garden Club Mysteries: Book 3
Publication Date: July 20, 2026
One golden harvest. One rotten secret. Forty-eight puzzles to the truth.
The apples are in and the whole of Larkspur Hollow has turned out for the Harvest Festival — the cider press running, the Green strung with lanterns. Then, on the second morning, Hal Bradley is found dead in the cider cellar. Everyone agrees it was a terrible accident: a careless man, a cellar full of working cider, one bad breath of air. Retired schoolteacher Eleanor “Nell” Ashworth is the only one still asking who put him there.
But this time, the detective is you.
Each chapter hands you a scene and a word search. Solve the puzzle, and the leftover letters reveal a hidden clue — a suspect cleared, a motive exposed, a secret the harvest was never meant to give up. Track them across forty-eight puzzles and you’ll be ready to name the killer, the motive, the means, and the place before Nell does.
Six suspects. One golden harvest, one rotten secret. A verdict only you can reach.
A complete solve-along mystery — no apps required. Just you, a pencil, and forty-eight word searches that build to a single solution. Fully standalone, and perfect for cozy-mystery lovers and puzzlers alike.
Sharpen your pencil. Larkspur Hollow is waiting.
Amateur sleuths once again test out their skills in the third installment of the Larkspur Hollow Garden Club Mystery series.
This time, author Jody Chaffin uses the picturesque backdrop of the Harvest & Apple Cider Harvest Festival as the scene for the discovery of a body.
The Blighted Bough features a returning cast of characters led by Nell Ashworth. She manages to find herself at the head of these mysteries because she has a keen sense of curiosity.
Readers will enjoy the interactive approach where, after a short one-page chapter, it’s time for a word search. The remaining letters form a clue instrumental in solving the mystery.
The Blighted Bough continues an engaging, immersive murder mystery set in a charming small community.
 
Jody Chaffin writes cozy mysteries for readers who like to do more than turn the page, pairing small-town whodunits with word-search puzzles you solve right alongside the characters. When he isn’t hiding a secret in a grid, he’s building software or out playing sports. He lives in Missouri.
His debut series, The Larkspur Hollow Garden Club Mysteries, follows a tight-knit Vermont garden club through small-town secrets with every solution hidden in the puzzle pages for readers to find.
