Devil’s Breath

Jill Johnson

Publication Date: 6/7/23

Publisher: Black & White Publishing

SYNOPSIS

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 . .

MY REVIEW

What a character Eustacia Amelia Rose is. Professor of botanical toxicology. Some would say eccentric. Others would say neurodiverse. I just loved her and her views on life and people.

Living alone since her father’s death she lovingly and carefully tends to her poisonous plants on her rooftop garden. She spends a lot of time watching her neighbours through a telescope as a ‘social observation’, and journaling their movements for a possible book on her findings. She has filled 20 notebooks so far. This helps her distract herself from memories of her lost love. One day she sees one of her neighbours kidnapped, and as the police are less than useless she leaves her solitary existence to investigate.

As a ‘neurotypical’ reader with personal experience of friends who are neurodiverse I completely understood Eustacia. Her inability to read body language or understand sarcasm. Not understanding what a coping mechanism is, before fiddling with the cuffs of her fathers suit which she wears every day.

Beautifully and sensitively written, it follows Eustacia as she forces herself to interact with people, finding it’s not as hard or unpleasant as she thought. As she is investigating the kidnapping, someone breaks in to her home and destroys her beloved plants. Then a man is found poisoned.

A mystery within a mystery and the reader needs to keep their eye on the ball to keep track of who is who. Some clever twists.

I found the descriptions of the toxins from so many plants very interesting, and I will never again sit near a plant when I’m in a cafe!

This book was well deservedly chosen for the BBC Two Between the Covers programme.

I’m very much looking forward to the next book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jill is a Māori writer based in the UK, having lived in south-east Asia, Europe and New Zealand. She moved to London when she was 18 and the following year opened Gosh! Comics. Alongside this, she and her partner launched a graphic novel publishing company and an editorial cartoon gallery. While running her businesses and raising her three children, Jill obtained a BA Hons degree in Ornamental Horticulture and Design. In 2013, she submitted her writing to Faber and Faber, and was accepted into the Faber Academy. Her first novel The Time Before the Time to Come was published by OWN IT! in 2018. She now lives in Brighton.