annieb123's Review of A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons

by Kate Khavari

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.

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons is a well written and engaging historical cozy mystery by Kate Khavari and a series starter for amateur sleuth Saffron Everleigh. Due out 7th June 2022 from Crooked Lane, it's 304 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This book (and hopefully series) incorporates so many of my favorite cozy tropes: intelligent female protagonist, an academic setting, with all the jealousy and subterfuge that entails, historical setting (1920s London), some danger and intrigue and "fair play" well constructed mystery plot.

Saffron Everleigh is a research assistant botanist, with all the misogyny and difficulty that goes along with it at the time at a large research university. She's a legacy in academia, her late father was also an academic. A poisoning death at a celebratory dinner puts her father's friend and her mentor in the frame for the crime and if he's to be spared, she has to find out whodunnit herself.

The pacing, plotting, and characterizations are very well done and Ms. Khavari is adept at her craft. There is additionally a hint of romance (possibly foreshadowing), but it's not a main focus and I enjoyed being able to concentrate on the story without the distraction of romantic entanglements and/or drama. The main characters here are academics, and there are a number of academic in-jokes and humorous bits of dialogue which will either require readers to skim over or look up themselves. For readers who aren't bio-nerds, it could be a little tiresome, personally I found it enhanced the read.

Four stars. Delightfully engaging. I look forward to the next installment.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons

by Kate Khavari

Reviewed by annieb123 on May 3, 2022

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