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The Scent of Artemisia
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Apr 27 2026
Pages: 300
Weight: 0.89
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
She can read a garden like a book. But can she solve a murder before the roots of the past bury them all?
Clara Wells has a gift-and a curse.
She can't recognize faces. Not her neighbors', not her friends', not even her own brother's if he changes his jacket. But she can identify every plant in Seaside Bluffs by scent, by texture, by the way the light falls through the leaves. She navigates the world by gardens, and she sees things other people miss.
When the town's tyrannical HOA president is found dead in her prize-winning greenhouse-tangled in a clematis trellis, a rare orchid missing from its pedestal-everyone assumes it's a tragic accident. But Clara notices what the police overlook: a crushed Artemisia bush at the corner of the greenhouse, its bitter scent clinging to the air. A strange spore print on the door handle. A map of botanical clues that only she can read.
The evidence points to someone who knew the estate intimately. Someone who moved through the garden like a shadow, avoiding every camera, every light, every sound.
Someone Clara unknowingly guided there.
Because the route the killer took? Clara described it herself. In loving detail. To the one person she trusted most.
Her brother.
A murdered tyrant. A town full of secrets. And a face-blind botanist who just became the killer's unwitting compass.
Now Clara must navigate a maze of small-town grudges, black-market orchids, and buried resentments-all while questioning whether the brother she's loved her whole life is capable of murder. Every crushed leaf, every fungal spore, every bloom that opens and closes with the sun is a clue. But the deeper Clara digs, the more she realizes that the garden isn't just keeping the killer's secrets.
It's keeping hers, too.
The Scent of Artemisia is the first book in the Seaside Bluffs Mysteries-a gripping new series about a brilliant, face-blind botanist who solves crimes by reading the language of plants.**
If you love:
- Clever, unconventional sleuths with unique perspectives
- Atmospheric coastal towns full of gossip and grudges
- Gardens that hold deadly secrets and plants that remember everything
- Twisty, character-driven mysteries that keep you guessing until the final page
...then welcome to Seaside Bluffs. The mildew on the roses is waiting to be noticed.
The Seaside Bluffs Mysteries:
- Book 1: The Scent of Artemisia Clara's origin story and the case that started it all (Download Now!)
- Book 2: The Roots of Hemlock A poisonous garden, a wrongfully accused apprentice, and secrets buried deep (Coming Soon)
Perfect for fans of: *The Thursday Murder Club* meets *The Lost Apothecary* with the botanical intrigue of a Sarah Penner novel-and a protagonist as unforgettable as she is unique.
Scroll up and click Buy Now to start reading Clara's first case today.
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