Bones in the Back Forty, #2 in the Bea Rivers series.
universal link https://mybook.to/BonesBackForty
Winner of the 2023 Firebird Award for Western Fiction and a 2023 Third Place Firebird award for Mystery.
A gardener digs up an old skeleton on the grounds of Shandley Gardens. Volunteer coordinator Bea Rivers discovers that the victim, a man who disappeared in 1969, may be connected to a small town in New Mexico, where he’d made quite a few enemies among amateur archaeologists. There may be some connection with illegal artifacts . . . and with Shandley Gardens’ founders. As Bea is drawn into the investigation, she meets an ever-increasing cast of quirky suspects. What began as an intriguing puzzle becomes considerably more threatening, while Bea negotiates single parenthood, a long distance relationship, and huge new job responsibilities. She needs to untangle what is happening, for Shandley Gardens and for the safety of her own family.
“Marty Eberhardt, Silver City/Tucson mystery novelist, is a rare find. As in her premier outing for garden employee Bea Rivers, Marty’s “Bones in the Back Forty” tells a sweet, sweet story. She offers a new genre of joyful suspense every time a reader cracks open one of her books.”
___Tom Hester, Silver City Daily press and Independent, April 2023
“If you like your crime fiction light and lively, then Marty Eberhardt’s Bones in the Back Forty: A Bea Rivers Mystery is for you.”
__ David Steinberg, Albuquerque Journal, February 26, 2023
“When the old bones of a sixties-era murder victim surface in a peaceful Tucson desert gardenin Bones in the Back Forty, suspicion radiates out through two states, unearthing buried scandals and long forgotten crimes, in a story that demonstrates justice delayed doesn’t necessarily mean justice denied. Marty Eberhardt has penned another winner.”
— Kris Neri, NM-AZ Book Award-winning author of Hopscotch Life
“Marty Eberhardt takes the reader on an immersive journey into the beauty of the southwestern landscape where ancient artifacts mingle with decidedly modern bones in her second Bea Rivers mystery, Bones in the Back Forty. Bea juggles her job at a botanical garden, raises two children on her own, parries personal threats, and negotiates a love affair as she travels between her home in Tucson to southwestern New Mexico to unearth the truth. Along the way Mimbres culture and stunning Gila landscapes shape the background of her investigation. Eberhardt’s story is leavened by humor and interwoven with suspense.”
Lynn C. Miller, author of The Unmasking: A Novel and The Day After Death
“BONES IN THE BACK FORTY by Marty Eberhardt is a captivating mystery set in a fictional Tucson botanical garden where mysterious murders, decades apart, seem at first to be unconnected. Vivid characters put you in the midst of the illegal Mimbres pot-hunting trade amid the iconic beauty of the resilient desert Southwest. This gripping story intertwines Eberhardt’s deep knowledge of the desert landscape with characters whose social and ethical leanings invite readers to pause and consider the impacts each of us has on our fragile environment.”
Betsy Randolph
2021-2022 President
Women Writing the West
“Marty Eberhardt crafts the perfect picture of life as a public garden professional. She skillfully creates characters both as charming as the garden itself and as complicated as the history of the Southwest.
When human remains are discovered at Shandley Botanical Gardens, the quiet garden is once again thrust into the public eye. Bea Rivers, a young mother and dedicated staff member, is asked to step up and step into a role she never aspired to. Bones in the Back Forty is filled with twists and turns, making it a great read! The second in a series of Shandley Garden mysteries – I’m hooked!”
Michelle Conklin
Screenwriter and Executive Director, Tucson Botanical Gardens
“Bones in the Back Forty, Eberhardt’s exciting sequel to Death in a Desert Garden, will have you looking suspiciously at those horticulturists who specialize in succulents. Rare but beautiful desert blooms do appear in Shandley Gardens, but so do long-buried bones. Bea Rivers, volunteer coordinator in the Tucson-area facility, is curious and tenacious, determined to uncover the who, how, and why of the bones found in the garden’s xeriscape.
Eberhardt has skillfully created a world of characters we all want to know, so that we root for Bea as she digs her way into this second harrowing “garden” adventure. We shiver as not only Bea, but her loved ones face threats from a diabolical mind. Whoever planted those bones never intended for them to make their way back to the surface.”
Mary Coley, author of Blood on the Mother Road, 2022 fiction winner, Oklahoma Book Awards
Death in a Desert Garden, published October 5, 2021 by Artemesia Publishing. Winner of the 2022 Arizona/New Mexico book award for cozy mystery, the Firebird award for western fiction, the Firebird silver award for cozy mystery, and the CIPA/EVVY bronze award for cozy mystery.
Universal Link https://mybook.to/desertgarden
Available at your neighborhood book store, or at Amazon or bookshop.org
Bea Rivers’ euphoria over her new job at Shandley Gardens is shattered by the death of the Gardens’ founder, Liz Shandley. When the police determine that she was murdered, Bea is drawn into the investigation, while trying desperately to maintain the life of a committed single parent dating a struggling writer. Every one of the members of the small staff and board are murder suspects. Through the sizzling and beautiful days of a Sonoran Desert summer, someone keeps dropping odd botanical clues. As Bea’s family’s safety is threatened, she discovers just how tangled the relationships at the Gardens really are.
Praise for Death in a Desert Garden
“Take a peaceful desert botanical garden, add a small, dedicated staff, and a quirky board of directors with decades of hidden simmering resentments. When a partially severed tree limb kills the widow of the founder of the garden, everyone is a suspect. The lush descriptions of the plants and the ecological considerations involved in running a desert garden are the canvas on which the investigation unfolds. You’ll keep turning the pages until the totally unexpected conclusion.”
Carolyn Niethammer, award-winning author of eleven books on the food and people of the Southwest.
“Combining a determined sleuth who skillfully navigates all levels of Tucson society, with such a vivid sense of the Southwest you feel the blistering summer heat from the page and see the unexpected beauty of the desert, with a mystery that will keep you guessing until the final pages — makes Marty Eberhardt’s Death in a Desert Garden a first-rate addition to the ranks of debut mystery novels. Brava!”
Kris Neri, NM-AZ Book Award-winning author of Hopscotch Life
“Marty Eberhardt expertly draws the reader into the beauty and danger of the desert, weaving elements of the traditional mystery into the story along the way. The result is a great read!”
Marty Wingate, author of the First Edition Library mysteries and the Potting Shed mysteries
“Marty Eberhardt creates a tale full of endearing characters, alluring landscapes, and local flavor. Just when former teacher, single mom, nature-loving Bea Rivers finds her niche in a job she loves at Shandley Botanical Garden, a murder on the grounds threatens not only her job but the future of the garden. Bea isn’t going to let this Tucson gem close, nor let a self-important jerk take over, much less let her co-workers take the fall for the baffling crime. Seeded with native plant lore, Death in a Desert Garden had me guessing right to the end. If you can’t get enough of good mysteries with southwest settings, make Death in a Desert Garden the very next book on your reading list.”
Vicky Ramakka, Author, The Cactus Plot – Murder in The High Desert, Artemesia Publishing