This was an enjoyable cozy mystery, one of my favorite genres of books. The story was fun and kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed the way the author setup the world and found a fondness for the characters. Would recommend.

A Botanist's Guide is set in 1923, in the years following WWI when there was a great deal of scientific exploration happening. The main protagonist, Saffron, is an intelligent young woman who wishes to follow in her father's scientific footprint and is working hard to gain respect and a position in the botany department, despite the many obstacles she comes across for being a women in a man's world.

While at a department party, there is a shocking incident where one of the guests is poisoned, and Saffron begins an investigation to find out who the poisoner is, making new friends and enemies along the way.

The storyline is well researched and interesting, and the writing is engaging and easy to read. There is just the right amount of peril and romance to keep the reader interesting, and the mystery element keeps you guessing.

I liked the strong female character and really enjoyed the ending, feeling satisfied that she kept her identity right to the end, and feeling that she would continue to be successful in her own right. The author touches sensitively on the last impacts of the war on the men who went to fight, and I felt that this is reflected well in the character of Alexander, without being overplayed.

I really enjoyed both the plot and the characters and would recommend this book for an engaging easy read.

I am definitely the wrong person to review this book! (Which is why I won't be posting this review anywhere else.)

I originally requested this eARC from Netgalley because someone said it was AMAZING and was raving about how great it was. I didn't realize it was a historical fiction/cozy mystery, both of which are genres I don't particularly enjoy. I ended up DNF'ing at 8%.

My only real comments are the word "botany" is used far too much in the first chapter, and the first chapter is too long, it should have been split into 2 chapters. The second chapter is a bit long also. If I hadn't read the synopsis I would never have known that the book is supposed to be set in 1920, I would have just assumed it was a hoity-toity dinner party in London.

This one just isn't for me.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books, Netgalley and the author for a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical mystery set in London after World War One.

Saffron Everleigh is a botanist working with her mentor, Professor Maxwell, and is invited to a party with renowned scientists who are about to embark on an expedition to Brazil. At the party, one of the guests is poisoned, and the local authorities think Professor Maxwell has something to do with it, given his knowledge of poisonous plants. Saffron sets out to prove him innocent and, with the help of the attractive and intelligent Alexander Ashton, she gets herself (and him) into a number of scrapes and adventures.

I really loved these two scientists nerding out over science and falling in love with each other's massive intellect. The time in which this is set (post WWI) mean that certain proprieties still have to observed between males and females, so there's a delicious restraint going on in their interaction, that adds tension to the plot.

The fact that Alexander has returned from the trenches and openly speaks with Violet about his experiences and post-traumatic stress is sensitively woven into the storyline, as is Saffron's challenges of being a woman in male-dominated Academia. They both have their quirks which add to their depth of character, and make them compelling to read about.

The cover is beautiful as well - which despite the old adage - was a perfect representation of the quality of the story.

I cannot wait to read more about Saffron and Alexander and what trouble they get themselves into next.

3.5 Stars - This is a good mystery novel with a plausible storyline and a truly suspenseful climax.

Lovers of plants and all things botanical will either love this or hate it, depending on how accurate it is. I'm neither a botanist nor particularly knowledgeable about plants, so I didn't notice anything amiss with the botanical references, of which there are many.

I am, however, a lover of historical fiction and found a few aspects of this novel wanting. Firstly, it took quite a good deal of time to establish when the novel was set. It was about a quarter of the way through before a mention was made of the war being 5 years earlier. I was then able to establish that it was set in the early 1920s. Further references to historical events helped to narrow the date down, but it was never firmly established that the novel is set in 1923. I found this out in the Author's note at the end. Letting the date be know, at least in a round-about fashion, is important for establishing context and helping the reader to form pictures in their mind as they read the words.

Secondly the language and behaviour of the young female protagonist, Saffron, is entirely inappropriate for the timeline and setting. A young British woman in 1920s London would not have spoken the way Saffron Everleigh does. The author has written this novel for a modern American audience, using American English, and attitudes and social mores that just didn't exist when the book is set. It may be at the insistence of her American publishers, who so often seem to think their readership is incapable of understanding a world different from their own or using Google to clarify things they don't understand. But the language and characters used didn't fit the setting and I found this very disappointing. Rewriting history to suit a storyline just doesn't work for me. I like my characters and language to be relatively authentic.

