Another enjoyable murder mystery set in the world of horticulture and where the star of the show is Mouse the dog. The story is set around a National Trust property in Devon that I’ve been to so that created lots of mental images as the story progressed. My only comment would be that it was a long way through the story before the murder happened, which didn’t leave much time for plot development and the discovery of the murderer.

I have previously read and enjoyed book two in the series so I was already familiar with the main characters.

Steph Williams is a gardening consultant. She is very excited to be invited to compete in a garden design competition at a National Trust property named Compton Fishacre. While the competitors are working on their planned displays one gardener is poisoned, one is murdered and another has their work trashed. Not a happy place to be and Steph sets herself to discover who is responsible.

This was a light, easy and enjoyable book to read. There were many good characters but the best has to be Mouse, Steph's big, beautiful dog. He plays a major role and is a real star. I will happily read any more books which may come along in this series.

Steph and her dog, Mouse, are back in the garden, this time as part of a prestigious competition. I loved the first two books in the series, but this one didn't hold my interest in the same way. I found myself missing Steph's previous jobs which had her restoring historic gardens to their former glory. Building a temporary garden from scratch wasn't nearly as interesting. Mouse is always fun to read about and Steph's relationship with her family is explored further so there's plenty to enjoy.

Murder in Bloom is the third gardener cozy mystery featuring Steph Williams by Rosie Sandler. Due out 21st Jan 2025 from Bonnier on their Embla Books imprint, it's 300 pages and will be available in audio and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, whilst this book is not currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free, the other books in the series are available on KU.

This is a well written, eminently readable, action driven cozy murder mystery. It's got a sympathetic amateur sleuth who's a gardener to the rich and privileged in the main role, a varied selection of quirky-to-downright-dislikable suspects, murder, and lots of fun facts about gardening and plants. It's abundantly clear that the author is a keen horticulturalist or employs a stable of fact checkers/researchers.

The setup mechanic of the series is appealing and fresh; each new book will be set in a new place with the same main character in new gardening situations and with new mysteries to figure out.

Four stars. It would be an excellent choice for public library acquisition, home use, or a nice weekend binge/buddy read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Steph and Mouse are a fabulous creation from the author. I don’t know much about plants, so the gardening details go over my head, but somehow, they are still interesting. Each book is a new and complete story, so this series doesn’t need to be read in order. There is, however a very interesting story arc that goes across the series. Steph’s parents and their squabbles are so believable that I snigger every time they appear. Lovely cosy read with great characters, an amazing dog and a light touch of romance. Can you call a murder mystery heartwarming?

I’m 23% into this book, and there has been no murder yet. It’s just people talking about gardening. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Another fun read in this third book series. Quite a bit of gardening information embedded in mystery. Once again, the amazing dog Mouse stole the show for me.

Murder In Bloom
Rosie Sandler
January 21, 2025

Steph Williams is a master gardener. She resides in Derbyshire, England. Beyond her wildest dreams she has been chosen to be a contestant to develop a garden site at the Scout Point in the Coleton Fishacre site in Devon. She and her dog, Mouse pull up to the old estate in her old van filled with provisions for herself and her puppy as well as garden tools and her master plan that she has drawn.
After she arrives, she meets the other contestants and acclimatizes herself to her new home for a couple of weeks.
Murder in Bloom will be published by Embla of Bonnier Books on January 21, 2025. I was able to read Rosie Sandlerś's latest novel via NetGalley. I enjoyed it. It's an interesting English story with a heavy basis on gardening and time spent with her K-9, Mouse. This is a good weekend novel, do enjoy!

Murder In Bloom is the third book in Rosie Sandler's gardening detective series, starring Steph and her wonderful dog, Mouse. This series is really coming into its own now, as Steph takes part in a garden design competition. Much of the early part of the book is taken up with setting the scene and the murder doesn't occur until much later in the story than I would have expected. The benefit of this, is that Steph and the reader really have time to get to know the characters before we start suspecting them all of lying. The other thing that struck me was that quite often, as the reader, we anticipate who the murder victim is going to be. In this instance, I had no idea who was going to get 'bumped off', so it was quite nice to be as suprised as Steph when the body eventually turned up.

The supporting cast are certainly an interesting bunch and in the highly charged competition environment it's easy to see how any one of them could (and in some cases, do) just snap. Each competitor has their own reason for needing the win, so Steph has to work out which of them is the most compelling and whether or not this is adequate motivation for murder.

This time, a smidgeon of romance is thrown in, just to add another element to Steph's life and it will be interesting to see how this develops in future books, given Steph's itinerant lifestyle. There are also occasional nods towards the main subplot of the series - the disappearance of Steph's erstwhile ex-husband, Ben. None of these add much that is new to this plot line, until the very end of the book, when an absolute whammy is delivered. (I will confess to saying out loud and admiring "well done, Rosie" when I reached this point, because as a cliffhanger, it was sublime.) It beautifully sets up the next book and I cannot wait to see how this particular plotline unfurls.

