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Transcript

Welcome to Mystery Books Podcast. I’m USA Today bestselling mystery author Sara Rosett. I’m also a bookworm who specializes in the mystery genre. I love sharing my favorite mystery discoveries, from classic Golden Age novels to contemporary cozies. This episode is all about A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari.

A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons was published in 2022, and it is book one of the Saffron Everleigh series.

Blurb

Here is the blurb. I’m going to edit it just a little bit so that I don’t give away too much, and it’s a little long to listen to a couple of paragraphs, so I’m going to edit it down.

Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh is determined to blaze a new trail at University College London. 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 a poisoning.

So that is the setup. Let me give you the first line. “Light poured from the windows of the grand house, illuminating the front steps and gravel drive.”

So you know me. Any book that begins with a grand house, I’m so in. So this one had me from the get go.

All right, so let’s talk a little bit about the characters and the settings. So the setting is London 1923, and Saffron Everleigh is a research assistant to Dr. Maxwell. She’s the daughter of a professor who has passed away, and he was a botany professor, and he loved plants and Botany, and she does, too. So she’s following in his footsteps. And characteristics for her that lends itself well to the mystery is that she loves uncovering secrets with the added twist that she’s a scientist. So as she thinks through things, she’s going to be very logical and analytical as she pursues this mystery, that she becomes involved with.

Other characters that play a significant role in the book are Dr. Maxwell, who is Saffron’s mentor, and he becomes the main suspect in the poisoning. And that’s part of the reason she is so involved in solving the mystery.

Another main character is Alexander Ashton. He is a microbiologist, also at the same university. And this book is definitely a duet. I would describe it as two main characters that we see alternating viewpoints from each of them. Saffron definitely is the lead character, but Alexander also plays a major role in the story, and you get to listen to his thoughts as well.

And there’s a romantic subplot going on between them. And I would say, like, if you love romance in your mysteries, then you’ll really enjoy this. If you’re not so into romance, then this might not be the book for you because there is definitely a romance subplot. And I just like to call that out because I know some readers prefer no romance in their mystery. So I just wanted to give you a heads up about that.

Themes and Tropes

Okay, so let’s talk about themes. One of the first themes that is very apparent in this book is the theme of prejudice and barriers that Saffron has to overcome as she gets this advanced degree. I’m sure this was common in all areas of life at this time, but especially in the academic world. She faced prejudice and barriers just simply because she was a woman. And there was a system in place that it was set up to block her in many ways. And so the book is a really good depiction of that; it shows exactly what women of this time had to face to achieve things in their careers.

Achievement and ambition, that is another theme. She wants to do well. She wants to follow in her father’s footsteps. She wants to become a professor, and she wants to teach. And her department head is one of those people who not only blocks her but tries to take advantage of her in many different ways. So that is not an ideal set up for somebody who wants to succeed in their chosen career path. So not only is she dealing with this mystery and trying to solve the mystery, she is also having to deal with unwanted advances and this feeling that, “She’s a woman, she doesn’t really belong here.”

Another theme of this book is the impact of World War I. We see this over and over again in Golden Age mysteries. And then there’s the theme of loss that’s just prevalent in this book. We’ve got Saffron’s sweetheart who had died, her best friend’s brother, who was the sweetheart died. Saffron’s dad died. Elizabeth, her friend lost her social position because now she’s had to go out and find work. So there’s a lot of echoes of World War I and the impact of that on the characters in this story.

And I want to jump back for just a moment and talk about her best friend, Elizabeth; I should have mentioned this when I went through the characters. But I really enjoyed Elizabeth. I thought she was a great character. I hope that we see more of her in the rest of the series. I’m going to read you a quick description of her. All right, here’s a quote from the book describing Elizabeth. “In addition to working as a receptionist for a minor government minister whom they referred to as ‘the Lord,’ Elizabeth published poetry under pseudonym, which given her rather racy subject matter, Saffron agreed was wise.” So we don’t see a whole lot of her friend in this book, and I’m looking forward to the next book, and hopefully she will have a bigger role.

All right, let’s move on to the tropes. So we have the trope of the lady scientist/sluth, which is one of my favorite tropes for a sleuth. I love academic settings, and the fact that this is in the 1920s just makes my day. We have the trope of the poisoning, along with an exotic plant that’s thought to have been the cause of the poisoning. And that plant, the backstory around it loops back around to Saffron’s mentor.

As I mentioned, there’s the academic setting, which that is setting that I enjoy. And it was really nice to read one set in 1920s because with any academic or university setting, you have the traditions and you have, “This is the way we’ve always done it.” And if you take it back into the 1920s, that is even more ingrained. So Saffron is bumping up against tradition in the academic world and she’s also trying to solve this mystery. So she’s fighting on two fronts basically.

And then another trope we have is the absent minded professor that is Dr. Maxwell. And he is a very grandfatherly character. He cares about Saffron and wants to help her and wants to see her advance. And so he is sort of the antithesis of the barriers that she’s encountering. He’s the one that’s trying to help her and push her forward so that she does really well and support her in her dreams and plans.

The Story Behind The Story

For the story behind the story section, I will just let you know that the author this, Kate Khavari, is a debut author and the publicity material for this on the publisher’s website describes this book as, “The Lost Apothecary meets Dead, Dead Girls in this fast paced, STEMinist adventure.” So Stem S-T-E-M -combination with feminist. So STEMinist adventure.

Recommendations

All right, so some read-a-likes. Now, I think that if you enjoy this book, you would also enjoy academic mysteries set in the UK. And probably the most famous one of those is Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Another book that you might enjoy would be Poison at Pemberton Hall by Fran Smith. That’s set a little bit earlier, it’s more Edwardian than Golden Age. But it has the same themes with the main character interested in academic pursuits, and she’s struggling to figure out if she’s going to be able to do that and how to work that into the world that she lives in. And I will be doing a podcast about Poison at Pemberton Hall later this season. So watch for that.

And then a series I read a long time ago, a modern series contemporary setting, the first book is called Death and the Oxford Box by Veronica Stallwood. Now that one I think you can only find in print. I don’t think it’s an ebook yet or audio.

Another twist on this story that you might like, another pairing possibly, would be plant and garden mysteries. One series that I would recommend is the English Cottage Garden series by H.Y. Hannah. In book one is called Deadhead and Buried.

Then you’ve also got The Potting Shed mysteries by Marty Wingate. Book one in that is called The Garden Plot. And both of those are set in contemporary times, but they do have this big gardening theme to them.

Another series would be the Darling Dahlias by Susan Wittig Albert. in the first book in that series is The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree. Now that one is historical setting in the 1930s in the south. And it revolves around this little gardening club in this small town, I believe in Alabama.

And then if you want to read more about sort of the post World War I aspect of this, I would recommend The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers. And I will link to that. I’m going to do an episode about that. I haven’t recorded it yet, but once it’s recorded I will put a link to that in the show notes.

And then I also have a mystery in the High Society series called Murder in Black Tie. And that explores some of the, what we would call post traumatic stress but at that time they called shell shock. It explores that and how that impacts one of the families that Olive knows really well.

So my question of the week is do you like academic mysteries? And if so, which is your favorite?

You can answer the question. You can find me on Instagram @sararosett, that’s no H on Sara and no E on Rosett. Or you can leave a comment on the show notes for this episode, and that will be at sararosett.com/poison. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me a review copy of A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons. All opinions are my own.

I hope this podcast has let you revisit a favorite book or perhaps helped you discover a new author to try. If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, I hope you’ll tell a fellow mystery reader. Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you next time.