Devil's Breath by Jill Johnson

Book Review

I have been looking for a new murder mystery series for some time now. Something not too dark, more mystery and than murder, and dare I say Agatha Christiesque, although that’s a tall order, and yet when I picked up Jill Johnson’s, Devil’s Breath, that’s not what I was expecting, but it’s most definitely what I got!

Here’s the blurb:

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 . . .

The setting - inner city London flats/apartments - allows the author to create scenes with levels from the secluded, secret, roof garden, through the brightly lit living spaces and on to the noisy, sometimes unpredictable streets below.

The rooftop garden that belongs to the main character - Eustacia Rose - is beautifully described and you grow as attached to it as Professor Rose is. I found myself wanting to wander through it and learn about the plants the professor collects, with my hands firmly in my pockets though, of course, away from harm.

The story includes, loss, grief, murder and domestic abuse, but it’s never forced or unnecessarily violent; instead it serves the story well and paints complex characters and messy lives, which face it, life is.

The main character is clearly neurodiverse, although this is not openly said, allowing the reader to meet the character on their own terms which is truly refreshing. It’s not overdone either. Equally the fact that the character is queer is not out of place, or shoehorned into the story, it simply is. Johnson doesn’t overstate anything or go off on strained navel-gazing tangents, she just presents the character as they are. It serves to make a complex and believable character, whom you can empathise with and understand.

In short, I loved this book! Yes, there were a couple of moments when I was a little unsure about the main character’s motivation, mainly the point where she takes a bath in the apartment of a woman who’s gone missing, but this can be forgiven, plus this is a neurodiverse character, you’re not necessarily seeing things from a point of view that can be explained using the more widely accepted societal frameworks or by your own experiences of life.

If you like Agatha Christie style murder mysteries, find the world of botany and toxicology intriguing and would enjoy a queer neurodiverse point of view from your main character, then this is a book for you. I would not hesitate to read another of Johson’s, Professor Rose books and I’m rather hoping she writes more. I shall be waiting with anticipation.

You can buy Devil’s Breath, in all good bookshops. If you would like to buy a copy online, please consider visiting my page on Bookshop.org where I have gathered some of the books I read and recommend. Here you will find a plethora of myth, legend and folktale.

And don’t forget to support your local library too. See if they have a copy to borrow.