A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons

The Lost Apothecary meets Dead Dead Girls in this fast-paced, 'STEMinist' historical mystery set during London's Roaring Twenties! "Gives us a gutsy ingenious heroine, academic intrigue, a scientifically suspenseful mystery and a Christie-like cast of characters." -M. L. Huie, author of the Livy Nash mysteries London, 1923. 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 historical mystery about the struggles of one unforgettable woman in a male-dominated field.

USA Today bestseller Kate Khavari is the author of fiction ranging from historical mysteries to high fantasy epics. She has her parents to thank for her fascination for historical mysteries, as she spent the majority of her childhood memorizing Sherlock Holmes's and Poirot's greatest quips. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas with her husband and children and a lovely garden that contains absolutely no poisonous plants.