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Mushroom Thriller #2
Undergrowth: A fast-paced ecological adventure set in the dark woods where glowing mushrooms live
Undergrowth will forever change how you look at mushrooms.Winner of a 2019 IPPY Award for best regional fiction. Ellen King Rice delivers an unconventional thriller - a story of suspense, mushrooms, alternative economies and dark forest dwellers.Retired botanist Dr. Oh rejoices when he finds an enormous specimen of a rare shelf fungus, a species nicknamed the “Fuzzy Sandozi.” Dr. Oh’s joy fades as his granddaughter, Jasmine, insists on reporting the dead man lying on the forest floor next to the magnificent polypore. Dr. Oh knows revealing the location of the rare fungus may lead to its destruction.Just a few miles away, twenty-year-old Elspeth Dwerryhouse has mushrooming problems of her own when her job selling emergency prep supplies brings her to the attention of a backwoods family, the Fickhams. The Fickham men are cunning and dangerous. None more so than seventy-year-old Russell, who is a master of rape, intimidation and body disposal. Russell is keen to have Elspeth “tenderized” in his shed of glowing fungi.How can young women make smart choices when the rules of the world and the gig economy aren’t working in their favor?Fungi in this story include polypores, liberty caps, waxy caps, truffles and more.Adult content including scenes of sex and violence.Undergrowth includes illustrations of local fungi by Olympia artist Duncan Sheffels.Buy Undergrowth today to grow in forest lore!Readers praise this ”As compelling and hard to set aside as a box of the best chocolates.”"Nothing says Pacific Northwest better than mushrooms, lush forests and gray, rainy days . . . Rice's multi-generational story combines a murder, mushroom research and disturbing backwoods encounters.”“The tapestry of the plot, characters and setting is rich and pleasing.”Other "Mushroom Thrillers" by Ellen King Rice and Duncan The Slime Mold Kirkus Reviews says, “Characterization is Rice’s strength; she’s packed this volume with memorable characters, including a sexy sculptress, an elusive nature photographer, and a prickly visiting professor.As with her earlier works set in the Pacific Northwest, she effectively shines a spotlight on nature, in this case, slime molds. Helping to bring these little-known organisms to life are the striking illustrations by Sheffels. . . A whimsical whodunit both educational and entertaining.”The ''Compelling characters and a plot with a little fungi thrown in. A Finalist, and highly recommended." The Wishing Shelf Book “It's not often you find an author who can so cleverly balance her knowledge of a subject such as lichen and also offer the reader a tantalizing story. Without boring the reader, Rice presents them with an absorbing setting that, simply, jumps off the page.”The Forest of “The story unfolds with just the right pacing, like that of a beautiful walk on a trail in the PNW. The region is depicted perfectly -- complete with mossy trees and fungi in densely wooded areas and speaks to the author's vast knowledge of the western Washington biological features, woods, and trails.”Also, don’t miss Ellen’s Menippean satire about the gig economy in challenging times.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 29, 2018
67 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Ellen King Rice
7 books25 followers Ellen King Rice is a former wildlife biologist with passions for epigenetics and fungi.
In her younger years she served as a wildlife conservation officer, a big game manager, an endangered species biologist and as an lobbyist for environmental issues.
After a spinal cord injury halted her field work, Ellen studied dominance and territorial behaviors while parenting toddlers and adolescents.
One year she entered a Hank the Cowdog story contest and won a twenty two volume set of Hank adventures. This trained her brain in the fine art of being a misunderstood genius.
Ellen posts interesting tidbits about fungi every Tuesday at:
https://www.facebook.com/mushroomthri...
The best fun is the fungi!
In her younger years she served as a wildlife conservation officer, a big game manager, an endangered species biologist and as an lobbyist for environmental issues.
After a spinal cord injury halted her field work, Ellen studied dominance and territorial behaviors while parenting toddlers and adolescents.
One year she entered a Hank the Cowdog story contest and won a twenty two volume set of Hank adventures. This trained her brain in the fine art of being a misunderstood genius.
Ellen posts interesting tidbits about fungi every Tuesday at:
https://www.facebook.com/mushroomthri...
The best fun is the fungi!
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 17, 2026
Oh no, I'm going to be the first negative review on this book, aren't I? Shoot. I mean... it's a PNW self published author, and while I don't want to discourage people from doing what they love, I feel obligated as a book reviewer to be honest about my thoughts. I don't review everything I read, but I do admit that I passionately hated this book, and I very desperately feel the need to put my thoughts out in the world as a means to help me process what I just finished because what the fuck was this?
We're only two weeks into January of 2026, and this is probably going to be the worst book I read all year.
