There is nothing that makes me happier in the summer than a fantastic historical mystery. Do not ask me why, but summer kicks off mystery season and luckily for me, one of my favourite series is back again! Set in 1920s London, we have Saffron Everleigh, an academic botanist who just happens to find herself at the centre of several murders and mysteries. With each book in the series, I am more and more invested- I cannot recommend this series enough. Let’s get into A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge by Kate Khavari!
Thank you to NetGalley and to Dreamscape Media for providing an Advanced Listening Copy in exchange for an honest review.
A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge, Kate Khavari
Saffron Everleigh returns to Ellington Manor after her grandfather suffers a heart attack. Back in her childhood home for the first time in years, Saffron faces tense family relationships made worse by the presence of the enigmatic Bill Wyatt, hired on as a doctor to the ailing Lord Easting. But the man is no doctor—in reality, he is a mysterious figure involved in the trafficking of dangerous government secrets, and his presence at Ellington can only mean trouble.
When their neighbors, the Hales, invite a spiritual medium into the village who starts angling for Saffron’s mother’s attention, Saffron realizes that there is more afoot in her hometown than she originally thought. Not to mention inviting Alexander to Ellington has put their budding relationship under her family’s microscope.
As tensions rise at Ellington, Bill demands that Saffron hand over old research documents belonging to her late father. With her relatives under his power as their ‘doctor,’ Saffron fears she may be forced to surrender the files along with her hopes of ever understanding her father’s obscure legacy. Nothing and no one is as they seem at Ellington. It’s through the perfumed haze of the séance’s smoke that Saffron must search for the truth before it’s too late.
Why You Should Read This…
This series has quietly become one of my favourites over the last few years. While I have no understanding of botany, I’m fully invested in Saffron’s career. (It makes me feel like I could maybe identify a plant, even though I would most certainly get it wrong ha.) The novels are a good balance of her career, her family, and her personal life (all of which intersect), and once I start reading it, I can’t stop. And as a side note: her family would drive me up the wall but they are also highly entertaining ha.
I found this installment in the series slightly darker. We are dealing with post-First World War trauma in a number of ways, and a fairly dysfunctional family, it’s not overly light. I think that Khavari balances it well so you don’t finish the book feeling dark and withdrawn, but the tone absolutely makes sense in Saffron’s progression in the story, and in society as a whole.
Jodie Harris is once again narrating and I have no notes- simply wonderful!
♠
Want to check out my earlier reviews?
A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poison
A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Fatality
A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets
Is A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge by Kate Khavari on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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