Reviews with content warning for Death - A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons

A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons was a lovely light read, quick and pleasant. The mystery was one of the most enjoyable I’ve read in a long time. It wasn’t blatantly predictable, but the signs were there enough that you were able to follow along with the main characters as they figured the culprit out themselves. The science behind it was fun and well-informed, but still included that perfect little sprinkle of “unrealistic” that makes a written mystery more fun to read than genuine true crime. My only complaint over the science is that Khavari falls into the age-old trap of relying on scientific names to make a conversation sound, well, more scientific. Having worked in biology my entire career, I’m still waiting for a verbal conversation in which two professionals speaking the same language refer to every organism by scientific name alone.

The characters were interesting as well, and well-developed. Saffron, our heroine, occasionally leaned into that too-perfect zone that we often see from the main characters in mysteries, but never so much as to be insufferable. The romance between her and the love interest was surprisingly not annoying either- Never once did I feel the need to roll my eyes about it.

To summarize, A Botanist’s Guide was a charming mystery and was almost perfect as an audiobook, and I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable light read.

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