Great book for those who love plants and mysteries. Already included in a Halloween non-fiction list for library patrons.

This was a really fun read. It would be perfect as a coffee table book or a bedside table book where you could read little sub chapters before bed. The author clearly has a passion for crime fiction and gardening. The author was incredibly well read on the crime fiction genre and provided lots of book references throughout the text (and provided a handy book list at the back). This book looks at the different famous crime writers who used gardening, plants and poison to write great crime fiction such as Agatha Christie, Ruth Ware, Naomi Hirahara, Arthur Conan Doyle and more.

The book looks into topics such as means, motive, settings, clues, gardening detectives and suspects. A really detailed and pleasurable read that was clearly a love letter to the authors life passions.

Thanks to the publisher Timber Press, author Marta McDowell and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

For gardening enthusiasts and mystery lovers alike, this book covers a very specific and fascinating field. The author is a gardener herself so she sees details that laypeople miss. Analyzing plants and gardens as settings, motive and clues for murder, this volume includes beautiful illustrations and some photographs of authors who used these features in their mysteries. From older writers to current ones, their lives and some of their books are explored in a fun and informative way. As a big Agatha Christie fan, I loved the parts that discuss her use of plants and gardens, including the difference between Miss Marple’s green thumb and Poirot’s complete ignorance of the subject. This is a fresh look into my favorite genre.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Timber Press!

Marta has pieced together a charming reference book that sites mystery novels that use various plants and poisons for their murders. Sections are organized by plant and the content is comprehensive and clever. I will be interviewing Marta for my podcast, and I'm excited to dive into discussing this book. As a former librarian, I recommend this for libraries. Writers and mystery fans alike will get a lot from this book.

Gardening Can Be Murder is a fascinating analysis of the ways in which horticulture has featured in, influenced, and inspired the Crime Fiction genre over the past 150 or so years.
“Writers write what they know, and there are many writer-gardeners. In their gardens, or gardens they research, they discover setting, motive, means, and clue. Gardening offers occupations or avocations for their detectives, suspects, and criminals. The skill of the author transforms the horticultural into the mysterious.“

Meticulously researched by an author who is both a writer and a gardener, her passion for both topics shines through. She starts with examples of detectives who garden, like Nero Wolfe and Miss Marple. Then she examines how gardens feature as murders scenes, how the lust for particular plants can be the prime motive for killing, and how horticultural wisdom can be used to source a range of poisons or gardening tools be wielded as weapons. Conversely, the detective’s knowledge of plants may also help them spot clues or untruths - I liked the explanation of the origin of the term “red herring”. Assiduously avoiding spoilers, McDowell mentions just enough about the selected works to pique one’s interest.
Finally she looks at gardeners themselves and how they can appear as victim or suspect, and the most famous writer-gardeners, including of course the most famous Crime writer of them all, Agatha Christie, and a tantalising description of her house near Torquay, Greenway.

The illustrations - mostly very stylised black and white drawings - are gorgeous and would make awesome T-shirts if the author wanted to branch out (see what I did there? 🤣) into selling merchandise. The cover image is also suitably sinister and would be a good reason to buy this in hardback if available. The list of books referenced, epigraph source list, and index at the end are a comprehensive tally of the range of writers covered in the book - from The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins, published in 1868, to A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons, by Kate Khavari in 2022.
While I read a lot of mystery & crime, I had only heard of a minority of the authors mentioned, and have read even fewer, but they span the breadth of the genre, from hard-boiled to cozy, and historical to psychological. Most crime fans will find plenty of inspiration to grow their TBRs!

Unfortunately this was only available to read through the NetGalley app, so I won’t be able to keep it for future reference once it archives. Overall this would be of interest to anyone who loves gardening - whether that be watering a pot plant or tending multiple acres - and reading.
Thanks to NetGalley and Timber Press for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
Gardening Can Be Murder is published on September 5th.

I’m fascinated by poisonous plants because they’re usually gorgeous, like my beloved datura
This an informative book that made me learn more and discover new areas of knowledge
Recommended if you live plants or are a classic mystery fan
Highly recommended
Many thanks to the publisher, all opinions are mine

My overall rating would be 3 because I found the different parts in the book a bit siloed, not really seamlessly intertwined, but I'm giving Gardening Can Be Murder 4 stars for the author's extensive and meticulous research and for the interesting information that she shares with us throughout the book. You will learn a lot about how gardening is related, in many ways, to thrillers and mystery literature. The narrative style is not always easy to follow especially if, like me, you're not a native speaker but it was a great way to learn and widen my lexical knowledge at the same time.

“Gardening Can Be Murder” by Marta McDowell appealed as I am a lover of both murder mysteries and gardening and especially books those two together! There is something in knowing that the correct amount of a specific plant crushed is deadly, all that power cheerfully lurking in a herbaceous border!

