【 A BOTANIST’S GUIDE TO FLOWERS AND FATALITY 】

book #2 in the Saffron Everleigh Mystery

Genre: Historical Fiction, Cosy Crime, Mystery
Audience: Adult
Author: Kate Khavari
Published: June 2023
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Pages: 352 (paperback)

This series is so charming and I love the characters and the world. Listening to the audiobook, this was a lot of fun and performed well. I’ve very much so invested in the obvious tensions forming between Saffron and Dr Lee – and where that will leave us with Ashton.

I’ll be honest and say this is a series best taken lightly. In particular with this instalment, there were a few conveniences and curious plot developments, but for the sake of simply enjoying the book, they are easy to overlook. And why wouldn’t you overlook them when we have exciting things like an enemies to lovers simmering way, and exciting topics like floriography.

This time, we’re following Saffron as she’s recruited to help with some strange murders where a bouquet of flowers has been left behind at the scene of each murder. In the midst of her research with Dr Lee, and with Ashton abroad on a research trip, her schedule is certainly full to the brim.

I really enjoyed the more domestic moments too, where we get to know her flatmate and friend, Elizabeth, who is the absolute star of the show, in my opinion. Otherwise, the banter and broiling tension between Saffron and Lee is something that has you cackling with delight and rubbing your hands together over. I’m on the fence at this point regarding which way I want things to go, but I think I might be team Lee.

The thing that knocked a star for me comes from inspecting the plot a little too closely. I did find it a little strange how seriously Saffron takes on the case beyond what is asked of her. Her uninvited involvement in crime scenes seemed a little unbelievable for a woman painted to be so astute, and her dogged method of getting close with various suspects/those involved seemed like a weirdly narrow focus that wouldn’t necessarily yield results and therefore I couldn’t understand why she spent all her energy in that direction.

BUT. Putting that all aside, allowing for the assumptions, and taking this for the non-serious cosy historical crime that it is, it’s perfectly wonderful to be swept up in all the action and drama as we charge along towards resolving the mystery. And dang, what a resolution/climax we come to.

I have to say I’m also really invested in Saffron’s career. We get a taste of her life at the university (and the complications of being a woman in man’s world) throughout, but I’m hoping that will be built upon in the books to come because I’d love to spend some more time with that as well.

This series is quickly becoming something of a comfort read for me – to be able to dive into the mysterious and romanticised post-war London alongside Saffron and her male counterparts as she unravels baffling and fascinating mysteries thrown her way.

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Title: A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Fatality
Series: Saffron Eveleigh Mystery
Author: Kate Khavari
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1920s London isn’t the ideal place for a brilliant woman with lofty ambitions. But research assistant Saffron Everleigh is determined to beat the odds in a male-dominated field at the University College of London. Saffron embarks on her first research study alongside the insufferably charming Dr. Michael Lee, traveling the countryside with him in response to reports of poisonings. But when Detective Inspector Green is given a case with a set of unusual clues, he asks for Saffron’s assistance.

The victims, all women, received bouquets filled with poisonous flowers. Digging deeper, Saffron discovers that the bouquets may be more than just unpleasant flowers— there may be a hidden message within them, revealed through the use of the old Victorian practice of floriography. A dire message, indeed, as each woman who received the flowers has turned up dead.

Alongside Dr. Lee and her best friend, Elizabeth, Saffron trails a group of suspects through a dark jazz club, a lavish country estate, and a glittering theatre, delving deeper into a part of society she thought she’d left behind forever.

Will Saffron be able to catch the killer before they send their next bouquet, or will she find herself with fatal flowers of her own in Kate Khavari’s second intoxicating installment.