{"id":12748,"date":"2020-04-14T19:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T23:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=12748"},"modified":"2026-09-10T18:01:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:01:47","slug":"dead-in-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12748","title":{"rendered":"Dead in the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dead in the Garden<\/a><\/em> (2018) Dahlia Donova<\/a>n (Grasmere Cottage Mystery)<\/p>\n

\"Dead<\/a>This is a cozy mystery, set in England, and is both adorable and has an amazingly diverse cast of characters.<\/p>\n

Valor and Bishan are shocked and distressed to discover a dead body in their yard. <\/p>\n

But it becomes even more distressing when Bishan is arrested for the murder.<\/p>\n

Bishan is autistic, and that is a major issue in the story, because jail is even harder for Bish to handle than for someone who isn’t neruodiverse. But to be clear, Bishan’s autism is why Valor is willing to take matters into his own hands to get him out of jail, but it is not how Bishan is defined in the story. It’s a trait, not a personality.<\/p>\n

Valor, is estranged from his family, and has made his way on his own since he was disinherited.<\/p>\n

It seemed being gay and dating an Anglo-Indian had been one step too far for the son of an earl. Valor Tarquin Scott had been struck from the family; his father, mother, and elder brother hadn\u2019t spoken to him in over a decade, not since a year after his graduation from Harrow. <\/p>\n

By contrast, the Tambolis had embraced both their son and his boyfriend. Valor had been relieved. He didn\u2019t honestly know how they would\u2019ve gotten through without their support.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a very sweet story (despite the murder) and although it was short and not particularly deep, it was a cute escape from the real world.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dead in the Garden (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage Mystery) This is a cozy mystery, set in England, and is both adorable and has an amazingly diverse cast of characters. Valor and Bishan are shocked and distressed to discover a dead body in their yard. But it becomes even more distressing when Bishan is arrested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[193,30,190,8,608,148],"tags":[508,254,988,544],"class_list":["post-12748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-british","category-cozy","category-mystery","category-neurodiversity","category-queer","tag-asd","tag-dahlia-donovan","tag-grasmere-cottage","tag-mm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3jC","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14087,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14087","url_meta":{"origin":12748,"position":0},"title":"Grasmere Cottage Mystery","author":"Michelle","date":"March 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Grasmere Cottage Mystery (2018) Dahlia Donovan This is actually three novellas, but since I read it as one book, I'm going to review it as such also. Dead in the Garden Dead in the Pond Dead in the Shop Valor Scott and Bishan Tamboli have been best friends since their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Garden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Garden.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21738,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21738","url_meta":{"origin":12748,"position":1},"title":"Dead in the Pond","author":"Michelle","date":"March 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Pond (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage Mystery) Bishan found it very difficult to force himself to do anything without understanding the reason. \u201cWould you rather stay?\u201d Yes. \u201cYes, but if I do it\u2019ll make leaving harder the next time.\u201d They hadn\u2019t restocked his cereal yet. Bishan didn\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Pond","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Pond.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27805,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27805","url_meta":{"origin":12748,"position":2},"title":"Dead in the Pond","author":"Michelle","date":"September 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Pond (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage #2) Bishan found it very difficult to force himself to do anything without understanding the reason. \u201cWould you rather stay?\u201d Yes. \u201cYes, but if I do it\u2019ll make leaving harder the next time.\u201d Bishan enjoyed photography because it put distance between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Pond","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Pond-189x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12751,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12751","url_meta":{"origin":12748,"position":3},"title":"Dead in the Pond","author":"Michelle","date":"April 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Pond (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage Mystery) The first book ended with Valor and Bishan learning their beloved housemaster from Harrow--and a note that book two was going to end on a cliffhanger. So I bought book two AND book three, because I wasn't going to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Pond","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Pond.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27802,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27802","url_meta":{"origin":12748,"position":4},"title":"Dead in the Garden","author":"Michelle","date":"September 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Garden (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage #1) (T)hey\u2019d always assumed Bishan\u2019s traditionalist parents would be the disapproving ones. It seemed being gay and dating an Anglo-Indian had been one step too far for the son of an earl. ... (H)is father, mother, and elder brother hadn\u2019t spoken\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Garden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Garden-188x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27809,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27809","url_meta":{"origin":12748,"position":5},"title":"Dead in the Shop","author":"Michelle","date":"September 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Shop (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage #3) \u201cI\u2019d let it all fade away into history if I had my way.\u201d \u201cOur name? Our legacy?\u201d Her lack of insight blew Valor\u2019s mind. How did she not see their family had offered zero value to the world? Their name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Shop","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Shop-188x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}