The Botanist by M.W. Craven

First Sentence:  There were bastard trees and there were wait-awhile trees and there was a building that didn’t exist. 

Pathologist Estelle Boyle’s father has been fatally shot, twice in the head.  Traces of gunpowder are on Estelle's hands and her footprints are the only ones leading into the house where her father is found. Estelle is arrested, and all she will say is “Tell Washington Poe.” In the meantime, someone the press has named “The Botanist” is sending poems and pressed flowers to celebrities prior to their deaths. Despite the security measures taken to protect them, the killer succeeds in his goal. It’s up to Washington Poe and the Serious Crimes Unit to stop the killer, as well as prove Estelle’s innocence.  

The first four books by Craven were a complete treat, making anticipation high at the beginning of “The Botanist.”  The promise of a locked room mystery, and the hope that Craven was moving away from another serial killer plot, created the expectation of something new and exciting.  Instead, he took what could have been a clever, intriguing story, placed the most interesting character in jail, and went back to his formula.  Very disappointing.

Washington Poe, a supposedly brilliant detective, now comes off as arrogant, insolent, and a bit of a bore.  Tilly Bradshaw, a fascinating character and true genius, was mainly off-stage with her talents underutilized.  The solution to the locked-room puzzle was both over-the-top and obvious.  It was something Tilly should have been able to solve in minutes. 

Should one decide to proceed with the serial killer theme, the best ones create empathy for the victims and even sometimes the killer.  But here, the author fails. Even with the threat that unknown innocents may die, one instinctively knows it won’t happen, so any sense of real danger is lost. Sadly, the one scene which was, one supposes, intended to be clever, mimics a scene from “The Thomas Crown Affair.” 

When starting a new book, one hopes for something original, creative, and compelling, not a rehash of things done before, whether by the same author or someone else. Calling the opening a prologue or chapter one doesn’t matter.  It is still an unnecessary, irrelevant device and information one quickly forgets. 

THE BOTANIST might have been interesting were the reader a science/biology nerd.  Instead, it was at least 100 pages too long, with an Agatha Christie pronouncement that jumped between two time periods--are we not done with the device of time jumping?--and little tension.  Every author has an off-book.  This was Craven’s. Here’s hoping his next book is shorter, tighter, and something original.

THE BOTANIST (Susp-Poe/Tilly-UK-Contemp)
M.W. Craven – 5th book in series
Constable, 2022, 433 pages
Rating:  Poor/D