The novel ends at the perfect point to lead into another instalment in a series, so I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't last we've heard of Saffron Everleigh. Unfortunately Book 2 won't be for me, though.

This story had me hooked from the beginning. Maybe because I love academia in books, maybe because UCL has always drawn me, maybe, and I suspect this is the case, Khavari is an excellent storyteller.
Following Saffron and Alexander in their investigation was an adventure I didn't know I needed. Part tea cosy mystery/whodunnit, part dark academia, The Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons gave me everything I wanted. Saffron was a lovable, brilliant protagonist, never making feel like she was going to do something truly stupid (because she was already ten steps ahead of us). Alexander was the perfect balance of approachable and swoony. It's a word. Move along.
I'm hoping we see more of Saffron and her excellent poison detecting skills in later books.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. My options are my own. I gush to my own drum.

I've waited two days since finishing the book to write my review here--not intentional, life got busy--but I find that over those two days, I keep returning to the book and wishing it wasn't over!

So you could say I liked it.

In seriousness, A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons is a smart academic mystery set in 1920s England. Saffron Everleigh is a research assistant at University College in London, supporting the men who do the work she wishes she could: botanical research. When an expedition to the Amazon is funded, there's a party to celebrate, and at the end of the evening, during a champagne toast, the head researcher's wife takes a sip of her drink and falls down into a coma. Thus begins a week and a half of questions, intrigue, amateur sleuthing, playing with plants and poisons, and finally a showdown with the villains.

Saffron is a heroine I was happy to root for--she's smart, energetic, focused, and loyal. She's also a victim of the time she lives in. Her accomplishments and abilities are diminished in her department in favor of the men around her, with the exception of Alexander Ashton, a total snack from the biology department who helps Saffron solve the mystery.

The plot isn't splashy. Events in the book happen like a plant germinating: waiting, tending, and then quite suddenly, everything is happening at once. And that pacing worked for me as it gave me time to get to know Saffron and Ashton.

There are a couple content warnings I'd want readers to know about. The first is sexual assault/harassment directed at Saffron, both physical and verbal. The second is mentions of PTSD with Alexander, a former soldier in World War I.

I can't wait to read the sequel!

Reminiscent of Agatha Christie and Sir Conan Doyle mysteries, 'A Botanist's Guide' brought me back to why I love the historical mystery genre so much. Fans of 'The Lost Apothecary' will undoubtedly want to grab this novel as well and I love that we're already set up for more Saffron Everleigh mysteries and I hope that we learn more about her late father in coming novels.

I love the beautiful cover and the title of this book. They intrigued me right away. I love historical mysteries and really enjoyed this story. While it may have started a bit slowly, there was a lot of ground to cover to get us up to speed on the setting and premise. I thought the details about poisons were interesting. I also enjoyed the mystery and light romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Publication Date: June 7th, 2022.

I really liked this one. Although a bit slow moving at times, I enjoyed taking my time with the book and Saffron & Alexander. I also liked how their romance didn’t overshadow the mystery. I loved the academic setting, and made me realize how the light academia aesthetic fits so well with cozy mysteries such as this one. I'd say it's a perfect first book to a series, and I'm very much looking forward to the second one!

A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons is a thoroughly enjoyable start to what promises to be a solid historical mystery series. The setting - 1920s London, and the scientific departments of University College London - is a rich background for the charming and determined protagonist, botany research assistant Saffron Everleigh. Despite sometimes unpolished prose, the plot moves along at a good clip and the romantic subplot is strong (I don't think we necessarily needed Alexander's POV scenes, but I did like him as a love interest and fellow detective for Saffron). While the actual solution didn't excite me particularly (it didn't seem like the kind of solution to make a reader go "I should have known!" as the best whodunits do), it was plausible - which seems like a low standard, and yet... On the whole, this atmospheric mystery kept me intrigued, and I look forward to more from this author!

Content guidance: Attempted sexual assault, workplace sexual harassment, discussions of PTSD from war.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

This post-Great War London-set mystery features Saffron, a young botany academic striving for respect in a man’s world. During a faculty party to celebrate a forthcoming expedition, one of the wives fall incredibly ill. Evidence points to poison—and Saffron’s mentor. She enlists aid from a colleague in bacteriology, Alexander, and they nose about in deadly realms such as gossip and exotic plants to find who really is at fault.

