Hodder & Stoughton have announced the publication of the first murder mystery from bestselling writer Alan Titchmarsh.

How to Kill a Gardener will publish on 18 February 2027 in Hardback, Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio. Jo Dickinson will publish at Hodder & Stoughton and UK & Comm rights were acquired from Luigi Bonomi.

In How to Kill a Gardener a group of rival horticulturalists vie to secure the most coveted TV role as the nation’s head gardener.  It seems that at least one of them will go to any lengths to secure the glittering prize.

Logan Carmichael has climbed through the ranks of television gardeners – despite knowing very little about plants – and his flowerbed-side manner leaves a lot to be desired. At the biggest flower festival of the year in Harrogate, he is the star attraction. ‘The Ace of Spades’ they call him. But when you get to the top, there's only one way left to go…and there are a lot of people who would like to take him down.

The body discovered in Logan’s front garden has been stabbed in the back by a garden fork.  The nation’s most beloved gardeners fear for their lives and the police are baffled by the strange game being played.

Alan Titchmarsh says: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my journey into crime - the twists, the turns and the characters involved. The trouble is that my wife says that in real life the TV gardeners she knows are much nicer! It’s true – but this lot are a colourful and contrasting bunch and I like to think that they will amuse as well as surprise – and maybe shock – the reader.”

Executive Director of Hodder & Stoughton Jo Dickinson says: “Alan Titchmarsh has written a wonderfully entertaining, superbly crafted and meticulously plotted crime novel set in the world of TV gardening and it is a joy to read. He has created two delightful detectives in DCI Alec Dove and DC Harry Fidler and I can’t wait for readers to meet them.”

Congratulations Alan!