This is the first in a mystery series by the author.
Scott is a research scientist working in Oxford who is working on figuring out what causes a plant to be asexual (replicate itself), called Apomixis. Panrustica is a company who wants to patent that so they can make a ton of money off of it, so they contact the University that Scott works for and start negotiating a deal to fund the lab for all rights to the research. Scott however doesn't want one company to own that research, he wants it to be public.
One weekend the lab is broken into and the research is stolen, and one of the other lab employee's is part of the plan. Then Scott never returns to work the following Monday and is soon found dead. Arthur Hemmings is asked to research this and figure out exactly what is going on and who is behind the break-in and Scott's murder.
Arthur is a man who does what he wants. When the ministry, the one asking him to look into the issue, tells him to go to Russia, he instead goes to Switzerland, because that is where he thinks he will find answers.
Throughout the story you get a lot of info on plants and the sexual nature of plants, there are a lot of people involved in this mystery, and the location changes often.
Now for what I thought of the book...overall I liked it but it wasn't my favorite. I liked Hemmings and his assistant - that lady was great. I thought the whole issue with the plants was interesting. However the mystery itself didn't always keep my interest. I can't say it was slow because Arthur was always being followed or learning more info, etc. So there was a lot going on, but for some reason it just didn't keep me focused. I thought the story itself was interesting though. So..will I read more in the series? Probably but I wouldn't rush out to get the book and I would wait for paperback. However...I'm used to my cozy mysteries and this was different than that. So read other reviews and read more info about it on other sites and then make up your mind.
new author/mystery/303 pgs
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