Ellen King Rice is as passionate about biology and mycology as I am about hating her book. I have to give her credit for that because I also live in the PNW and I also love the nature here. My spouse was the mycology nerd who picked up this book from an independent bookseller in Aberdeen two summers ago, thinking that it would be good to support a small local business and also a local self published author. I'm totally for all of that. I do also have to wonder what Rice fantasizes about on a regular basis and whether or not her pet deviations are a negative reflection of her character because this book is... uh... unsavory, and I might regret supporting the author by purchasing this book. You are hereby warned that behind the spoiler screen is a sampling of the very borderline and/or very illegal sexual content contained in this book. The diversity of this content is broad enough that just about anyone should be offended:
So look. Here's the thing. This is not kink shaming. Voyeurism IS a kink, but even in this book, it is non-consensual. It's gross, and I don't understand why so much non-consensual and especially violent sexual content is in this 300 page book meant to frame a story about mycology. God, it's not even content related to getting high on shrooms and making bad decisions, and it's gratuitous and poorly written. Rice has no respect for victims in her treatment of sex crimes, and she shoehorns it all in where it doesn't make sense anyway. It's unrealistic, nonsensical, and totally uncalled for.
I'm sure Rice's rebuttal will be something along the lines of "But they're the bad guys!" This segues us into the other issues with the book beyond the sexual content which is pretty much everything else that makes a bad story. Rice's characters are one dementional, especially as villains. She doesn't seem to understand the art of writing a compelling thriller, when all she'd need to do is study Agatha Christie a bit and realize that villainy is not WHO we are, it's what we're driven to out of desperation. Christie's best murderers feel like real people who are as likable and sympathetic as they are flawed, and the same can be said for the murder victims.
In Rice's novel, the murder victim is merely a hook in the first chapter. He's mentioned a few times here and there, but his murder has otherwise nothing to do with the story. The killers, the same villains who commit all other crimes in the novel, are stupid country bumpkins who WANT to be evil. They act with absolutely no planning, right down to the ringleaders, who insist that they've been getting away with things for years (Which is probably more because of the inept cops than any criminal mastermind prowess, TBH), all with the goal of starting a black market business selling drugs laced with mycological poisons for... rando people who just want to kill their family members? Yeesh, I have my own family drama, but even that seems like a super fucking niche market of nobody.
I've already listed some of the crimes commited in the time frame of this novel, but there are others to include. The novel starts with a murder, then leads with a public assault. There's the theft of a dog (by the good guys, mind you) and a break in, then there's another murder of some character that I seriously almost forgot because there are too many things to list here... the bad lady (Who is supposed to be really smart but is so fucking STUPID, and she really puts up with hooking up with white trash?!) makes a poisoned cupcake for a victim (Which features in a few chapters as the intended victim plays "Will They/Won't They" for dramatic effect. I feel like the intent was to have the reader feel like they were literally on a roller coaster shouting "DON'T EAT IT, DR. OH!" So fun! Such suspense!)... then there's the big kidnapping and some gross sexual scenes, car theft and assault... the cops save the girls (Who are not ever taken in for questioning or medical observation, which is pretty much protocol, I feel like?), there's some animal cruelty against the stolen dog, and then another break in and assault, and then everyone lives happily ever after! Oh, but there are also probably a few HIPAA violations too as well as allusions to past criminal activity, and black market criminal stuff throughout.
Did I mention that ALL of this happens within a 48 hour window?
Alright. I think... no, that's not all on content. Just a brief word on the romances. The girls who get kidnapped all have beaus, and their romances are all really stupid. The main love story is Elspeth's, who begins her 48 hours feeling pretty apathetic towards the grad student she's assisting as one of her jobs. They don't know anything about each other and are strictly platonic by the end of the first 24 hours, but something happens in the morning, I guess, because she has lunch with his family and is practically his fiance by two. Then there's Carmen, who hates herself because she got fat after an injury, which I hate because this Rice author is extremely fatphobic and brings it up all the fucking time, but she likes a guy named Jed who likes her back. They end up dating even though she tells him in their first phone call that she hates herself for being fat... like... okay, Jed's awesome for looking past that, but who the fuck self disparages like that on a first phone call and actually gets a relationship out of it? Girl, get therapy and love yourself. Jed, don't put up with any girl, fat or otherwise, who lacks confidence. Red flag on her, but also red flag on Jed because who knows whether he's actually a nice guy or looking for an easy lay. This book is stupid. Then the last girl is Jasmine, who ends up dating one of the cops, who confesses his love just as he finds her during a really traumatic situation and he's on duty. I don't remember how old the cop was, but Jasmine is eighteen and I imagined him as middle aged. Gross, and a HUGE ethics violation! I get it, romance often transcends ethics, but it really doesn't work when...