I found the book to be a cute romp. The romantic element is light and proper, with plentiful fun banter. The mystery investigation proceeds at a good pace. The area of the novel that felt weak to me was Alexander’s point-of-view chapters, which never felt as realized and immersive as Saffron’s. That said, I enjoyed the read a lot and I hope this is the start of a series.

"A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons" is a no-murder mystery with an interesting background in academia. Saffron, the protagonist, works as an assistant to a professor in the Botany department while trying to get her own spot in this male-dominated scene, harder yet in 1923 in London.

The book's premise was interesting - there is an expedition set to happen to the Amazon and at a party celebrating the fundraiser for making the trip possible the wife of the expedition lead is poisoned. Saffron's professor is framed and she embarks on a journey to liberate him and save his reputation.

I liked the characters and their relationships, but some of them were introduced brusquely and not developed, leaving an empty sensation to their apparition, suggesting the author only wanted to create some diversion and plot options to keep the reader guessing. There were also too many names introduced at the same time, the party, and at the very beginning of the book. As a person with a bad memory this made the first few chapters a struggle.

A point that might be sensitive are the mentions to sexual and moral harassment in the workplace and the disregard for one's accomplishments due to gender. The first topic is mentioned a few times in Saffron's relationship with the Head of the Botany Department, and the second is mentioned briefly.

Overall, it was an entertaining read, even if a bit too long at times. In my opinion, the book got stronger in writing style and prose as it progressed. There were some passages in which the author used very short action-oriented phrases, using the protagonist's name several times in the same paragraph, which in my view is an editing flaw. Overall, those passages are easy to overlook if you're not a frequent reader, but they will annoy others - it did annoy me a bit.

I do recommend this book to readers looking for a non-murder mystery with a female lead that brings a feminism tone to the story. The book seems to be setting up a series with Saffron as the protagonist solving other mysteries, and I would pick up the next book.

My thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the e-ARC in exchange of my honest opinion.

For the love of beautiful covers and Botany 🌱🧫

This book had such a promising start - a 1920s London academia setting, a time when women weren’t seen, or rather accepted to be competitive, ambitious and career-oriented and had to try hard, sometimes by giving into unfair methods to make their place. Then comes Saffron Everleigh, our protagonist, a futuristic woman who is all set to break stereotypes and do things her way. Wow!

Sadly, the excitement didn’t hold for long. The writing got draggy and a bit too simple, and there were far too many orchestrated romantic scenes that dulled the mystery for me. The references to plants and poisons were the best part - well researched and cleverly blended into the story, but other than that, nothing lived up to the expectations that the gorgeous cover and title had managed to set up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Publication Date: June 7th, 2022.

Not a bad read, just not too exciting for a mystery.

TW: Workplace sexual harassment, Discrimination based on sex, Murder Attempt, and War.

Mystery, plants and poisons!
I know a lot of us became plant parents during the pandemic, tying it in with poison and a classic whodunnit mystery you got yourself a winner. ✨

I enjoyed the pace and the natural chemistry between certain characters. Another unputdownable read! Can’t wait for the second one. Make sure to grab a copy, you won’t regret it!

I unfortunately had to DNF this one very early on. I tried multiple times to get into it and it just never held my attention. I read a few chapters and had no idea what was even happening. It has one of the most beautiful book covers ever but sadly the rest was disappointing.

This book is a historical mystery set in the 1920s with a female protagonist – Saffron Everleigh, a botanist, the only female research assistant at University College London. After a poisoning at a dinner party, her mentor, Dr. Maxwell, is under suspicion due to his work with poisonous plants. Saffron is determined to prove his innocence, and with the help of her biologist colleague Mr. Ashton, she sets out to solve the mystery.

The trauma of World War I hangs heavy over several characters, particularly Alexander Ashton, our male protagonist. He mentions he struggles with “shell shock” - which we now call PTSD – but he seems to be managing his condition. Alexander has tremendous respect for Saffron as a scientist, something which many of his colleagues lack. He both respects her work and doesn’t come on to her, which, to her, sets him apart from most men at the University. I’m a sucker for a romantic subplot, so I enjoyed the bits of romance between Saffron and Alexander sprinkled in with the mystery. They’re cute, and they work well together.

