Saffron Everleigh is used to doing difficult things. After all, she’s managed to get herself a university education and a position as a research assistant to a respected botanist. For a young woman in 1923, this is a huge achievement. But in Kate Khavari’s A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poison, Saffron is going to take on two of her biggest challenges yet: attending a society party and solving a murder. Readers who enjoy clever historical mysteries that thrill without getting too gory will enjoy this one.
Of the two challenges, the party is probably the more taxing. Saffron would much rather be in a lab or greenhouse somewhere, studying unusual plants. The professor she assists, Dr. Maxwell, has been studying a curious and potentially lethal Mexican vine (fictional, Khavari tells us in the afterword) that is definitely more charming than the passive-aggressive ladies and the loathsome professors at the party. Needs must, however, because the botany department is raising funds for a months-long expedition to Brazil. Saffron spends most of the party avoiding the professor who made a pass at her months earlier and trying not to embarrass herself, at least until one of the guests drops to the ground after a refill of champagne.
Suspicion falls on Dr. Maxwell, since he has a motive and access to poisonous plants. Saffron probably would’ve turned investigator even if her mentor and employer hadn’t become the prime suspect as she’s the kind of person who can’t stand to leave a mystery alone—especially when she thinks other people are messing it up. Saffron dives headfirst into solving the poisoning, dragging along her new acquaintance Alexander Ashton. Ashton is one of the few men willing to listen to Saffron and, more importantly, doesn’t seem to mind digging through gardens with Saffron under cover of night or taking notes when Saffron experiments on herself.
I kind of wished that the book had paused a little more here and there to drop some botanical knowledge but this is a tiny quibble. I enjoyed A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons and was delighted to learn that there are three more books in the series.