The Gardenia Murders. The Botanical Murders, #1

Some killers chase chaos. He chases control. When a woman is found murdered with a white gardenia placed gently in her hair, detectives assume they're facing another ritualistic killer. But as more bodies surface across quiet neighborhoods, the pattern refuses to settle into anything familiar. The victims share no history. No connection. No obvious link. Except one. Every home is surrounded by carefully maintained rose bushes.
As investigators dig deeper, they discover the killer is not driven by rage or impulse-but by discipline. Raised under a childhood of rigid punishment and ritual, he has constructed a method that feels to him precise, necessary, and justified. Gardenias are part of that method. The scent does not calm him. It restores the state he was trained to enter-the stillness required for correction. When a faint botanical compound begins appearing across multiple crime scenes, forensic consultant Ashley Monroe uncovers the thread investigators have been missing.
What first appears to be a minor curiosity becomes the key to understanding the killer's mind-and the flaw that will ultimately expose him. Because the very mechanism he uses to control himself is also the thing that leaves a trace behind. The Gardenia Murders is a psychological thriller about conditioning, control, and the terrifying precision of a mind that believes it is simply doing what it was taught.
Perfect for readers who enjoy dark, intelligent thrillers in the tradition of Thomas Harris, Michael Connelly, and Tana French.