The writing is shit. The vast majority of the book is dialogue, except for the dilemma with Dr. Oh deciding whether to eat his poisoned cupcake or not. (Side note: Dr. Oh is not a major character, but for being a professor, he sure is fucking stupid. He doesn't want to call the cops when he finds a dead body because it might damage the rare shelf fungi it's on [Cut the shit, we never come back to this fungi, Rice, don't pretend that you give a shit about it either.], but then he also notices a potential link to said murder when he notices a hammer [the murder weapon] missing from his buddy's house. Instead of keeping it to himself to call the cops later in case his friend is related to the crime, he tells his friend who tips off the bad lady who brings Dr. Oh the cupcake... God, this book is STUPID!) Besides that chapter of practically no dialogue, everything else is narrated through dialogue, which means that all of the information you need to know is shoehorned in as dialogue. Elspeth has to explain her background, so she tells her whole life story to Nico in two pages as though she'd never met him. Jasmine has to end up with the cop, but he needs a personality somehow, so he goes off on his own backstory to this girl he just met while on duty... oh my god, and I just remember that the cops speculate over investigation theories right in front of civilians all the time like that actually happens... IT DOESN'T. Then let's not forget that this book is about mushrooms, so whenever a mushroom or other biological/ecological/zoological topic is presented, we have to pause momentum for a character to tell us a ton of information about that thing because everyone in this book is part dumb ass, part encyclopedia. None of the mushrooms matter. Ever. Not when they might cure Huntington's Disease. Not when they could cure Alzheimer's. Never. Characters just snap into robot mode to spit out Wikipedia facts in the middle of a freaking kidnapping. It's weird, it's awkward, it's abnormal, it's BAD.
I did come to a point towards the end of this novel where I wondered whether Rice was serious or not. Is this meant to be an engaging thriller, or is this really meant to be taken as a farce? If it weren't for the gratuitous inclusion of sex crimes, I might actually find some appreciation for this as a farce or a parody of eco-fiction. But I think that, based on Rice's own review of this book, that this was meant in all earnestness. Rice comes off as though she lacks self awareness or even familiarity with reality in general. She just really likes dogs (Zoom the dog survives, BTW), and has probably self tested one too many mushrooms on herself.
We're only two weeks into January of 2026, and this is probably going to be the worst book I read all year.
Ellen King Rice is as passionate about biology and mycology as I am about hating her book. I have to give her credit for that because I also live in the PNW and I also love the nature here. My spouse was the mycology nerd who picked up this book from an independent bookseller in Aberdeen two summers ago, thinking that it would be good to support a small local business and also a local self published author. I'm totally for all of that. I do also have to wonder what Rice fantasizes about on a regular basis and whether or not her pet deviations are a negative reflection of her character because this book is... uh... unsavory, and I might regret supporting the author by purchasing this book. You are hereby warned that behind the spoiler screen is a sampling of the very borderline and/or very illegal sexual content contained in this book. The diversity of this content is broad enough that just about anyone should be offended:
So look. Here's the thing. This is not kink shaming. Voyeurism IS a kink, but even in this book, it is non-consensual. It's gross, and I don't understand why so much non-consensual and especially violent sexual content is in this 300 page book meant to frame a story about mycology. God, it's not even content related to getting high on shrooms and making bad decisions, and it's gratuitous and poorly written. Rice has no respect for victims in her treatment of sex crimes, and she shoehorns it all in where it doesn't make sense anyway. It's unrealistic, nonsensical, and totally uncalled for.
I'm sure Rice's rebuttal will be something along the lines of "But they're the bad guys!" This segues us into the other issues with the book beyond the sexual content which is pretty much everything else that makes a bad story. Rice's characters are one dementional, especially as villains. She doesn't seem to understand the art of writing a compelling thriller, when all she'd need to do is study Agatha Christie a bit and realize that villainy is not WHO we are, it's what we're driven to out of desperation. Christie's best murderers feel like real people who are as likable and sympathetic as they are flawed, and the same can be said for the murder victims.
In Rice's novel, the murder victim is merely a hook in the first chapter. He's mentioned a few times here and there, but his murder has otherwise nothing to do with the story. The killers, the same villains who commit all other crimes in the novel, are stupid country bumpkins who WANT to be evil. They act with absolutely no planning, right down to the ringleaders, who insist that they've been getting away with things for years (Which is probably more because of the inept cops than any criminal mastermind prowess, TBH), all with the goal of starting a black market business selling drugs laced with mycological poisons for... rando people who just want to kill their family members? Yeesh, I have my own family drama, but even that seems like a super fucking niche market of nobody.
