A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality

April 24, 2023
Floriography helps uncover a killer in Khavari’s appealing if uneven second Saffron Everleigh mystery (following 2022’s A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Poisons). In 1923 London, Saffron has rejected her suffocating aristocratic background to pursue her passion: botany. Shortly after she and her research partner, Michael Lee, return from treating a child poisoned by an innocent-looking white flower, a local detective inspector recruits the two to consult on a pair of murders; in each case, the dead woman received a strange bouquet. Saffron, using the Victorian-era practice of floriography, analyzes the flowers’ “meanings” to help decode the murderer’s intent, all while being pulled into a romantic triangle with the arrogant Michael and a moody biologist. The sexual tension between the three, though, feels as if it exists to create additional conflict rather than emerging naturally from the characters. The novel sings when Saffron is searching fields and gardens, scrutinizing plants, and studying archaic floral meanings, and Khavari also gets in some gleeful jabs at snobbish academics. Historical mystery fans will want to see where Saffron goes from here.

Starred review from June 10, 2024

In this follow-up to Khavari's A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Poisons, botanical sleuth Saffron Everleigh returns--and this time, she's making better decisions. In 1923 London, Saffron is asked to consult on an unusual set of murders in which the victims received unsettling bouquets. Digging deeper into the case, Saffron teams up with her research partner, Michael Lee, who is by turns charming and infuriating. However, there is little time to figure out what the heart wants when a botanist's knowledge of poisons may be the key to solving the murders--and the deadline for an important research project approaches. Listeners familiar with the first novel in the series will be delighted to see the evolution of Saffron's character arc. This time, she is less impulsive, better understands investigative principles, and is more willing to work with the police. Narrator Jodie Harris employs a competent, confident voice for Saffron, which she alternates with a gossipy, flighty voice when Saffron is undercover. Amid the large cast of characters, Harris ensures that Saffron's passion for justice is audibly clear. VERDICT A winner for academic- and historical-mystery fans and lovers of floriography.--Matthew Galloway

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