NEPM Book Club

Do you love to read? So do we! Join us for the NEPM Book Club — a quarterly virtual meet-up dedicated to bringing NEPM friends together to chat about new, diverse and interesting fiction.
Our next meeting will be Thursday, April 24 at 7 p.m. We'll be reading "The Gardener's Plot" by western Mass. mystery writer Deborah J. Benoit.
The NEPM Book Club is sponsored by Cooper's Corner and State Street Deli & Fruit Store, Whalen Insurance, Summerlin Floors, Broadside Bookshop and UMass Five Credit Union.
ABOUT THE NOVEL
A woman helps set up a community garden in the Berkshires, only to find a body in one of the plots on opening day.
After life threw Maggie Walker a few curveballs, she’s happy to be back in the small Berkshires town where she spent so much time as a child. Marlowe holds many memories for her, and now it also offers a fresh start. Maggie has always loved gardening, so it’s only natural to sign on to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden.
When opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found, and the gardeners are restless. Things go from bad to worse when Maggie finds a boot buried in one of the plots… and there’s a body attached to it. Suddenly, the police are looking for a killer and they keep asking questions about Violet. Maggie doesn’t believe her friend could do this, and she’s going to dig up the dirt needed to prove it.
"The Gardener’s Plot" takes readers to the heart of the Berkshires and introduces amateur sleuth Maggie Walker in Deborah J. Benoit’s Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut.
MEET THE BOOK CLUB HOST
Erin O’Neill is a dedicated bibliophile and NEPM’s digital marketing and social media manager. A lifelong obsessive reader and lover of stories, Erin hosts and organizes NEPM Book Club meetings — and comes up with discussion questions!
GET THE BOOK
Need to get your copy of the latest Book Club selection? Please consider buying from one of our local NEPM Book Club partners:
Broadside Bookshop in Northampton »
Massive Bookshop, an online bookseller in Greenfield »
Olive Tree Books-n-Voices in Springfield »
Or, pick up "The Gardener's Plot" from your local library.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
NEPM Book Club members can help select books for us to read. Do you have a favorite novel? Is there a piece of fiction that’s on your to-read list? Email your suggestions to bookclub@nepm.org!