I've already listed some of the crimes commited in the time frame of this novel, but there are others to include. The novel starts with a murder, then leads with a public assault. There's the theft of a dog (by the good guys, mind you) and a break in, then there's another murder of some character that I seriously almost forgot because there are too many things to list here... the bad lady (Who is supposed to be really smart but is so fucking STUPID, and she really puts up with hooking up with white trash?!) makes a poisoned cupcake for a victim (Which features in a few chapters as the intended victim plays "Will They/Won't They" for dramatic effect. I feel like the intent was to have the reader feel like they were literally on a roller coaster shouting "DON'T EAT IT, DR. OH!" So fun! Such suspense!)... then there's the big kidnapping and some gross sexual scenes, car theft and assault... the cops save the girls (Who are not ever taken in for questioning or medical observation, which is pretty much protocol, I feel like?), there's some animal cruelty against the stolen dog, and then another break in and assault, and then everyone lives happily ever after! Oh, but there are also probably a few HIPAA violations too as well as allusions to past criminal activity, and black market criminal stuff throughout.
Did I mention that ALL of this happens within a 48 hour window?
Alright. I think... no, that's not all on content. Just a brief word on the romances. The girls who get kidnapped all have beaus, and their romances are all really stupid. The main love story is Elspeth's, who begins her 48 hours feeling pretty apathetic towards the grad student she's assisting as one of her jobs. They don't know anything about each other and are strictly platonic by the end of the first 24 hours, but something happens in the morning, I guess, because she has lunch with his family and is practically his fiance by two. Then there's Carmen, who hates herself because she got fat after an injury, which I hate because this Rice author is extremely fatphobic and brings it up all the fucking time, but she likes a guy named Jed who likes her back. They end up dating even though she tells him in their first phone call that she hates herself for being fat... like... okay, Jed's awesome for looking past that, but who the fuck self disparages like that on a first phone call and actually gets a relationship out of it? Girl, get therapy and love yourself. Jed, don't put up with any girl, fat or otherwise, who lacks confidence. Red flag on her, but also red flag on Jed because who knows whether he's actually a nice guy or looking for an easy lay. This book is stupid. Then the last girl is Jasmine, who ends up dating one of the cops, who confesses his love just as he finds her during a really traumatic situation and he's on duty. I don't remember how old the cop was, but Jasmine is eighteen and I imagined him as middle aged. Gross, and a HUGE ethics violation! I get it, romance often transcends ethics, but it really doesn't work when...
The writing is shit. The vast majority of the book is dialogue, except for the dilemma with Dr. Oh deciding whether to eat his poisoned cupcake or not. (Side note: Dr. Oh is not a major character, but for being a professor, he sure is fucking stupid. He doesn't want to call the cops when he finds a dead body because it might damage the rare shelf fungi it's on [Cut the shit, we never come back to this fungi, Rice, don't pretend that you give a shit about it either.], but then he also notices a potential link to said murder when he notices a hammer [the murder weapon] missing from his buddy's house. Instead of keeping it to himself to call the cops later in case his friend is related to the crime, he tells his friend who tips off the bad lady who brings Dr. Oh the cupcake... God, this book is STUPID!) Besides that chapter of practically no dialogue, everything else is narrated through dialogue, which means that all of the information you need to know is shoehorned in as dialogue. Elspeth has to explain her background, so she tells her whole life story to Nico in two pages as though she'd never met him. Jasmine has to end up with the cop, but he needs a personality somehow, so he goes off on his own backstory to this girl he just met while on duty... oh my god, and I just remember that the cops speculate over investigation theories right in front of civilians all the time like that actually happens... IT DOESN'T. Then let's not forget that this book is about mushrooms, so whenever a mushroom or other biological/ecological/zoological topic is presented, we have to pause momentum for a character to tell us a ton of information about that thing because everyone in this book is part dumb ass, part encyclopedia. None of the mushrooms matter. Ever. Not when they might cure Huntington's Disease. Not when they could cure Alzheimer's. Never. Characters just snap into robot mode to spit out Wikipedia facts in the middle of a freaking kidnapping. It's weird, it's awkward, it's abnormal, it's BAD.
I did come to a point towards the end of this novel where I wondered whether Rice was serious or not. Is this meant to be an engaging thriller, or is this really meant to be taken as a farce? If it weren't for the gratuitous inclusion of sex crimes, I might actually find some appreciation for this as a farce or a parody of eco-fiction. But I think that, based on Rice's own review of this book, that this was meant in all earnestness. Rice comes off as though she lacks self awareness or even familiarity with reality in general. She just really likes dogs (Zoom the dog survives, BTW), and has probably self tested one too many mushrooms on herself.
