Snippet from A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge
Brilliant botanist Saffron Everleigh faces her hardest challenge yet when she returns to her childhood home in the fourth book in the charming Saffron Everleigh mystery series.
Saffron Everleigh returns to Ellington Manor after her grandfather suffers 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.
The green motorcar came to a halt with a worrisome grinding sound. The driver, a man in a dust coat, bounded from the cab. He removed his cap, revealing a cheerful, middle-aged face. “Miss Everleigh?”
“Yes,” Saffron said, stepping forward.
He offered her a quick bow, the Ellington livery of green and gray peeking from under his coat collar. “I’m Perry, Lord Easting’s driver. I’ll just load up the luggage and we can be on our way.”
If he was surprised to see her with additional companions, he didn’t show it. She smiled back at him. “Thank you, Perry.”
The driver didn’t bat an eye at the luggage overflowing the back, instead lashing Alexander’s battered suitcase to the roof. He began a cheerful recitation of Bedford’s sights as they pulled away from the station. More than half of the description of the importance of River Great Ouse and St. Peter’s Church was lost to the noise of the engine, but Saffron didn’t need to be reminded of Bedford’s few claims to fame. Alexander, sitting next to Perry, nodded occasionally, though Saffron couldn’t be sure he could hear him—or see, for that matter. It was quite dark, even with the mauve, snow-laden clouds low overhead.
Bedford abruptly ended, replaced by open country. She knew there were frosty fields frilled with trees spread on either side of the road, yet she could see nothing but dark shapes.
Perry continued his lecture on nearby Goldington Hall and assorted points of interest, but his voice faded from Saffron’s attention, replaced by nauseating anticipation.
Soon, the driver slowed and turned to cross the stone bridge over the River Ouse, and then they were on Ellington land.
A thrill of nerves had Saffron weaving her gloved fingers together in her lap. Nearly three years had lapsed since she’d last set foot on the property. Three years since she’d last seen her mother and grandmother. She communicated with her mother often, and now that her family home had been outfitted with a telephone it would be easy to speak to her daily if she wished.
Her grandmother was another story. But her mother had assured her in their brief telephone calls to coordinate Saffron’s travel that her grandfather had insisted she return to Ellington, and Lord Easting, even ailing as he was after a heart attack, could be as stubborn as a bull. He’d have to be to get her grandmother to agree to hosting their wayward granddaughter after the way they’d last parted.
The harsh words and subsequent pleading echoed in Saffron’s mind as the motorcar passed under the elegant iron and stone arch and onto a gravel drive. Saffron resisted the urge to press her suddenly hot face against the cold glass window.
That window now showed something other than vague shadows; lights shone in the distance, growing larger.
The car came to a crunching stop, and silence rung in her ears in the absence of the cacophony of the engine. They’d arrived.
Perry hopped out and busied himself opening doors. Saffron peered around Elizabeth to see that the double doors of the front entry were closed. Her stomach twisted with an unexpected jolt of disappointment that no one was there to greet them.
Elizabeth, who’d more or less ignored her since they’d entered the motorcar, cast her a sardonic look. “Should we just turn around and go back home?”
London had been their home for a while now. But Saffron still held Ellington, and those within it, in her heart. And she could not let an unpredictable and dangerous person slither his way in like some venomous vine.
“No,” Saffron said firmly. “Let’s go inside.”
Just as Saffron exited the motorcar, the double doors flung open.
“Finally!” cried the man who strode out onto the steps, pulling an overcoat on over a dinner jacket. “Lady Easting is going to have a bloody conniption if we don’t get on our way—”
Saffron broke into a grin and stepped forward. “Grandmama having a conniption is just what I expected, actually.”
Her cousin John stopped abruptly, blinking down at the trio arrayed before the car. “By gad, Saffron, what the devil are you doing here?”
