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by Peggy Townsend
A murder in the science lab shatters a woman's quiet and ordered life when she decides she must solve the crime herself in this entertaining and uplifting mystery.
Plenty of people consider Margaret Finch odd. Six-feet-tall and big-boned, she lives alone in a small cabin in the woods, drives a 20-year-old truck, and schedules her life so precisely you can tell the time and day of the week by the chore she is doing and what she is wearing. But the same attributes that cause her to be labeled eccentric—an obsessive attention to detail and the ability to organize almost anything—make her invaluable in her job as Research Assistant II to a talented and charismatic botanist.
It's those very same qualities, however, that also turn Margaret into a target after a surprising death shakes the small university where she works. Even as authorities claim the death appears to be from natural causes, Margaret fears it might be something more: a murder born of jealousy and dark secrets. With the aid of a newly hired and enigmatic night custodian, Margaret finds herself thrust into the role of detective, forcing her to consider that she may not be able to find the killer before the killer finds her.
With a cast of quirky and likeable characters that one won't soon forget, The Botanist's Assistant is a delightful story of perseverance and the power in all of us to survive.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (11/27/2025)
After the author review with Peggy Townsend I read her book The Botanist's Assistant . I enjoyed the story. I finished reading Heart the Lover and A Guardian and a Thief. A Guardian and a Thief is excellent but not an easy read.
-Lynne_G
BookBrowsers ask Peggy Townsend, author of The Botanist's Assistant
I hope you had a wonderful time at the launch party, Peggy! You mentioned The Rough Drafts in your intro here and in the Acknowledgments at the end of The Botanist's Assistant . Were any of them able to attend last night? I'm curious about the group. Can you tell us more? (How long you've been to...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (11/13/2025)
...eded in the current climate. Finally, I read https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/22298/the-botanists-assistant The Botanist's Assistant by Peggy Townsend, who'll be stopping by to chat with us starting on Monday. It was a nice little murder mystery with great characters, and it reminded me of https://w...
-kim.kovacs
Ask the Author mug winners
Here are the latest BookBrowse mug winners for their questions to our visiting authors: William Boyle ( https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4957/saint-of-the-narrows-street Saint of the Narrows Street ): @Anne_Glasgow Heather O'Neill ( https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index...
-kim.kovacs
"Margaret is a delight... The ending leaves the possibility for more from Margaret and Joe, which would be a fine addition to the genre." —First Clue
This information about The Botanist's Assistant was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Peggy Townsend is an award-winning journalist and author. Her work has appeared in Catamaran literary magazine, Santa Cruz Noir, Globe Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. Twice she lived for seven weeks in her van, traveling to Alaska and along the back roads of the US.
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