Murder in Season

The Gardener Mysteries #5

by Rosie Sandler

The past can't stay buried forever...

Steph Williams and her inimitable dog Mouse are in picture-perfect Greenhaven, Essex - an Art Deco village built for factory workers in the 1920s. Tasked with designing a Centenary Garden, Steph is about to dig up more history than she bargained for.

Because Greenhaven's charm hides more than a few tangled roots. From the poison pen of the Green Raven to the prickly Heritage Society, village gossip, rivalries and resentments run as wild as the weeds Steph's here to tame.

And when Steph's digger turns up two skeletons, she knows her project could be at the root of it all. But she'll have to tread carefully in this closed community, where everyone has something to hide.

When a fresh body shocks the village, it seems that murder is in season at Greenhaven. Can Steph unearth the truth before the killer decides she's dug too deep?

Gardener-turned-amateur-sleuth, Steph Williams finds herself pruning suspects instead of roses in this charming and unputdownable cosy crime novel. Perfect for fans of Fiona Leitch, M.C. Beaton and Richard Osman!

339 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 21, 2026

Reviews

[Wendy(Wendyreadsbooks) Robey · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

A new instalment in the Gardeners Mystery series is always something to look forward to. Steph and Mouse are such great characters and as always Rosie Sandler has written a great mystery. The characters in Murder In Season are a great mix and provide plenty of suspicious activities for the reader to suspect.
I always love the plant descriptions in Rosie’s stories and the ideas Steph has for the garden designs. Her collaborative approach to working with the community is always to be admired and I love how the mystery is woven into the story.

[Short, Sweet and Cozy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder In Season is the 5th book in Rosie Sandler's The Gardener Mysteries and it is a good addition to the series. Each book takes Steph Williams and her dog Mouse to a different area of England and to a new garden project. Steph is a garden designer and is working on a centenary garden in Greenhaven, Essex. She and Mouse are sharing a house with Nellie and her rambunctious dog Timmy. The story has all new people with a few mentions of her boyfriend Mike and her family. The garden volunteers include Norma, Marian, Leo, Christy, and Eloise. The locals include Martin Patterson, Avery, Stella and Jeremy, Kieran, and a few others. The characters overall weren't very interesting and not ones I got invested in except for Steph and Nellie who are both wonderful characters. Steph brings in a backhoe to dig out the garden and they find two skeletons. We quickly learn who they were and then the story lags a little. The local newspaper has a gossip column and no one knows who writes it. The articles start off with humor but turn vindictive. Even Steph and the garden project are mentioned. The weekly newspaper adds to the story. Steph finds an unpopular local dead and ends up a suspect. The other suspects are not strong prospects nor are their motives. The resolution of the mystery was good and there were some twists that were interesting. I read and liked other books in this series and while this book was good it wasn't as engaging as the others. #MurderInSeason #TheGardenerMysteries #NetGalley #EmblaBooks

[Lei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you so much Embla book for the ARC.

This honestly felt more like a village gossip drama with murder on the side and I mean that in a good way 😭

I wouldn’t say this is the type of mystery that had me aggressively making theories while reading, but it was very easy to follow and strangely relaxing to read. I actually ended up enjoying just following Steph around and watching the chaos unfold in this small community where literally everyone seems to know everybody’s business.

I also read a previous book in this series before, and I used to find Steph a little nosy sometimes. But in this book, I completely understood her more because she was personally involved and honestly needed to help herself too. That made me more emotionally invested in her side of the investigation.

Mouse was absolutely adorable and honestly one of the highlights of the book for me. Cozy mysteries with lovable pets always work on me.

This isn’t a super intense thriller type of mystery. It’s more cozy, community-driven, and easy to binge when you want something lighter but still entertaining.

[Cozybooklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished Murder in Season, and I honestly think it's my favorite so far.
Steph and Mouse are in Greenhaven in Essex, where Steph has been hired to create a centenary garden.
Steph is ready to bring in the digger needed to remove all the roots and rocks before she does anything, but finding two skeletons wasn't in her plans.
Naturally the skeletons are the topic of all the local news, so when Steph finds a dead body, a prominent man in town, she soon becomes a prime suspect.
How can Steph prove her innocence in a small town where everyone knows everyone?
With her awesome dog Mouse by her side, she is determined to find out who the killer really is.

This is a fantastic addition to this series. All the characters were so interesting and their personalities made them come to life.
I would love to see Steph and Nellie meet up again, her character felt so real, it was nice to see Steph have that connection.

This a solid 5+ star rating.

[Karen Stallman · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Murder in Season” the 5th instalment in The Gardener Mystery series by Rosie Sandler set across England. This time we are in the Essex The past can't stay buried forever...

When a fresh body shocks the village, it seems that murder is in season at Greenhaven. Can Steph unearth the truth before the killer decides she's dug too deep?

I enjoyed this story. As I have stated previously, I really like the bond between Steph and Mouse, but in this instalment I love the bond that forms between Steph and Nellie. I hope Nellie pops up on further stories.

The mystery is interesting and well plotted, and had plenty of twists to keep you engaged right to the very end..

I recommend this book to all my cozy lover friends. I can’t wait for book 6!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I requested and received an advance readers copy from NetGalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

By coincidence my second book in a row about gardens and gardening. The first was chick lit and this is a mystery but they both pursued the underlying idea that gardens help us heal and are good for us.

In this series Steph Williams designs gardens and with each job she stays in the place where the garden is being created. This gives the author plenty of scope for new characters and different story lines. In this book she is in Greenhaven, Essex in a model village which was built to house factory workers in the 1920's. Steph is there to design a Centenary garden but unfortunately the first outing of a digger to clear the site uncovers not one but two skeletons.

This is a fun series with a sensible main character, a reliable partner and a very smart dog. All the attributes of a good cosy. I hope the author has many more ideas up her sleeve for future books.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[LittleRead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew gardening could be so deadly? It seems every time Steph and Mouse take on a new project, the bodies seem to pile up. And this latest project is no exception, even if it’s bones. Not just one set of bones, but two! Can Steph and Mouse finish their project and put the mystery of the bones to rest as well? Not if a killer has anything to say about it.

I really love Mouse, but then again, a good pup is a must have in a cozy series. Steph does a fabulous job in each entry with both the gardens she is working in as ell as solving the cases she comes across in her work. Each entry is filled with red herrings and twists and turns that keep you guessing up to the end. It doesn’t get much better than this.

[Sarah Truckell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. 4 stars. I’ve read a couple of books in this series (although they can be read as standalone novels) so I’d already met garden designer Steph Williams and her dog mouse and it was great to be joining them on this latest adventure. This time Steph is working in Greenhaven, an Art Deco village in Essex built for factory workers in the 1920s. She has been commissioned to design and build their centenary garden. Greenhaven is home to the poison pen writer in the local newsletter, gossip, secrets, rivals, and resentments. And then, Steph uncovers two skeletons on the garden area. A really good storyline as Steph uncovers exactly what is going on and who is behind it.

[Miki Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steph's new job is to build a centaury garden in the village of Greenhaven in Essex. It's on a patch of land and she's told that only part of it is for the garden as the rest might be dangerous. After she bumps into the descendent of the founder of the village, she finds out a bit more about the undercurrent that runs through the village. She gets permission to use the rest of the site and is dismayed when some skeletons are discovered there. When the identities of the skeletons are discovered there is another murder and she finds herself in the frame for it.
In true Steph style she has to find out the who and why to clear her name.
Another fun read.

[Susan Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steph and her dog Mouse are off to design another garden - this time in a small English village. Unfortunately all does not go as planned and, as usual, Steph soon has another murder to solve. This series just keeps getting better.

[Marseydoats · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful series!
Love the cover as well!