Status Updates From The Botanist (Washington Po...

Terrific. Not sure it is as terrific as The Curator, but it’s making a supreme effort.

Shimada’s The Tokyo Zodiac Murders meets Konrath’s Dirty Martini meets Nesbo’s Killing Moon meets John Dickson Carr’s The Judas Window (to the point where John Dickson Carr has been mentioned in this book…and there has been an actual Judas window in this book). The Botanist features a Locked Room Mystery, and a bonus “Impossible Crime”. We’ll see if this tops The Curator.

Jeez, with the first few pages set in Japan, and referencing WW2, I thought I was still in the book I just finished, Black Wind, or in a sequel set decades later. Gave me an eerie feeling. Anyway - we've moved on, and this is definitely a Poe & Bradshaw novel, as modern as anything. Great start, I'm hooked!