A Larkspur Hollow Garden Club Mystery: Book 1
Publication Date: July 3, 2026
Thirty years buried. Forty-eight puzzles to the truth.
In the village of Larkspur Hollow, Vermont, everyone agreed that Cora Whitaker ran off in disgrace the summer of 1995. Everyone was wrong. Now her body has been found beneath the roses she once tended — and retired schoolteacher Eleanor “Nell” Ashworth is the only one still asking who put her 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 Hollow buried right alongside Cora. Track them across forty-eight puzzles and you’ll be ready to name the killer, the motive, the weapon, and the place before Nell does.
Six suspects. One garden full of secrets. 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. Perfect for cozy-mystery lovers and puzzlers alike.
Sharpen your pencil. Larkspur Hollow is waiting.
If you like solving puzzles and enjoy mysteries, then author Jody Chaffin will be high on your list for combining both activities.
The Buried Bloom marks the first book in the Larkspur Hollow Garden Club Mystery series. Since it is an interactive experience, I ended up using my Kindle Scribe as my device of choice. That allowed me to use the stylus to complete the word searches after every chapter.
With this new approach, the author invites the reader to serve as the detective. Each chapter contains a short scene and a word search after. The leftover letters create a clue for that chapter. You have designated space for Case Notes in order to document the clues, and a Tracker with six suspects, motives, weapons, and places.
The goal is to crack a 30-year-old case involving a woman who vanished from Larkspur Hollow. There’s plenty of sleuthing to go around. By the time you complete Chapter 48, it’s time to confirm the verdict with Nell, the reluctant head detective.
In the process, you’ll unlock some bonus items, including a delicious recipe. I would definitely participate in future immersive mysteries because it combines two of my favorite activities.
The Buried Bloom provides readers with an innovative way to serve as armchair detectives.
 
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.
Amy, thank you so much for the thoughtful review, and for going the extra mile with your Kindle Scribe to solve the puzzles! Really glad the format landed the way I hoped it would. I appreciate you giving something a little different a chance.