September 29, 2019
I'm always a bit surprised when Amazon or Goodreads allows an author to review their own book. All I can say is that I give my writing my "All." This book is the culmination of many hours of research on polypores, psychoactive mushrooms, waxy caps and on the vibrant-but-not-always legal alternative economies that exist in the backwoods of the Pacific Northwest.
To the best of my ability, the ecology and science described is correct. I enjoyed writing Elspeth's story, especially after she meets an exuberant Irish Setter named "Zoom." While life is more complicated with a high energy dog, "Zoom" saves Elspeth just as much as Elspeth saves Zoom.
To the best of my ability, the ecology and science described is correct. I enjoyed writing Elspeth's story, especially after she meets an exuberant Irish Setter named "Zoom." While life is more complicated with a high energy dog, "Zoom" saves Elspeth just as much as Elspeth saves Zoom.
June 1, 2023
Couldn't Put it Down!
This author creates some of the most striking and unforgettable characters. Love them or despise them. Plus, enough info on fungi to understand what's being written, while inspiring a desire for more information. I don't do synopses. Please read and enjoy! And the plotlines are good.
This author creates some of the most striking and unforgettable characters. Love them or despise them. Plus, enough info on fungi to understand what's being written, while inspiring a desire for more information. I don't do synopses. Please read and enjoy! And the plotlines are good.
November 24, 2019
Mushroom hunters. Thriller!
Students, foodies, Pacific Northwesterners will be taking time to relax and enjoy this thriller. Psychologists and foragers s will take notice of the correct names and descriptions, and the bad guys are completely creepy!
Students, foodies, Pacific Northwesterners will be taking time to relax and enjoy this thriller. Psychologists and foragers s will take notice of the correct names and descriptions, and the bad guys are completely creepy!
August 8, 2021
This is a story about mushrooms, and greed.
This was a hard story to start reading. I had to get past the Latin names of mushrooms. The subject seem to jump around a lot, I did catch up with the story line about halfway through.
This was a hard story to start reading. I had to get past the Latin names of mushrooms. The subject seem to jump around a lot, I did catch up with the story line about halfway through.
November 21, 2021
Excellent and vivid character development. Book interweaves combinations of plots that will keep you reading, and I ADD.
EXCELLENT knowledge and description of the RainForest of the Olympics of Wa. Aclear 7 on 5 point scale.
EXCELLENT knowledge and description of the RainForest of the Olympics of Wa. Aclear 7 on 5 point scale.
November 20, 2019
Read this while also reading Overstory - learned a whole lot from both!
December 9, 2022
Incredible writer. Educational, sometimes intense, great cast of characters...
Can't wait to read more by this author!
Can't wait to read more by this author!
March 23, 2023
good murder mystery. fun read if you are into plant biology like I am.
November 16, 2022
I'll lead with the fact that as a mycology hobbyist I'm biased in this book's favor. Four stars for being more entertaining than neutral. Overall a cute intersection between mushroom/fungi facts and thriller. The only negative is that the shroom facts tend to get rambly to the point they don't feel like a natural part of the story. For example, characters wander off on tangents about mushroom growth and repeat the same facts in a way that does not read as natural. This would be charming if it wasn't so frequent! There are a few editing errors - occasional missed periods or misspellings that could be corrected.
November 18, 2019
When I first started reading this book, I thought it was a bit on the corny side. However, the more I read, the more I began to enjoy it and in the end found it hard to put down. The concept of incorporating some of the biological sciences - mainly mycology, botany, and genetics - as primary elements of the plot line was intriguing to me. I found that even with my own personal background in biological sciences, I needed to look up a number of things and learned a great deal while enjoying the book. Some may find the amount of scientific information off-putting but if they don't mind having access to Google nearby, they may increase their appreciation for some of the unseen wonders of the forest floor.
One aspect of the book that I found enjoyable was the geographic area in which the story set. My first job after college was in the Olympia, Washington - South Puget Sound area and I was familiar with or had been to most of the locations described in the book.
Without revealing too much, I will say that I found the book to be uplifting and the characters (at least the good guys) to exhibit some very admirable traits.
One aspect of the book that I found enjoyable was the geographic area in which the story set. My first job after college was in the Olympia, Washington - South Puget Sound area and I was familiar with or had been to most of the locations described in the book.
Without revealing too much, I will say that I found the book to be uplifting and the characters (at least the good guys) to exhibit some very admirable traits.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews