Murder Says 'I Do'

Rooftop Garden Cozy Mysteries #5

by Thea Cambert

Fall is falling… And murder comes calling. Fall has returned to beautiful Blue Valley, Tennessee, and amateur sleuth, Alice Maguire, is gearing up for the busiest weekend ever. She’s once again in charge of the fall festival, and is determined to make this one the best one yet. The centerpiece of the festival this year is Haunted Blue Valley, a tour for visitors and locals alike to view the historic Main Street buildings by candlelight, learn about the town’s past, and of course, look for ghosts, all in good fun. But when Alice, Owen, and Franny’s building appears to actually be haunted, it’s up to the three friends to figure out what’s going on. Events take a spooky turn when the history buff who’s supposed to give the tour of the building finds an actual skeleton in the closet. Is it some sort of morbid warning? Franny and Ben’s wedding preparations are continually getting derailed, as the time until their special day slips away faster and faster. Before festival weekend is over, the three friends will have to throw a wedding, host a festival, and catch a killer. Will they be able to accomplish the seemingly impossible and find wedded bliss? Find out in this thrilling Cozy Mystery!

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Cozy

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 23, 2020

Reviews

[JoAn]

I'm sad that this is the last one in the series. I sure hope that this isn't the last one in the series because I do love visiting Blue Valley. It's been a full year since I first visited Blue Valley and met Alice, Franny, Owen, Ben and Luke. Ms. Cambert has created a warm and friendly community (in spite of the murders) that I would enjoy visiting. The well crafted plots with twists and multiple suspects keep glued to the pages.

[JoAnne McMaster (Any Good Book)]

This time out, Alice and her friends Franny and Owen are trying to put together the fall festival, including random ghosts that supposedly haunt Blue Valley. Franny is also marrying her love, Alice's brother Ben, so their time is limited. When they look through old papers of their historic building, they discover that there's a basement below them, long sealed up. But their curiosity overcomes everything else, and they venture down only to find what appears to be Civil War artifacts.

They mention this to the unofficial town historian, and he can't wait to view everything. But no one notices that he never returns to the festival. When Owen spots what appears to be another wall, they, along with police officer Ben Maguire and Detective Luke, who's Alice's beau, venture down and find a very dead body.

Now there are too many suspects in town and anyone could be a killer...

This is the fifth book in the series and I have to say that I enjoyed it as much as the rest. Confessing to everyone that I suffer from depression (brought on by a surgery that went wrong in every way possible), at times it is difficult to do anything. But then I grab one of Ms. Cambert's books and read it right through.

The writing is light, the stories interesting, the characters endearing, and I would like to visit Blue Valley for myself and experience first hand. These books are light-hearted mysteries, and the intelligent Alice always finds the answers. I love the descriptions of everything, and the fact that there is neither an 'evil nemesis' (which I detest) nor a love triangle (ditto). The writing flows smoothly, and the story is easy to read.

When we come to the end and the killer is revealed, the motive is very sad indeed, but it is, as we already know, as old as time itself. The ending was very satisfying, and I look forward to the next in the series.

[Melissa Stands]

I loved this book with the wedding of Franny & Ben. Of course there’s also a mystery to solve, which is handled quite nicely by the gang - Alice, Owen, Luke, Franny, and Ben. It was fun learning about more of the heritage of the town as well as continuing to deepen and strengthen the characters of the book. Another great addition to the a Rooftop Garden Cozy mystery series. I’m looking forward to the next one.

[Sandy Bartles]

This is another terrific book in this series. Friends who stick together through thick and thin and solve murders together. Makes me long to have close friends.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

[Jerri Cachero]

A wedding, a murder and a ghost!

A perfect book for starting the Autumn season! Alice, Franny and Owen are at it again - solving a murder and theft. The wedding of Franny and Ben was the backstory and it was perfect, though not without a few problems! The mystery was fun and I read the book in one sitting...I couldn't put it down!

[Miranda]

Very autumnal and cozy. A perfect book for inbetween the longer ones. The characters do grow on you overtime.

[Tari]

Franny and Ben were finally getting married, but everything was going wrong, not to mention a new murder to investigate. I loved how this series did the very first book as a fall festival, and with this book it's come to a year later in book time. What was cool was having different things going on with the festival, so while I already read about Blue Valley's Fall Festival, nothing was a repeat with new and fresh things that they did. A new murder occurred...and there was a not so fresh murder discovered.

There were secrets someone died for a long time ago and of course, history-loving Alice was anxious to crack the old case as well as the new one. Everything worked out great, the showdown was exciting and thanks to a new friend, the killer was taken safely away. I love these friends' rooftop wrap-up of their cases. I'm always anxious to continue reading in this series. It's a quick and lighthearted fun read.

[Pam]

For this one, we have now moved into fall. Alice is again in charge of the
Fall Festival. She keeps saying that she is not going to be in charge of any
more festivals and yet when each one comes around she somehow either volunteers
herself or is volunteered to be in charge. This year they are doing a Haunted
Blue Valley tour and taking folks around to some of the haunted buildings in
town, her's included. They find out that her building, which includes Franny's
coffee shop and Owen's bakery, is actually haunted it troubles everyone. On
top of all of this is Franny and Ben's wedding and everything on that end keeps
going wrong. Toss in a dead body and there is a ton of work that needs to be
done. They all need to solve the murder, solve the haunting of her building and
get Ben and Franny married.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Valorie Hunter]

Excellent book!!!!📗🎃

10++++ stars!!!!
Alice got mixed up in a huge mess, by wanting to show the history of her building that her family bought from one of the rich founding families of Blue Valley. The building is 150 years old and the gang found some deadly secrets people wanted to stay that way.
Suspects numbers started adding higher, motives the same numbers.
Ghosts stories about lost love, tragic ending and new development project being stalled by a angry man with problems no one knew about.
Which one got him in Alice's building?
Alice, Franny and Owen must figure it out while getting ready for Franny's wedding, with the annual Fall Festival that Halloween weekend. Haunted tour of the old Main Street buildings with ghosts stories.
You got to read this book!!!! I love this series.

[Loretta TheMoodyRedhead]

I think this is my favorite, so far. I love history and especially when there are ghosts and secret rooms. Another thing I love - Fall Season and this story has exactly that. There were pumpkins and twinkle lights and cider. All the warm feelies for my favorite time of year.

Ben and Franny had bad thing after bad thing happen right before their special day, but in the end it all worked out for the best. During this strand of not-so-good luck there was a fall fair that Alice was in charge of organizing. After all of this or maybe somewhere in between, Alice and her entourage helped solve another mystery. And this was all in two or three days?!

Next is book 6 of 16 - Murder Strikes at Midnight.

[Donna]

Another delightful book in the Rooftop Garden Cozy Mystery series. When a skeleton and a murdered man are found in the basement of the Paper Owl, there are several suspects and motives. I ruled out two of the suspects right away. I had the culprit and motive figured out in this one. Alice is once again in charge of the Fall Festival while also helping Franny with her wedding and helping solve the crimes. Franny and Owen are also involved in crime-solving. It was nice seeing Franny and Ben get married. It was also nice seeing Alice and Luke's relationship flourishing. Now there needs to be a relationship for Owen. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Anne G. Kasaba]

I really enjoy this series. This addition is the best so far. The characters are engaging and the mystery well plotted.

There are wedding bells in the air for Ben and Franny. Even with everything seeming to go wrong, from a church that is flooded to a florist who can't get the desired flowers, the wedding is going to happen. There's a small matter of a murder also but between the three friends and the two police officers they have it covered.

[Marissa]

Kindle Copy for Review

Fall is in the air which means Halloween festivities including skeletons. But when a real skeleton is found things go astray as the gang searches for a killer as wedding plans get derailed as the date gets closer.

Things are always busy for the rooftop gang despite the season. A joyful cozy read for fall.

[Beth Hirschenbein]

I Do!!!

I loved this book very much and couldn’t put it down till the end. I enjoyed learning about the founders of Blue Valley as well as Alice’s grandmother. The fall festival sounded great and lots of fun. The wedding was perfect and the setting was stunning. I can’t wait to see what happens next in this series. The haunted tours went well with the festival.

[E]

Another awesome book

If it could go wrong, it did. All Franny wants to do is marry Ben & attend the festival. Nothing goes right with the wedding plans, new info about their building is shocking & a murder takes place. Lots of twist and turns with a good ending. I look forward to the next book.

[Brooke]

Another small town mystery win for the books!!

I loved the mystery going on during the festival and the wedding during Halloween! It definitely gave it some ambiance!

Just when I thought I had it figured out, it wasn't who I thought it was! I love that these mysteries keep me guessing!

Granted they aren't super complicated, but just enough to keep me entertained!

[Debbie Smith]

5 ***** stars!!!

This series is excellent! I would never guess this is a fairly new author, her writing is so smooth and flowing!! I love these books! Worth so much more than 5 stars!! Bring on the next one!!

[Carol]

Excellent

I really enjoy this series! The characters are developing nicely and the storyline is always fun. A potential ghost, a wedding, and Halloween .make for an excellent afternoon read!

[Fred Herrmann]

Great Series!!

This is one of my favorite series of books! The characters are wonderful, the plot is always great and the writing is excellent. I hope there are many more books in the future! I highly recommend these books!

[JANE VAN HORN]

Great book

I love this series. The whole gang gets involved in everything all the rime. I cant wait for the next book.

[Sandy]

I like the characters and the story was interesting. I’d advise reading these in order since the characters’ lives are a big part of the stories.

[Joni]

Loved it

A dead body, mystery lovers missing, Franny’s wedding mishap....this book had it all. I loved the intrigue of it all. Keep writing Ms Cambert and I will keep reading.

[Shannon Binegar-Foster]

Great story

There was quite a bit of upheaval in this one. I like how everyone came together. Looking forward to the next book.

[Carolee DeWitt]

Another hit out of the ball park.

[Katherine]

3.5 stars

[Nikki]

The one where Franny and Ben get married! Except it doesn't quite go to plan...

I love these cozy mysteries, all set in Blue Valley, Tennessee. A quaint little town based around the Main Street and the Lake a ten minute ride away where Ben and Luke each have a cottage.

Alice, Franny and Owen all run adjacent shops, and live in the small apartments above them. Ben is the local Police Captain and Luke is the only only Police Detective.

Each book is easily read in a couple of hours and it's not unusual for me to read a few of these books a day. They are unputdownable. The books are best read in order of publication to preserve continuity of the characters and series.

[Teri]

Wedding and murder

Alice finds out a secret about her bookstore and things heat up. While planning the fall festival and Franky and Ben's wedding she feels the need to solve another mystery.