Books like Hemlock — picked by fans

This is an illustrated novel that originated with an actual poison garden created by the Duchess of Northumberland at her estate in northern England.

This garden at Alnwick Castle is full of poisonous plants and served as the setting for scenes in several Harry Potter movies.

The Poison Diaries unfolds like a fable, about a teenage girl, Jessamine, daughter of a poison plant botanist, who must tend to the poison plants by herself. That is, until a boy named Weed appears.

The novel vividly describes the germination of Atropa Belladonna, with its deadly black berries. This beautifully illustrated book about a poison plant gardener is truly enchanting.

I loved the main character, the beautifully named Saffron Everleigh. She’s a woman in 1923 London, trying to make her way in academia at a time when women weren’t usually allowed in the doors.

Her scientific interests and studies in botany come in handy when she attends a dinner party for the school, and a professor’s wife drops to the floor, poisoned by an unknown substance. Working with the equally passionate, ahem, Alexander Ashton, a fellow researcher, Saffron must investigate the murder or wind up next on the murderer's list. There are two more books in this series, so we are lucky to spend more time with our plucky heroine.

The Perfect Poison is part of a successful and sexy series by Amanda Quick.

It’s a Victorian-era whodunnit with a woman botanist, Lucinda Bromley, who has an unladylike flair for psychically detecting poison.

Called upon by the sympathetic Inspector Spellar, she finds that an upper-class gent was killed by Castor Bean oil combined with a toxic and rare fern — one that she grows. Her budding romance and that of Caleb Jones, part of the secretive Arcane Society, are steamy.

The dialogue is engaging and well-suited to the time period (a talent for any author). This paranormal mystery romance makes for a quick and entertaining read that pulls you into the flora and fauna of the Victorian Age.

This book is an evocative historical tale written in rich language.

The descriptions of plants and trees while creating a botanical garden in 1832 Edinburgh are a delight to read and take you back to that time and place.

The two female protagonists are unusual; one is a botanical illustrator, and especially well-drawn is Belle, a courtesan and botanical perfumer who has a plan to use her talents to capture a rare flowering succulent to solve her problems.

Unfortunately, plans rarely work out perfectly, but this novel does. A treat for gardeners everywhere.

I love the character of Kinsey Millhone because she’s so human and relatable. Her life is messy; she gets herself caught up in situations where she knows she ought to let things drop but just can’t let them go, and she has a kind heart. She also has the endearing quality of being self-deprecating and not taking herself too seriously.

This book is set in the 1980s, and I enjoy seeing Kinsey’s legwork to solve her case without the benefit of mobile phones or the internet. I also love her relationship with her elderly neighbor and how protective she is of him when she feels that new people in the neighborhood are taking advantage of him.

When I was investigating the heartless murders that are the central mystery of my book, I discovered that the author of Cool Hand Luke had worked as a private investigator on the case back in 1976. The next afternoon I was on his doorstep. Donn Pearce was kind with his time and his advice. Asked for the key to his success as a PI, Donn said, simply: “I absorb.” Every detail, every moment, observed, evaluated, accounted for. It’s as true a description of detective work as you’ll ever find – and of Cool Hand Luke too. The book is not a detective story but it is a detective’s masterpiece, a harrowing prison saga told from the inside out in spare and beautiful sentences. Every word feels deeply lived, and so alive.

Joe Pike may live in the City of Angels, but he is as far away from angelic as a man can get.

The ex-mercenary turned sometimes PI is tasked with protecting a spoiled Hollywood princess in this gritty, fast-moving novel. Joe has little patience for doing things the conventional way and no compunction about using violence to get what he wants.

Even though his investigatory methods can be destructive, to both him and others, he’s a man you find yourself rooting for…and wondering about. A compelling PI who anyone would want on their team when it really hits the fan. 

In this book, a murder takes place in a manor house just like in my novel, but during Christmas time. There is a connection to a diamond mine in South Africa, and how that played a part in the murder of the patriarch of the family. Detective Hercule Poirot has to delve into the family’s past to connect the dots and determine the motive and the identity of the killer. For those who like murders set during Christmas time, this is a novel for you.

This book, by Nobel-prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, was the first novel in which I saw a character like myself—someone who grew up in a culture that was very different from his parents'. The mystery plot gets wild, but I found that the main character’s search for closure felt connected to my own nostalgia and grief over the places I’d left behind.

As much as the late 80s and early 90s are prevalent in the story, the Magnum PI-esque crime novel features more than meets the eye in its characters. If you go beyond the often hilarious and familiar pop culture situations, you find a deeply disturbing chain of events by equally disturbed people. Even the main character is a bit of an unapologetic anti-hero, which only adds depth beyond the printed word.

At times I wasn’t sure who I should be rooting for, and for that, I highly recommend this book and others in his Skink Series of stories.