Review
Kate Khavari and her Saffron Everleigh Mysteries are the historical mystery series I didn’t know I needed. A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery is the fifth book in the series. But readers can absolutely treat it as a standalone. I have not read the first four books, so this rings true. But now I want to add the other books to my TBR.
This is my first time meeting Saffron and her fiancé Alexander. But I could easily pick up on some of their history together and what to expect throughout the book. Saffron is hopeful and determined to prove herself as a woman in STEM. And we know that men dominate the field (especially in this time period). But it seems as if one of her colleagues, Clark, is putting more effort into chasing her away than the expedition itself.
And if keeping her head above water weren’t enough trouble, her assistant Neill dies. And she soon suspects that someone killed him. Unfortunately, as the expedition’s botanist and poisons expert, Saffron has everything in her inventory that paints her as the perpetrator. The author tugs readers along with Saffron’s and Alexander’s POVs as they try to clear Saffron’s name.
The mystery elements are all there – multiple crimes, suspicious characters, questionable motives, and an amateur sleuth. Only this time, all clues lead to Saffron. While the pace was quite slow and not much happens for nearly half of the book, A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery picks up for the last half and propels the reader into trying to put the pieces together with Saffron.
Kate Khavari joins the Cantina Book Club Podcast to talk about Saffron’s journey through five books and plans for the next installment. Keep an ear out for the interview and preorder A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery, available June 9.
Book
Saffron Everleigh is newly engaged and full of optimism as she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime for any scientist: a research expedition. She sails to newly formed Turkey with her fiancé, Alexander Ashton, and a bevy of fellow researchers under the watchful and reformed eye of Dr. Henry. With only two other women on board, Saffron soon finds she is right back in the same infuriatingly misogynistic environment that marked the earliest days of her career. Only this time, Saffron is determined to show everyone, including Alexander, that she can handle the trials of an expedition.
And trials she has in spades. Before the expedition team has even arrived, Saffron has managed to find an enemy in historian Joseph Clark, who frequently torments the assistant that Saffron has taken under her wing, Martin Neill. But when Martin unexpectedly dies, Saffron is targeted as the main suspect.
