What I’m Reading: A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons (A Saffron Everleigh Mystery) [Books]

I always keep an eye out for a good mystery, and finding one like this that combines with one of my main interests (gardening) is an extra special find. This is the first book in the Saffron Everleigh Mysteries with 3 books already published. A fun romp through the Victorian world with a strong, STEM-studying, woman and lots of gardening and botanical talk. Book 3 is already on hold for me at the library, where I get almost all of my ebooks. — Douglas

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From Amazon.com…

The Lost Apothecary meets Dead Dead Girls in this fast-paced, STEMinist adventure.

Debut author Kate Khavari deftly entwines a pulse-pounding mystery with the struggles of a woman in a male-dominated field in 1923 London.

Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh is determined to blaze a new trail at the University College London, but with her colleagues’ beliefs about women’s academic inabilities and not so subtle hints that her deceased father’s reputation paved her way into the botany department, she feels stymied at every turn.

When she attends a dinner party for the school, she expects to engage in conversations about the university’s large expedition to the Amazon. What she doesn’t expect is for Mrs. Henry, one of the professors’ wives, to drop to the floor, poisoned by an unknown toxin.

Dr. Maxwell, Saffron’s mentor, is the main suspect and evidence quickly mounts. Joined by fellow researcher–and potential romantic interest–Alexander Ashton, Saffron uses her knowledge of botany as she explores steamy greenhouses, dark gardens, and deadly poisons to clear Maxwell’s name.

Will she be able to uncover the truth or will her investigation land her on the murderer’s list, in this entertaining examination of society’s expectations?

Additional books in this series: