Rating: 4.5 🔍⭐️
Another great new to me author, another new book and series that I found absolutely fascinating and thoroughly entertaining.
Naomi Kuttner’s new paranormal cozy mystery is unusual in its use of multiple main character voices to provide the story. It took me a while to get the feel for the flow and framing of how these three highly detailed, yet very different characters would be pulled together to form a compelling trio of unlikely friends who solve a mystery. Or mysteries.
The town of Te Kohe, New Zealand exhibits plenty of main character energy on its own, due to its unique community and character, including its citizens who have a tendency to reveal unexpected sides to themselves.
It starts with Dante, a retired assassin, who’s moved to Te Kohe, New Zealand and now, mostly due to his choice of homes, finds himself living with a life he never anticipated. He expected isolation, and instead he gets a nonstop flow of visitors, and then a gardener.
That arrival of Charlie Wilson, a lovely gardener with his own secrets, sets off an entire ripple of events and murder mysteries to solve. The redoubtable Eleanor is right there , to help them, especially Dante, navigate through the town in their investigations.
Each is such a fantastic character. Dante has been focused on his work as an assassin so now adjusting to being an actual person who’s a part of a team and community is a challenging process. As written by Kuttner, Dante’s personality is realistically chilling in places, hilariously lacking in social skills, and his growth is a result of his own decisions to act on Charlie’s behalf. Eleanor is one revelation after another, a woman of strengths, ingenuity, and a hidden past. And then there’s Charlie, a young man whose story is the basis for the mystery.
Set in New Zealand, the story and characters are well defined by their location and their respective nationality. From the nature, plants and fauna ( I had to look up several of the birds and trees Charlie referenced to my delight), to the languages and foods, I absolutely knew I was in a small town community in New Zealand. That dynamic of the real nature of a type of place where everyone knows everyone is a prerequisite of a cozy and Kuttner has it down.
The small trio of strangers that becomes friends through mystery investigations is a fascinating and great storyline. It fit perfectly into the classic cozy format albeit with a paranormal addition of ghosts here.
There’s no romantic element between the three main characters. They are, at least here, firmly in the friend zone. Eleanor appears to have the promise of one in the future with a great side character.
The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening: A New Zealand Paranormal Cozy Mystery by Naomi Kuttner is just terrific. Self published, it’s full of amazing twists, great storylines, wonderful characters, and a fascinating town of citizens to explore.
I can’t wait for the next book to be released.
Highly recommended for lovers of cozy mysteries and fantastic stories.
Retired Assassin’s Guide (2 book series)
The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening #1
The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Orchid Hunting #2 – Dec 16,2025
Buy link
The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening: A New Zealand Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Blurb
Dante has come to the small coastal town of Te Kohe, New Zealand, for a fresh start in life. But he doesn’t want to open a BnB, or save a charming bookshop, or start a romance with a single mother in need of rescuing.
He just wants to forget about his past career (which involved a lot of dead bodies) and have everyone leave him the heck alone. Unfortunately for Dante, life has other plans…
- Publication date: January 25, 2025
- Language: English
- Print length: 471 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 