I am writing a murder mystery book. My detective is a keen horticulturalist, and I like the idea of a clue linked to his gardening expertise, that only he can recognise because of his extensive knowledge of horticulture. I however am totally ignorant of anything to do with it.

I am therefore appealing to anyone who might have the knowledge to couple with an idea (after all gardening its self must require a fair dose of creativity!).

I was thinking of something like... a clue to link a suspects item of clothing, to a particular crime scene. Perhaps my detective notices on the suspect a particular type of 'sticky seed', that only grows in soils particular to specific regions (such as murder site), or my detective has seen a rare flower at the murder sight (can be anywhere in Wiltshire) and he later sees a leaf from it crushed into the tread of his boot. I also understand there are different soil types and PH levels that could help locate a region. It does not have to be direct, damming evidence. It might just be circumstantial evidence that acts as a clue to help point my detective to the right direction.

I know I could spend years researching what might be appropriate so I thought I would ask here where there is years of peoples experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated and any ideas warmly welcomed. James.

Sent you a Tmail

Thanks for your suggestion, I will look into it.

Have you seen "Rosemary and Thyme"?
https://www.youtube.com/playli...

Pretty much all their solves revolve around horticulture.

I'll tell you one thing.... I wouldn't care to hire this team to do my landscaping... everywhere they go, people drop dead!

How technical are you prepared to be? Few people among the public are aware of the trace evidence field of forensic palynology, the use of pollens and spores as evidence. It has been used for such things as determining whether a body has been moved or when the homicide happened (based on seasons). It could easily be the key to blowing up a fabrication of more gross evidence, like leaves, that might more readily come to an actor's mind.

But the classic uses of plant evidence is in time of death, based on what was in bloom or in leaf when the evidence became associated with the victim. Forensic botanists have been used to do things like show that a body had been deposited before a suspect moved away, because of the age of plants growing up through the skull after it had deteriorated to the point of allowing it.

Anyone brushing against a bloom would get pollen on their clothing. Walking through a field fills your pant cuffs with seeds and such. Cases have turned on such things as seasonal changes in shading foliage that caused differences in bleaching on tissue. Tree DNA featured in a case on A&E Real Crime.

He might also discover an insect or insect carcass and know that it wold be found only on particular plants or in particular environments.

There are Internet resources that recount cases from palynologists and botanists, so you can adapt something without becoming an expert yourself. And remember that vehicles readily pick up plant materials when off the pavement. A leafy twig trapped in a joint of a car body might provide both identity of the plant, which might not be common, and how recently it had been captured.

I love the idea of this! Unfortunately I'm no expert and don't have anything to offer, but I wish you the best of luck with your book!

Stone, no I have not seen that, thank you for the link it sounds excellent, haha. Although its a pity my idea is clearly not as original as I hoped, I suppose there will be lots of ideas there for inspiration.

Inthehotoftexas, Thank you very much for your detailed and illuminating response. I was vaguely aware of this branch of forensics, however what I neglected to mention, not to bore ppl with detail, was that the book is set in the 1968. However forensics are clearly older than them being used just for DNA, and pollen can presumably be identified and differentiated from just a light microscope. I think. so there is certainly potential with that I agree. And I like the idea of the link to particular insects. Very interesting, thank you.

whistlingWisteria, thankyou

I was weaned on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books—written in the late 1800s. He was famous for his monographs on (among many others) soil types specific to various regions of London, and used that knowledge to deduce where people had been. So, alas, no, it's not a new plot device, but it's still a good one.

As Gerald pointed out, the possibilities are endless. I wonder if it would be easier to go about this the other way around: formulate the basic framework of the plot, decide whether you want to use plant matter, pollen, bugs, soil or whatever as the clue and then find experts in that field to help you get the details right.

Best of luck!

You must have seen me coming. Although from the age of five, (now 80) my lifelong interest has been gardening.

However in the late 1950's early 60's I became a police officer. I did gain some experience of murder, suicide etc but my best was being attached to the Central Trafic Squad of the Met police. S lets get talking.

The victim was killed with an unusual object, a dibble, which the officers don't recognize at first.


The victim's blood is found on the dibble, but also a red stain that isn't blood is discovered in the checkering on the grip of the dibble. It looks like rust, but can't be because the dibble is made from aluminum. When analyzed, the red stain does turn out to be a highly specialized type of rust, bonded to an organic molecule to facilitate uptake of iron specifically in situations where the pH level of the soil or growing medium is high enough to naturally limit uptake of iron (Sprint 138).

The killer lives in a rural setting where the topsoil is thin and sits atop limestone bedrock, and gets his/her water from a well, so must deal with the higher than ideal pH. The killer uses the dibble for planting gladiola bulbs, and in summer sells the flowered stalks at a farmers market in a neighboring town where he scouts for victims ........

Al

Al, Perhaps you should get writing yourself, and I ought to give gardening a go too I suppose. Thank you very much for your considered congestion. Certainly lots to think about.

nmoasis, Yes sadly thats already been made clear to me, still cliche's are cliche's for a reason often and if its worthy of classics it must be worthy.

Growmore, Thanks for your response. I have T-mailed you.

Jamestheflowers said:nmoasis, Yes sadly thats already been made clear to me, still cliche's are cliche's for a reason often and if its worthy of classics it must be worthy.

A cliche is only a cliche if it's presented without originality. Even if the butler killed the colonel with a candlestick in the library, if it's well written with an original slant, it's a good story.