Marta McDowell

How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers

I love a good mystery and I love my garden, so this book topic seemed a natural combination. With their deadly plants, razor-sharp shears, shady corners, and ready-made burial sites, gardens have made ideal scenes for murder mysteries. Flora and horticulture have had an outsize influence on the genre: motive, means, opportunity, victims, villains, and detectives.

 

This book explores the many ways in which writers—from Edgar Allen Poe and Wilkie Collins to Agatha Christie and Ruth Ware—have found inspiration in the sinister side of gardening. An extensive list of garden- and plant-related crime fiction is included in the book, and elsewhere on this website.  

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Happy reading!