A BOTANIST'S GUIDE TO SOCIETY AND SECRETS

Two scientists are fatally poisoned. Could their work for the government be the reason?

Saffron Everleigh, a botanist specializing in poisonous plants who’s already been involved in solving several murder cases, is struggling to succeed at University College London. Female scholars get precious little respect in the 1920s, and many feel that she’s trading on the name of her well-regarded father. Upon returning from a conference in Paris, Saffron learns that Adrian Ashton—the brother of her sometime love interest, microbiologist Alexander—is a suspect in the death of a Russian horticulturalist. Her connection with DI Green prompts Alexander to ask her to investigate, and she starts sleuthing with help from various colleagues. Also involved is her roommate Elizabeth Hale’s brother, Nick, whose claim to work for the Agricultural Ministry is most likely a cover for something more sinister. On top of that, Nick has had mysterious dealings with Alexander in the past that neither man wants to discuss. After another scientist dies from poisoning, Nick talks Saffron into taking a job at the lab where the Russian had been working. Slipping into the routine job at the lab, Saffron gets to observe the people who work there and snoop into experiments that are sometimes conducted for highly questionable purposes. Her relationship with Alexander deepens, but she remains suspicious of what he’s hiding, and her new job proves more dangerous than it had looked.

A thorny mystery and budding romance combine with a fascinating look at the many uses of plants.