Death in a Desert Garden

Bea Rivers’ new job at Shandley Gardens seems to be idyllic: a stimulating career at a desert garden full of botanical wonders. But a slow rot has spread within Shandley Gardens as financial woes add stress to the small board of directors, putting Bea's job at risk. When one of the Gardens’ founders, Liz Shandley, is killed in what appears to be a tragic accident, the immediate worry is the survival of the Gardens. But then the police determine that Liz was murdered, and suddenly Bea's job is less than idyllic. The tangled web of relationships is almost as confusing as the enigmatic botanical clues someone keeps dropping. Bea struggles to balance her life as a committed single parent dating a struggling writer while she’s drawn further into the investigation of Liz's death.

Marty Eberhardt directed botanical gardens in Tucson and San Diego, and spent many years as a nonprofit staff member, board member, and consultant. She now delights in using the right side of her brain to write fiction and poetry. She has published sixteen poems and two prose pieces in The Wilderness House Literary Review, The Dragon Poet Review, The San Diego Writers INK 2017 Anthology, three volumes of The Guilded Pen, The Twisted Vine Literary Review, and The Silver City Quarterly Review. She divides her time between Silver City, NM and San Diego.