There was a scene toward the beginning, after the dinner party, that had to do with drinks being refilled – and for the life of me, I could not track what was happening. I read it three times and couldn’t figure it out, so I tried to move on – but unfortunately, this proved to be an important scene, so I went back to read through it again. It took me a few more read-throughs to parse out who was refilling whose drink and when – I came to the conclusion that there may have been a sentence, or at least part of a sentence, missing. If you were as confused as I was, here’s what I think went on: Dr. Henry goes to refill his wife’s glass, but is interrupted by Dr. Berking. While Dr. Henry is distracted, Mr. Blake begins to refill her glass instead. (This action is what I think is missing, as it is not stated outright. Mrs. Henry tells Mr. Blake “thank you,” but we’re not told why. Also, Mr. Blake, up until this point, had not been participating in the scene, and had only been mentioned once, much earlier, so at first I was not sure where he had even come from.) Dr. Henry then snatches the glass away and refills the glass instead. It doesn’t read like this was omitted to create ambiguity – it reads like something was left out. Since this I read an uncorrected proof, I hope that this will be fixed before publication.

That was my only real complaint, though. The mystery wasn’t super enthralling but it kept my interest, and the romance between the main characters was an added bonus. I’ll be interested to see if it develops into a series. Worth reading!

Representation: main character with PTSD

CW: sexual harassment and sexual assault

I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What charming and wonderful historical fiction. I loved reading A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons. Sad when the book concluded, can't wait for more books by this author.

Saffron has to prove that her professor is innocent in this fast-[aced mystery. The setting, London 1923 one of my favorite eras. She has just attended a dinner party expecting a nice quiet evening filled with discussions about the upcoming expedition to the Amazon only to see the wife of one of the professors drop dead. She had been poisoned and so the mystery begins. Happy to see the author did her homework in the mentions of poisons.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and hope to read more by this author in the future.

From the publisher: London, 1923. Saffron Everleigh is in a race against time to free her wrongly accused professor before he goes behind bars forever.

If you love historical fiction with a touch of mystery and romance, A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poison might just be a book for you. Main character Saffron is an intelligent and talented woman constrained by the limits on women in the 1920s. Alexander Ashton, her companion in investigating a mysterious poisoning at a party, is a scarred and handsome veteran of the Great War coping with PTSD.

I’m no expert on England in the 1920s, but nothing in the narrative struck me as outlandishly out of touch with the times. An author’s note discusses the research the author did in her attempt to be historically accurate.

The characters and story reminded me quite a bit of the opening scenes of the recent Disney Movie Jungle Cruise. Saffron is plucky and doing what she must to advance her skills and knowledge as a botanist while fending off the inappropriate advances of her department head. Alexander is brave and thoughtful and does not dismiss Saffron’s ideas and theories because she is a woman.

I was somewhat dismayed at the clichéd climax of the mystery, involving our heroes tied up and in peril and the villains, now revealed, all but frothing at the mouth in their madness. I think it more likely they would simply have tried to escape with the ill-gotten gains of their evil deeds, but it certainly would make an exciting scene in a movie. I see a sequel to this book in the future, and I will read it if there is one.

I read an advance reader copy of A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons from Netgalley, and the Galesburg Public Library will own it in print, audio, and ebook after its release date on June 7.

1923 London botany research assistant Saffron Everleigh is working to make a career for herself and is the only woman in her department. At an evening university networking event to plan an Amazon expedition, someone is poisoned.

The beginning was a slow, with a lot of characters thrown at us at once, with similar names, and not much to distinguish between them. Being told Saffron’s activities and reflections on her past and present filled the first quarter of the book. Alexander, a Great War veteran suffering from PTSF and new biologist intending to go on the expedition, didn’t share the POV until chapter 4 and it was a little jolting. He didn’t get nearly as much pov time as Saffron did.

Out of 24 chapters Alexander’s point of view was in:

End of 4
10
End of 12
Half of 15
Part of 16
Part of 19
Part of 20

I feel like if a character is going to share the point of view it should be nearly as equal to the other pov character. At the very end we spent some time in the inspector’s and then his sergeant’s head, and that was even more jarring.

The two characters are well drawn although this one was overwritten and the ending a mess. If it becomes a series, maybe the following books will be a little smoother and faster-paced. I liked Saffron and Alexander enough to give a second book a try.