Poison Flowers

Willow King #2

by Natasha Cooper

Three people die, in agony, each the victim of a different person. The police are convinced that there is no connection. Inspector Tom Worth disagrees. So does Willow King. Risking not only the secrets of her double identity, but also her own life, Willow races to unmask the serial killer before anyone else is murdered. From the dreariness of her part-time job in Clapham to the luxury and extravagance of her life in Belgravia, this most unusual female sleuth takes up the challenge and becomes involved in an exciting but near-fatal adventure

Genres: Mystery

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

aka N.J. Cooper, Kate Hatfield, Clare Layton, Daphne Wright.

Natasha Cooper was Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association in 2000/2001. She reviews books in THE TIMES, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT and the NEW LAW JOURNAL. She is the author of, among others, FAULT LINES and PREY TO ALL.

Reviews

[Kim Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit convoluted

This wasn't too bad. Willow/Cressida obviously has her foibles though for someone who was taught to hide or even suppress all emotion, she spends an awful lot of time thinking about them. Somehow I think if I met her I wouldn't particularly like her. She's complex and complicated and has an annoying habit of thinking herself superior simply because she doesn't show her emotions. Yes, she is intelligent, but intelligence alone does not make one superior. Still these books are fairly entertaining, though I admit I found this one a bit hard going.

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

This is the 2nd Willow King mystery. It's several years since I read the 1st in the series and I found this book hard to get into. Some of the dialogue is very stilted and some of the characters are really winding me up with how dreadfully posh they are but I'll reserve judgement until I've seen how the plot turns out.

Willow lives a double life: mid-week she works as Willow King doing something in pensions and at the weekend she lives a life of luxury as a romantic novelist called Cressida Woodruffe. In the first book I found this quite an interesting basis for a detective story but it's just irritating me in this book.

In the end the plot was the most credible part of the book with the characters at the centre of the story having reasonable motives for their actions. The way that Willow unmasked the killer involved a really big risk that I didn't find credible though. The conclusion also relied on an entire hospital ward dutifully shuffling off to see the new 5.30 episode of Neighbours, when even I know that the anyone in hospital would watch the lunchtime edition first and not it's afternoon repeat. It's odd how the details can sometimes really annoy you when a book isn't working for you.

I want to like Natasha Cooper and I have one of her later Trish Maguire books to read soon but I don't think I'm going to try any more of the Willow King books.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

hated the main character! and I figured out the ending which goes to prove it couldn't be very well written or plotted. Willow King, part time govt. employee, part time very successful romance novelist, helps police solve a string of murders that seem unrelated but are tied into an elaborate plot of a boyfriend - an unsuccessful novelist - seeking revenge on those who have hurt his fiancé.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mystery with an interesting main character who helps her policeman romantic interest solve a complex mystery involving poisonings. Willow King uses her reasoning powers to help sift through information to idnetify the murderer while dealing with the complexities of her life.