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DEAD CEREUS by Kira  Seamon

DEAD CEREUS

by Kira Seamon

Pub Date: Jan. 18th, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-9850-9562-3
Publisher: Self

A young college student must solve unexpected crimes in Seamon’s debut horticultural whodunit.

Holly Jackson is a student at Shellesby College in Massachusetts, but because the horticulture department’s director, Professor Emeritus Ashton Berkeley, dislikes her, her scholarship is in danger of being taken away. She’s also competing with fellow pupil Ivy Berkeley to get an internship with Professor Ogletree, an acclaimed horticulturist. Holly finds herself in charge of organizing a series of charity events for prestigious donors, comprising presentations of rare, carefully cultivated plant species through greenhouse tours and sumptuous meals using local produce. She eagerly awaits the Night Lights Ball, where donors will be able to witness the nighttime blooming of the beautiful cereus plant—and the winner of the internship will be announced. But before that can happen, dramatic events unfold: A longstanding rivalry between Ogletree and his former colleague, Professor Dudley, creates suspense; student protests cause chaos; and Holly becomes a witness to murder and kidnapping. Together with her attractive, devoted, and intelligent boyfriend, William Smith, Holly finds herself in a race against time to save both her rival and her scholarship. The novel, told through Holly’s third-person perspective,juggles mystery, humor, and factoids about the science and art of horticulture, and offers a well-paced tale, to boot. However, a few characters come across as predictable and stereotypical, with Holly conforming to the redhead-with-a-fiery-temper cliché, and William revealing himself as little more than a supportive boyfriend. The dialogue also seems unrealistically childlike at times, with 20-somethings Holly and Ivy lobbing insults such as “loser” and “jerk.” Fortunately, the author does develop this combative relationship as the story continues. The author’s writing style also has a fun, if occasionally distracting, goofiness, with plant-related endearments, such as “little prickly pear,” and the exclamation “Blistering bluebells!” Its thematic use of a greenhouse also sets it apart from other entries in the genre.

An uneven but often clever mystery with a plant-loving focus.