Published 6th July 2023 by Black and White Publishing.
From the cover of the book:
I've always been better with plants than people...Eustacia Rose is a Professor of Botanical Toxicology who lives alone in London with only her extensive collection of poisonous plants for company. She tends to her garden with meticulous care. Her life is quiet. Her schedule never changes. Until the day she hears a scream and the temptation to investigate proves irresistible.
Through her telescope, Professor Rose is drawn into the life of an extraordinarily beautiful neighbour, Simone, and nicknames the men who visit her after poisonous plants according to the toxic effect they have on Simone. But who are these four men? And why does Eustacia Rose recognise one of them?
Just as she preserves her secret garden, she feels inexplicably compelled to protect her neighbour, but Eustacia soon finds herself entangled in a far more complicated web than she could ever have imagined. When her precious garden is vandalised and someone close to Simone is murdered with a toxin derived from a rare poisonous plant, Eustacia becomes implicated in the crime.
After all, no one knows toxic plants like she does . . .
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Professor Eustacia Rose is an expert in poisonous plants. She lives alone in London, follows a strict routine, and tends her secret, roof-top garden of toxic botanical specimens with great care. Her past experience has taught her that it is best to eschew human contact, but she is not above a little spying on her neighbours through her telescope, even if she rarely understands their behaviour.
Eustacia's quiet, ordered life goes off the rails when she hears a scream from the flat of the beautiful neighbour she has nicknamed Psycho after her hypnotic Psychotria elata plant. Eustacia gets drawn into watching the curious goings on in Psycho's life, especially when it comes to the four men who visit her - men Eustacia also gives pseudonyms based on plants from her sinister collection, depending on their unwholesome characteristics.
Her fascination with Psycho tempts Eustacia into the outside world, but when she finally meets the woman who calls herself Simone, her life is thrown into chaos. After inviting Simone to see her unusual plant collection, Eustacia's precious garden is ransacked, and some of her poisonous specimens are stolen. Then someone close to Simone is murdered in highly suspicious circumstances, implicating Eustacia in the crime...
To clear her name, Eustacia must get to the truth about Simone's life, the men she spends time with (one of whom she is sure she recognises from her own troubled past), and their connection with the plants that have been stolen from her collection. No one knows toxic plants like Eustacia does, and the combination of her special knowledge and her fierce intelligence make her a force to be be reckoned with, even if she finds human beings unfathomable.
Eustacia makes for a delighful protagonist in this cracking detective fiction novel from Jill Johnson. When we meet her it seems as though she has always lived a reclusive existence, pursuing her obsessions in eccentric style, dressing in her late father's clothes, and preferring the simplicity of her own company. However, as the story unfurls from bud to full bloom, the threads of this compelling mystery weave beautifully together to reveal not just the truth behind a curious murder, but also how and why Eustacia lives as she does. Johnson has fashioned a glorious crime yarn with intensely emotional storylines about Eustacia's personal heartbreak and the injustices she has been forced to accept, and it is an addictive blend.
There are elements here of Golden Age sleuthing novels, especially in terms of Johnson's devilishly devious plot and Eustacia's character, which I absolutely loved. Her intellectual powers, her incredible knowledge about her subject of choice, and her left-of-field points of view prove to make her a natural detective. But more than that, the chain of events that force her out of her roof-top lair prove to take her on a personal journey that hits that bitter-sweet emotional spot to perfection.
I adored this book. It is slick, smart, funny and heartwarming in equal measure, with great characters - I particulary enjoyed the night-time snail-throwing Susan, and the well-meaning DCI Roberts, whose interactions with Eustacia were a joy. I sincerely hope it will be the first in a long-running series of Professor Eustacia Rose mystery stories, because I am hooked!
Devil's Breath is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Ed PR and Black & White Publishing for sendung me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
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