The novel whodunnit approach ensures it will appeal to a wide audience, and once started, is difficult to put down.

This astute book overthrows the trope of the cutesy hedgehog featured on mugs and cushions, purveying this resilient creature as a fighter, with far more to their story than first meets the eye. So which one of them is responsible for this crime - and for the disappearance of many many thousands of hedgehogs in recent decades?Ghosts in the Hedgerow offers an in-depth, insightful and impossibly funny look at the plight of the hedgehog.

The style comes with no lack of substance – the author is a respected academic and author of numerous scientific papers on wildlife conservation – everything here is backed up by solid science. So which one of them is responsible for this crime – and for the disappearance of many many thousands of hedgehogs in recent decades?

By turns hilarious and heart-breaking, Ghosts in the Hedgerow is a triumph of accessible science writing. His work has focussed on the conservation ecology of water voles, the management of signal crayfish, hedgehog conservation and the impacts of wildlife. While legislative and high-level changes are important, the actions of the individual are powerful too.

Any project that highlights the plight of hedgehogs is invaluable and Ghosts in the Hedgerow fulfils that task admirably. A final chapter, complete with contributions from hedgehog conservation experts, equips the reader with the toolkit required to try and coax our beloved hedgehogs back. British hedgehogs sadly face a myriad of threats, with the format of a whodunnit allowing Moorhouse to investigate each ‘suspect’ in turn; the badger, the farmer, the driver… The list goes on. Also there were too many asterisks in the text with the explanation at the bottom of the page which got to me fairly quickly, Some of these were not related to the plot and again just puns.

Tom Moorhouse is brilliant at weaving complex ecological ideas into an easily accessible and very entertaining form - Ghosts in the Hedgerow is a delight. Hugh Warwick, ecologist and author of A Prickly Affair Any project that highlights the plight of hedgehogs is invaluable and GHOSTS IN THE HEDGEROW fulfils that task admirably.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Lee Schofield, author of Wild Fell Jaunty, scholarly, hugely entertaining, wise, deadly serious and downright fun .I wonder if the reviewers who found the book"wonderfully entertaining" and "by turns hilarious" will feel the same when we are down to the last hedgehog and then suffering the same fate as the passenger pigeon and Eskimo curlew. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. For those with an interest in endangered species, Tom Moorhouse's Ghosts in the Hedgerow: A Hedgehog Whoddunit is a caring, amiable guide to who (and what) is responsible for the worrying decline of this cute mammal.