The book is made up of sections, each focusing on a different angle of murderous gardens including detectives who garden; garden crime scenes; gardening as a motive in a plot; a gardening element as a murder weapon; gardening clues; gardeners as suspects and mystery writers and their gardens!

With a decidedly tongue-in-cheek tone, Marta McDowell covers a broad range of books, from old to new, well-known to rare, and all the ones in between. With a synopsis of each book referenced, it is a great resource for finding new books and authors!

Whilst I didn’t gain huge insights, I enjoyed the steady supply of interesting tidbits about stories with a gardening bend and how it can be used in literature. All in all, an enjoyable read! It is a four out of five on the enJOYment scale.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This nonfiction book takes a look at gardening as a whole and how it relates to murder mysteries. Marta covers poisonous plants, plants and gardening as motives, authors who have their own gardens, and various tools used in gardening (and murder) that can be found throughout the mystery genre throughout the years. Marta does a great job laying out and explaining each section and finds ways to connect each idea wonderfully. I really enjoyed reading and learning from this!

This book takes a look at how dangerous and real garden plants are used in fictional murders. It was interesting to read how wide of a literary reach this murder method has. It is a great read for gardeners who are mystery fans.

Gardening Can Be Murder is an informative and enjoyable listing of mystery books that also include a gardening component.. For each title listed, an enticing summery is provided. In addition, biographies of some of the authors are provided. At the conclusion, a complete listing of the books summarized in the text is provided. My TBR has just doubled!

We all know most mysteries have some kind of gardening plants involved so this book gives you details of what authors and what plants were used in various mysteries. But to your advrage mystery reader this one might not hold your attenion, at least it didnt mine, it wasnt that it wasnt well writen but at times I felt it read like a school textbook so it got boring to me several time.

As an avid mystery lover, I was drawn in by the title. Gardens, flowers, plants, etc. truly have long been a staple in the world of murder mysteries. Either someone is unknowingly digesting a poisonous plant or a body is being discovered buried amongst the daylilies. This book was compiled with the many ways gardens and all their splendor have been staples in the mysteries we know and love.

If you love mysteries and gardening and have some favorite mystery writers, this book is for you. Full of fascinating facts and how plants tie into many mystery stories, this was a fun insightful book for lovers of mystery.

This books is much more about murder mysteries and when gardens/plants/gardening appears within them, than it is about the gardens themselves. It’s a great book for readers who want to throughly analyze the history and fun facts of murder mysteries, but that seems like a fairly niche group (in my opinion). If you’re very interested in murder mysteries AND gardening, this is a great book. But you have to really love both. The writing style is engaging and the information seems well researched.

This was definitely not what I expected from the title but it was a good read nonetheless. Being a plant lover, this book grabbed my attention and taught me a few things along the way. I enjoyed the crime aspect of gardening especially how that has influenced many mystery/ crime stories that we have enjoyed for years.

I loved this book!! I knew that there were alot of poisonous plants and that alot of medicines are also made with them. But this book went so far and I absolutely loved this!! I will be keeping this. Hum. Maybe a dangerous garden one day?!
I just reviewed Gardening Can Be Murder by Marta McDowell. #GardeningCanBeMurder #NetGalley
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I loved this book, and the drawings interspersed throughout the book are delightful. The book list in the back is an excellent idea and I have a lot of books to suggest for my book clubs. Thank you Netgally for providing this book to me. It's a fun, unexpected, and thoroughly enjoyable book for anyone who enjoys murder mysteries, gardening, or just wants a light-hearted fun read.

As someone who loves to garden and read a mystery novel, this book represented two of my major interests. It goes into depth about different plants that have inspired mystery authors to write stories over time. It was well researched and provided a reader with a lot of new information without over complicating it. The illustrations included in the book were also a nice touch! Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book.

First, a big thank you to NetGalley and Timber Press for the opportunity to read this book.


As a longtime lover of murder mysteries and the poison trope, how could I not immediately be drawn to a title like "Gardening Can Be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers"?

This book is so much more than poison and is everything from a reference guide to an excellent way to learn more about some of our favorite writers and characters. Each chapter looks over different aspects of the world of mystery novels. From Nero Wolfe's obsession with orchids to a description of foxglove and its life as a plant that can save or kill, each page is a glimpse into the depth of plotting.

It is so fitting in the final pages to use Margaret Atwood's quote about gardening and gardeners not being rational. How perfect to combine the world of gardening and murder in this book.

While a short book, it can feel quite dense at times. After all, there is so much packed in a book with fewer pages than many of the novels it references. It can feel at times that you are reading a textbook which is the only real downfall. I love the references and reading lists in the back of the book. There are so many sources and a perfect way to bring every reader to their next mystery!