"Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker--a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia. Born in 1800, Henry's brilliant daughter, Alma (who inherits both her father's money and his mind), ultimately becomes a botanist of considerable...

"On the eve of the Second World War, the last surviving specimen of a camellia plant known as the Middlebury Pink lies secreted away on an English country estate. Flora, an amateur American botanist, is contracted by an international ring of flower thieves to infiltrate the household and acquire the coveted bloom. Her search is at once brightened by new love and threatened by her discovery of a series of ghastly crimes. More than half a century later,...

Attempting to blaze a new trail for women at the University College London in 1923, research assistant Saffron Everleigh becomes involved in solving the murder of a professor's wife who appeared to have been poisoned at a school dinner party.

London, 1923. Returning from Paris, botanical researcher Saffron Everleigh finds that her former love interest Alexander Ashton's brother, Adrian, is being investigated for murder. A Russian scientist working for the English government has been poisoned, and expired in Adrian's train compartment. Alexander asks Saffron to put in a good word for Adrian with Inspector Green. Despite her unresolved feelings for Alexander, Saffron begins to unravel mysteries...

Atormentada por los rumores de que envenenó a su prometido, Lucinda Bromley vive alejada de la sociedad del Londres victoriano. De vez en cuando, sin embargo, se embarca en la investigación de un asesinato, pues Lucinda tiene una cualidad excepcional: es capaz de detectar casi cualquier tipo de veneno. Para descubrir el asesinato de un noble, Lucinda solicitará los servicios del investigador psíquico Caleb Jones. La atracción entre ambos será...