The English Cottage Garden Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of English Cottage Garden Mysteries Books

English Cottage Garden Mysteries
English Cottage Garden Mysteries is a book series authored by H.Y. Hanna (April 1974—), whose full name is Hsin-Yi Hanna. A Taiwan-born author famed for her Oxford Tearoom Mysteries series; poet Hanna spent her early childhood—and studied and worked—in the Middle East, England, U.S., and Asian countries, before she finally relocated to Western Australia, where she is a Perth resident.

Hanna is an Oxford University graduate, where she pursued Biological Sciences; she is a social anthropologist, courtesy of her Master of Arts degree from the Oxford University. She has had jobs in the journalism, education, and publishing sectors. Series that influenced H.Y. Hanna include: the classic stories in the Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene; Richard Adams, particularly his 2005 book Watership Down, and Fred Marcellino, especially his 2001 book The Trumpet of the Swan; C.S. Lewis, Jack London; and E.B. White. Hanna’s specialty is fiction, including fantasy, mystery, juvenile literature and romance.

Book in the English Cottage Garden Mysteries
Incidentally, Hanna has been publishing books since 2013, when her book Curse of the Scarab was released. The first book in the serialized Big Honey Dog Mysteries; generally, Curse of the Scarab’s protagonist is a dog called Honey that is on a search-and-rescue mission involving missing puppies whose disappearance in a graveyard is connected to a timed curse.

Contextually, Deadhead and Buried is the first book in the English Cottage Garden Mysteries series. Wisheart Press released Deadhead and Buried on February 2019. A young woman called Poppy Lancaster is the protagonist in Deadhead and Buried, which is set in a cottage in rural Oxfordshire County, England. Poppy is an indebted Londoner who is in a career crisis. Her life changes overnight when estate executor Charles Manning informs her about—and she travels to inspect—her willed the Hollyhock Cottage from her hitherto unknown paternal grandmother named Mary Lancaster; wherein she interacts with pets, stumbles on the gardener’s copse whose investigation risks her life, and has an inheritance dispute with her paternal cousin Hubert Leach.

Initially released in March 2019, Silent Bud Deadly is the second book in the English Cottage Garden Mysteries series. In Silent Bud Deadly; Poppy Lancaster’s decision to renovate her willed cottage earns her a new well-paying job as a gardener at another cottage, where advising neighbor is murdered shortly thereafter. Poppy teams up with many others, including the pets—cat Oren and dog Einstein—, an innovator named Dr. Bertie Noble, and a writer named Nick Forest in her investigation into the deadly poisoning.

The third book in the English Cottage Garden Mysteries series is titled Doom and Bloom, which was initially released in April 2019. In Doom and Bloom; Poppy Lancaster has since renovated her own cottage in the run-up to her meeting, at a rural funds event held at Duxton House, with a rich dog-loving client named Mrs. Farnsworth who contracts her to make her dog Flopsy-inspired sensory garden; wherein the death by stabbing of her client’s niece, apparently after she accidentally hit an antique collector with a ball. This prompts Poppy—alongside her teammates in their previous book—to start a homicide investigation, wherein the numerous persons of interests include the offended collector, the niece’s crush, and a greedy relative.

The fourth novel in the English Cottage Garden Mysteries series is called Trowel and Error, which was released in May 2020. Trowel and Error is set in a private party that is organized so as to exhibit the indoor fruit garden of a wealthy parliamentary contestant named David Nowak. Poppy’s date for the party is her property developer cousin Hubert who is seeking a business deal with Nowak. Invited guest Geoff and gatecrashing singer Rick Zova are friends-turned-enemies. Rick, who apparently has a connection to Poppy’s quest for paternity, dies of stings from a swarm of wasps; Poppy’s acquaintance Joe Fabbri is fingered for the murder. Once again, the falsified guest Poppy and her usual investigating team are seeking to clear Joe’s name in a move greatly assisted by Bertie’s newly invented robot named Clara.

The fifth book in the English Cottage Garden Mysteries series is titled Fronds and Enemies, which was released in March 2020. Fronds and Enemies is set in springtime, when Poppy Lancaster’s hopes to revive her garden—bad weather had wrecked it previously—are in vain. Worse still, her acquaintance and fellow amateur investigator Nick Forest is fingered for the murder of a physician whose corpse Poppy stumbles upon while attending her fruitless medical appointment. Poppy, alongside the other animal and human investigators come to the rescue of one of their own; cat Oren may be their best bet, wherein motives range from a murderous lover to a kinky thief.

Series similar to English Cottage Garden Mysteries
Readers who liked the English Cottage Garden Mysteries liked these following book series too. One of the beloved series is Addison Moore’s Country Cottage Mysteries, especially the fourth therein, which is titled Bow Wow Big House. The book is set in Northport, Maine, where the fictitious Country Cottage Café is located. The protagonist is an hotelier called Bizzy Baker who lobbies for pet adoption while using his talent for eavesdropping on others’ thoughts—including those of cats, dogs and people—in his investigations into serial killings.

Readers also liked Sandra Baublitz’s Clever Cat Detective series, especially the first book in that series that is called Meowing for Murder. The old protagonist is Lilian Hardcastle who goes to her sick sister Miriam’s house, wherein a next-door woman is murdered; this prompts cat Saber and Lilian’s homicide investigation, where suspects include an errand boy and people in a love triangle.

Another much-liked series is the Tuscan Vineyard Cozy Mysteries by Fiona Grace, particularly the second book in that series which is titled Aged for Death—originally titled Death and a dog. This book has an Italian setting, where the protagonist is an unsuccessful vine grower and wine steward called Olivia Glass; an American’s murder associated with a wine auction prompts Olivier—alongside dog Chester—to start investigating, where collector Lacey Doyle is the fall guy.