This is the third book and a great addition to the series. Each book is set somewhere different as Steph travels around to new jobs and this adds interest to the story keeping it fresh. We are in Devon this time designing a garden for a competition. There are new characters to be introduced with there own issues that add tension to which is fun and entertaining read and as always Mouse steals the show. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Murder in Bloom is book 3 in The Gardener Series.

Steph has been invited to participate in a National Trust garden design competition with five other prestigious people. But when there's a poisoning and a murder, it's upto Steph and her sidekick Mouse to solve it.

I enjoyed this mystery very much as there was a lot going on. There were loads of new characters but it was easy to remember them all and some of them were quite likeable too. We also learn more about Steph's birth mother.

Steph is a professional garden designer and entered into her first show garden competition. She looks forward to being mentored by a famous gardener as well as spending time with fellow gardeners. Unfortunately, everyone is not as happy to be together as she hoped and once again Steph finds herself involved in a murder. Book 3 in the series but it stands alone just fine

Steph and her faithful dog Mouse, travel to a National Trust property, Coleton Fishacre in Devon, for a garden design competition in which she is one of six finalists from over 300 entrants. The first chapter quickly sets the scene and introduces an eclectic mix of characters. Themed around a gardening competition with high profile judges there are early hints of tensions deriving from professional elitism, jealousy and the pressure of maintaining media profiles.

Steph’s character is well developed and her natural curiosity and observational skills provide the backbone to this story. The dialogue is well paced and the details of the garden designs and construction provide an extra level of interest which I thoroughly enjoyed. My only criticism is that the ending was a little weak and left some questions unanswered.

Overall though this is a fun cosy murder mystery in a fabulous setting.

I received a free copy of this book, and I am voluntarily reviewing this book. The thoughts in the review are my own, and have not been influenced by the author, the publisher or by Net Galley.

This is a warm hug. The book version of 'Rosemary & Thyme' and I love that TV Series. So, when I saw this an ARC copy I knew I had to grab it. This may only have one Main Character, instead of two, but Steph and her dog Mouse is more than enough to carry this book. When I picked it up, I didn't realise that reading the previous two books would give me more content, but I didn't feel completely out out of the loop. And reading this has convinced me that I will be buying the previous two books because I love this book so much.

This is a murder mystery within the Gardening World. It revolves around a competition Steph is involved in and the complex lives of not only the other gardeners but also the judges. Steph is extremely good about finding out more about everyone, and all of these little titbits either prove extremely important, or, else a very effective red-hearing. I love how I kept guessing, though I was leaning towards who was the 'baddie' in this book early on. I won't say exactly what they were guilty of though, or, if I was right,, because I think that it will spoil part of the book.

This is a great book to read. I finished it within two days (damn work for getting in the way) and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I loved the world created by the author, I loved Steph, and all of the characters. They may not be thoroughly fleshed out, but there was enough to understand why they did what they did and who turned out to be the 'baddie'. I wouldn't take away any Stars away for that, because it's the same with 'Rosemary & Thyme'. And I didn't feel as though it detracted it in any way.

4 Stars!

Murder in Bloom is another fun cozy British murder mystery and part of a series. Sometimes you just want a murder to dig into.
Steph and Mouse are participating in a flower show competition. She is thrilled to be included in such select group of competitors.
Steph is also trying to connect with her birth mother which isn’t easy for her adopted parents.
Unfortunately, Mouse and Steph find a body and realize one of the competitors is a murderer. Will they find the killer?

I think this is book 3 in the series, but doesn't really matter, as I was not lost. Really enjoyed this one as a group of gardeners are working together to create a garden in a small space for a competition. When poison, murder and sabotage occur Steph starts by observing and keeping notes on who and what. Liked this one, and enjoyed following along looking for clues. Also like her dog Mouse. Would highly recommend, now I want to read the other books in the series. I am also a fan of the British tv show of Rosemary and Thyme. This is different but still had an echo of that show of women gardeners. Would recommend.

Steph has been invited to compete at the National Trust garden design competition. She's in prestigious company.

But some of these big names have rather an urgent need to win...

One competitor falls ill.

And then a body is discovered...

Another excellent addition to this brilliant series

#MurderinBloom #NetGalley is a wonderful addition to this series.
Steph is invited to participate in a prestigious competition and she's quite excited for the event.
Things soon take a deadly turn, and its up to Steph and her canine sidekick Mouse to put the clues together and identify the perpetrator.

I really like this series and I'm happy to recommend it to other readers.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of the book.

A Murderous Turn..
The third outing in The Gardener Mystery series finds Steph with a new but rather different commission. One that she absolutely cannot refuse - being picked to compete at the National Trust property of Coleton Fishacre. Despite the potential, things are soon to turn murderous and, once again, Steph finds herself donning her amateur sleuthing hat. Another nicely written and engaging entry to the series with a likeable protagonist, a nicely crafted cast, a well imagined setting and a solid cosy mystery at its heart.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this book!!

What a great book! I enjoyed this one a lot!!! I had a hard time putting it down. I enjoyed the chemistry between the characters. Great writing style!! This was a first by this author for me but will not be my last!