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A review by agrippinaes
A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari
4.0
Saffron is the assistant to Professor Maxwell, and a keen botanist following in the footsteps of her father, a successful academic. Maxwell and the rest of the department are busy preparing for an expedition to Brazil with Saffron’s assistance, and during this she is invited to a party with other members of the department. There she meets Alexander, who as well as being a fellow academic, is a young, handsome man. Unfortunately the party comes to an abrupt end following the sudden collapse of the host’s wife after a toast - and the next day, rumours are swirling that the host’s wife was actually poisoned. Suspicion immediately falls on Saffron’s mentor Maxwell, and she sets out with Alexander’s assistance to clear his name.
This was an interesting book. There’s a fairly solid mystery at the heart of this book, with twists and turns and some decent, interesting ideas. I will say that I found the romantic subplot slightly more interesting - it was very sweet at points and I thought Alexander and Saffron had a nice, easy chemistry. I found myself wishing they were back on-page together when I was reading parts where they were separated, as I really enjoyed their dynamic.
However, I felt the characterisation had been a little stronger. Alexander worked better for me as a character: he felt more fleshed-out and well-rounded, and I think he benefited from being given a proper backstory. In contrast Saffron felt a little bland at points. Aside from her academic ambitions and references to her father, I didn’t finish the book feeling like I got a good sense of who she was as a character. I just found her a little bit vague. I also thought the writing was a little clipped at points in a way that was distracting, although overall I thought the writing was very strong.
It is a decent book, though. It had all the familiar hallmarks of this kind of mystery and if you like historical mysteries with a side of romance, this could work very well for you. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy of this book.
Content Notes:
Warnings:
Other:.
This was an interesting book. There’s a fairly solid mystery at the heart of this book, with twists and turns and some decent, interesting ideas. I will say that I found the romantic subplot slightly more interesting - it was very sweet at points and I thought Alexander and Saffron had a nice, easy chemistry. I found myself wishing they were back on-page together when I was reading parts where they were separated, as I really enjoyed their dynamic.
However, I felt the characterisation had been a little stronger. Alexander worked better for me as a character: he felt more fleshed-out and well-rounded, and I think he benefited from being given a proper backstory. In contrast Saffron felt a little bland at points. Aside from her academic ambitions and references to her father, I didn’t finish the book feeling like I got a good sense of who she was as a character. I just found her a little bit vague. I also thought the writing was a little clipped at points in a way that was distracting, although overall I thought the writing was very strong.
It is a decent book, though. It had all the familiar hallmarks of this kind of mystery and if you like historical mysteries with a side of romance, this could work very well for you. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy of this book.
Content Notes:
Warnings:
Spoiler
Attempted murder, poison, vomiting, sexual harassment (off-page), threat of sexual violence / threat of rape, attempted rape (on-page), violence, blackmail, PTSD, descriptions of war and wartime injuries.Other: