by Kate Khavari
Overall: Full disclosure: 1920s mysteries combine my all-time favorite genre with my all-time favorite era. I’m a huge fan of Gold Age Detective Fiction like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. So I was predisposed to like A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons, and it did not disappoint! Saffron Everleigh works at University College London as a research assistant in the botany department. She wants to follow in her late father’s footsteps, but it’s tough going in 1923: if Saffron’s not being dismissed by her colleagues, she’s receiving unwanted advances from them. Shortly before a planned expedition to the Amazon, the wife of Dr. Henry, the excursion’s leader, is poisoned at a dinner party and falls into a coma. Saffron’s mentor, Dr. Maxwell, is implicated, and she is determined to prove his innocence. But suspects abound – from Dr. Henry himself, a notorious womanizer, to the deplorable Dr. Berking, socialite Eris Ermine, and many others.
Likes: The mystery is twisty and kept me guessing right up until the end. The alert reader will spot judiciously placed clues. The botany angle is fascinating; I loved reading about the xolotl vine, Solandra xolotum, and Saffron’s experiments with it. And Saffron’s will-they-or-won’t-they relationship with a university colleague, Alexander Ashton, provides a fun subplot that will please anyone who wants their mystery served with a side of romance. I love the set-up for the next mystery at the end! I’m looking forward to reading Saffron’s next adventure.
Dislikes: No dislikes here! My only suggestion would have been to perhaps include a department roster somewhere so that the reader can easily keep track of the professors, their assistants, and their departments.
FYI: a few scenes of violence, attempted sexual assault, sexual harassment, poisoning.
Liz Helfrich 