Gardening Can Be Murder

“Wonderful mash-ups of literature and gardening lore.”

"Marta McDowell digs up the dirt on an unsuspecting source of inspiration for the mystery genre: gardens. Gardening Can Be Murder marries McDowell's encyclopedic knowledge of plants and the murder-mystery genre. She documents every shady gardener and poisoned tea, consulting literary giants both classic and current along the way."

“Delves into the many ways in which mystery writers have found inspiration from poisonous plants and the more sinister side of gardens.”

“McDowell looks at gardens from the darker side of human nature — after all, gardening and obsession have long been willing bedfellows. You’ll meet gardening detectives and find out what happens when sharp tools and toxic potions fall into the wrong hands and which gardens, real or imagined, might prove to be the setting for a perfect crime. From Agatha Christie to Elizabeth George, Louise Penny to Ruth Rendell, Dorothy L. Sayers to Raymond Chandler, the reading list at the back of the book is to die for.”

This fun, engrossing book takes a look at surprising influences gardens and gardening have had on mystery novels and their authors."

"McDowell’s delightful Gardening Can Be Murder covers other plant-obsessed detectives, from Agatha Christie’s flower enthusiast, Miss Marple, and Rex Stout’s orchid authority, Nero Wolfe, to Susan Wittig Albert’s herbalist, China Bayles. Potential weapons abound: lethal pesticides, razor-sharp pruning tools and spades that can deliver a fatal blow. The plants can be used for deadly purposes, too." 

“McDowell’s packed pages are a spell-binding timeline detailing how the garden provides key clues across a landscape of classic to contemporary mystery novels." 

“Dealing with the intriguing combination of gardening and murder is charming [if that’s a word you can use for such a macabre subject]. It’s also stylish, very well written, highly readable, entertaining, and enjoyable.”