When a charismatic mayoral candidate drops dead at his own fundraiser, the town of Morrow wants a simple answer. A rival to blame. A tidy story to swallow with their coffee. But June Calder knows plants don't play tidy.June is a botanist with a greenhouse, a stubborn sense of right and wrong, and a past she keeps locked tight. At the fundraiser she spots a rare hybrid that should not exist in this climate, and minutes later the candidate collapses. The official line says allergy. June's lab says something colder: a plant alkaloid microdosed with precision. Someone didn't just want him scared. Someone wanted him controlled.As grief curdles into a public witch hunt, evidence surfaces that frames Ida Belle, the Salt Sisters' fierce, no-nonsense captain and the moral backbone of June's new life. The town turns fast, because towns always do when fear needs a target. June won't let them take Ida Belle. Not even if clearing her drags June's own ghosts into daylight.Digging through old horticulture files with obsessive archivist Ellis Rook, and clashing with steady Deputy Theo March over rules versus urgency, June uncovers a buried 1990s hybridization program tied to the very waterfront land everyone is fighting over. Pages are missing. Names are blacked out. And a field code from June's former world resurfaces like a stain that never washed out.The deeper June goes, the clearer the truth becomes: this murder wasn't born from politics alone. It was grown, grafted, and nurtured over decades of grudges, cover-ups, and quiet betrayals. The killer knows the town's bias, knows how to weaponize it, and knows exactly what June has been running from.Poisoned Bloom is a twist-rich cozy mystery where forensic botany meets small-town secrets, found family loyalty, and a heroine forced to choose community over hiding. Expect greenhouse sleuthing, salt-air tension, sharp moral stakes, and a slow-burn partnership with a deputy who believes in truth even when it hurts. The covert history stays in the background, but its weight presses on every choice June makes.If you love cozy mysteries with a smart, grounded female sleuth, tight pacing, and a fresh hook you haven't read a hundred times, step into June's greenhouse. The flowers are beautiful. The roots are deadly. And the past is already planted