The Occasional Gardener – Nick Hooper
£7.99
The Occasional Gardener is the first of a series about Inspector Arnold Rackham, available in paperback format from this site.
The second book in the series, The Mirror in the Ice Cream Parlour, was published in 2019 and can be purchased here.
To purchase the Kindle edition of The Occasional Gardener, click here.
Fancy a sneak peak, or want to get started before your order arrives in the post? Click here to read the opening chapter of Inspector Arnold’s first adventure.
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Description
Arnold Rackham is a detective inspector in a safe parochial town. He has buried his head in the sand for too long, and bit by bit, his past and other metaphorical criminal weeds appear to make his life very difficult. To cap it all, he starts to have memory loss episodes. He manages to cope with his troubles with the help of his dog, and his artistic ability to draw from memory. Thus finding his way back, and solving a series of crimes.
Continuing the trend of music inspired by Nick’s writing, The Bookshop Band gave this special performance of their song ‘I Can Draw’ at the official book launch in 2018. You can watch the performance below.
Reviews from the Critics
Alice Nuttall, Daily Info
There were a lot of enjoyable moments in both The Occasional Gardener and The Mirror in the Ice Cream Parlour. Rackham faces high stakes and real peril, the plot twists and turns to an exciting conclusion, and there are some truly touching points, particularly the scenes focusing on Rackham’s dependence on and love for his unnamed dog. Locals will love spotting the Oxfordshire connections, and crime fans may find a new favourite in this artistic detective.
Read the full review here
7 reviews for The Occasional Gardener – Nick Hooper
A very likeable book with a main character one can empathise with and a story that is gripping. A real journey and one that leaves you entertained and satisfied. Looking for the next book with Arnold Rackham with anticipation.
After having read Nick’s first book ‘Above the void’ I was looking forward to reading this one. It didn’t disappoint. Like the first one, I finshed it in two sittings. It draws you in from the very beginning. The storyline has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and you can really relate to the characters. I can’t wait to read the next book.
Really enjoyed this first book about D. Arnold, kept me gripped with good story line and enjoyable writing. Looking forward to more in the series
Inspector Rackham is an interesting character, beset as he is by odd memory lapse interludes and apparently pursued by mysterious forces which you often can’t tell are real or imagined. Consequently, the novel is an unusual mix of detective adventure, a thoughtful look at the ageing process and magic realism – a genre-bending journey through a small-time policeman’s late middle age, with all manner of buried “skeletons” raising their ugly heads and setting the scene for a lively sequel. A thoroughly recommended read.
Nick Hooper’s ‘The Occasional Gardener’ is a dynamic detective story, changing rapidly from scene to scene, keeping you fully engaged. The main character, Inspector Rackham, is very real, reflecting what our lives are like, with their highs and their lows. Nick Hooper also achieves a lovely emotional spectrum for Rackham who is happy in the moment, yet sad about elements of his past. I highly recommend this novel, and I am delighted that its sequel is now available!
I liked the dark humour in this book. The story flowed well and I was looking forward to finding out the ending but at the same time didn’t want to finish it. I thought the complex character of the Inspector made him more real than others in the crime genre. Looking forward to the next book.
This is a highly entertaining read. The narrator Arnold Rackham is an engaging character who deserved to live again in another investigation, so I was delighted to learn that he has been given a second case to solve. In this first book, I like the way we learn about him, and he learns about himself, as the story develops. The tease about the nature of some of Rackham’s personal problems is intriguing too. Having now devoured the second adventure (‘The Mirror in the Ice Cream Parlour’) I can only hope that a third investigation is on the way!