Peggy Townsend's smart, wry fifth novel, The Botanist's Assistant, follows researcher and lab manager Margaret Finch as she investigates a murder--and discovers the perils and pleasures of stepping outside her carefully ordered routine.
For years, Margaret has relished her work assisting Professor Jonathan Deaver: keeping his lab in order, managing unruly graduate students, and nurturing the botanical samples critical to the lab's work on drugs that treat cancer. But when Deaver is found dead in his office, Margaret senses foul play, and she's distressed and outraged at the administration's efforts to cover up any unpleasantness. Along with Joe Torres, the department's new custodian, Margaret digs into Deaver's work and life to catch his killer.
Townsend (The Beautiful and the Wild) creates a likable protagonist in Margaret, who arranges her wardrobe by the day of the week and organizes her life to minimize waste of all kinds. Of course, a murder investigation inevitably gets messy--whether the mess is a stray button, smashed lab glassware, or the growing conviction that the killer wants to stop Margaret's sleuthing. Though she is taken aback, Margaret responds to these shocks (as well as the arrival of a stray cat) with her usual efficiency and logic, to entertaining effect. Townsend's narrative pays tribute to the meticulous dedication of research scientists and pokes gentle fun at their quirks, while exploring the hidden motives--jealousy, revenge, ambition, and love--that drive their work, sometimes to deadly ends.
With a clever protagonist and a satisfying plot, The Botanist's Assistant is highly enjoyable reading for science nerds and mystery lovers. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams