A compassionate sleuth named Catherine Jewell, a small town police chief who isn’t used to murder on his patch, a cast of lovably eccentric characters, a rich man no one likes and someone murders give Alden’s The Blue Rose a feeling reminiscent of Golden Age cozies. Garden lovers especially will enjoy the details of the plants, flowers and the garden designs at the elegant Elmwood Gardens. As readers, we are drawn gently into solving the puzzle until we meet face to face the unforgettable darkness of one human mind obsessed with revenge.

Catherine Jewell, owner of Roses in Thyme, is excited when she gets a job restoring the gardens of the reclusive Emily Llewellyn until she discovers a body. Soon she finds herself working with Police Chief John MacDougal again when there's another murder and a young man she's become fond of is a prime suspect. She doesn't believe he could be a murderer because she has several other suspects in mind. When she discovers the murder, her life is in danger.

Small town Portage Falls is the idyllic place for an event on the town Green, but when an elderly member of the garden club shows up dead in Catherine Jewell's greenhouse, she falls under suspicion since she's an authority on poisonous plants. As more tragedies plague members of the garden club, Catherine and others begin to suspect that somebody has it in for them.

A Civil War Reenactment is going on in Elmwood Gardens in Portage Falls. After a reenactment battle in the gardens, Catherine Jewell, botanist at Elmwood and owner of Roses in Thyme, spies a body in a field of goldenrod beyond the battlefield. She wonders if she'll ever stop finding bodies. Police chief John MacDougal has trouble solving who killed the victim because there were so many people who hated him. Meanwhile, John's mother tells Catherine about a murdered body she'd found while backpacking a few months ago with the environmentalist who stayed at her B&B. Interesting new characters and returning characters from previous books will please the reader as well as a surprise ending.

Catherine Jewell is going through a Haunted Corn Maze with her brother when a teacher dressed as a vampire is murdered. Maggie Fiest, an art teacher, is going through the maze checking on her students dressed as ghosts, zombies and vampires when she discovers the body. Because she gets blood on her witch costume, she's one of the many suspects. Although the police chief John MacDougal makes it clear to Catherine she is not to take part in the investigation, but of course, she can't help but try to find the real murderer rather than have her best friend remain a suspect. Because the teacher had more people dislike him than liked him, there are a lot of possible suspects. An additional suspense is added when Hannah and Teddy, nine year old twins find the entrance to a tunnel once a part of the Underground Railroad and also find a skeleton.