The Curse of the Giant Hogweed

Peter Shandy #5

by Charlotte MacLeod

Professor Peter Shandy, Balaclava College's best amateur sleuth, takes on a pest threatening to wipe Britain's lovely hedgerows. With colleagues Dan Stott and Timothy Ames, he leaves the groves of academe for fancy fieldword in the heart of Wales. Never in their wildest dreams did the three expect the bizarre events awaiting them.... Where Miss Hilda Horsefall's recipe for lye soap becomes as valuable as Dan's knowledge of "The Chronicles Of Narnia" and where pursuing the wild asparagus (the giant hogweed) becomes a dangerous expedition.

Genres: Mystery, Fantasy, Cozy Mystery, Humor, Fiction, Cozy, Audiobook

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Naturalized US Citizen

Also wrote as Alisa Craig

Charlotte MacLeod, born in New Brunswick, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the multi-award-winning author of over thirty acclaimed novels. Her series featuring detective Professor Peter Shandy, America's homegrown Hercule Poirot, delivers "generous dollops of...warmth, wit, and whimsy" (San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle). But fully a dozen novels star her popular husband-and-wife team of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. And her native Canada provides a backdrop for the amusing Grub-and-Stakers cozies written under the pseudonym Alisa Craig and the almost-police procedurals starring Madoc Rhys, RCMP. A cofounder and past president of the American Crime Writers League, she also edited the bestselling anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings.

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to follow

[Stephanie]

Some other day, a whimsical magic adventure in an otherwise mundane mystery series might appeal to me. At the moment, it reads like a dream sequence, and I want to kill it with fire.

[Chautona Havig]

Not going to rate the book but I will give reasons for my DNF.

Shandy goes to England for a symposium on what to do with giant hogweed, "falls asleep" in a tavern and it appears that he's dreaming up all kinds of nonsense that 100% did not interest me. So I chucked it. Onto the next.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silly, absurd, fantastic!

Of all of Charlotte MacLeod/Alisa Craig's mystery series, the Peter Shandy series is my favorite. None of them are Important Literature by any means. They are pure fluff, but oh, so much fun!

A lot of people don't seem to appreciate this one, and it's understandable. The series is generally based at a fictional agricultural college in modern (late 20th-early 21st century) New England. In this book, our heroes are transported back in time to the period of knights and dragons and wizards and druids, and it's written in a faux-archaic dialect.

A large part of the hilarity is knowing the characters from the "real" world books. If you don't know the college's President Thorkjeld Svenson and his wife Sieglinde, then you can't really understand why Sir Torchyld and Lady Syglinde are so amusing.

So don't read this one first, and be prepared to suspend your disbelief and enjoy!

2019 reread: Listened to the audiobook narrated by John McLain. I'm not sure why McLain has chosen voice acting as a career, because he's not good at it. At all. I adore Charlotte MacLeod - and Peter Shandy especially - but I am not sure I'm going to bother with any more of McLain's audiobooks.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid WHAT is HAPPENING, but it grew on me. Peter Shandy stepped into a pub in Wales and time-traveled and had to sort things out with Iron Age lordlings and some evil hags? It was completely ridiculous. It was kind of fantastic. I’m pretty sure I haven’t ever read this one before.

My favorite part was when Dan Stott explained he had read the British literature describing the events when a person or persons fell through a portal such as a rabbit hole or wardrobe, and he matter-of-factly led them through all the tropes. Boat floats along? Get in it. It’s going to take the party to their next destination. 😂 The fake Morte D’Arthur accents throughout teetered along the edge of terrible but funny and just terrible.

[Eden · Rating 3 out of 5]

2023 bk 13. Sadly one of my least favorite of Charlotte MacLeod's Peter Shandy series. I would have enjoyed a contemporary mystery involving the Balaclava College crew in Wales, but CM threw us a fantasy wrapped in mystery. That said the book did have redeeming moments - trying to fit 6 men in a boat, the love of a Siegelinde and her dashing hero, the griffin who became famous, and the mass wedding scene to name a few. If you are a CM fan, it is worth a read and still better than a lot of other time traveling books out there.

[Susan in NC · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF for this bizarre entry in one of my favorite cozy mystery series. Thought I’d try it one more time as the Reading the Detectives group is reading the series as buddy reads, after my first confused and disappointed read MANY years ago. It’s still not for me at all. Not sure what the author was going for, time travel fairy tale? But definitely not a favorite - never again, which is why I’m reviewing after three chapters...

Worst thing, besides an hour I’ll never get back: I used a credit for the Audible, thought it might make it more endurable, (although the tone of the series narrator is low-key to the point of comatose), but no, still awful - and Audible says not refundable! So wasted a credit, too…at least the ebook was from my library, didn’t waste $ on that!

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Professors Peter Shandy, Daniel Stott and Tim Ames — not content with investigating malefaction in Balaclava County in western Massachusetts — get ensnared in a mystery in Wales when they head across the Atlantic where they’ve been summoned to deal with pestilential species called the hogweed. Somehow the trio enter a pub and find themselves trapped in an alternative universe — or something.

It’s not that I don’t like alternative universes: After all, I loved the Harry Potter books, The Magic Thief and its sequels, The Chronicles of Narnia, and plenty of similar books. It’s just that the ploy here is a bit goofy, more A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (itself a big letdown) than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. This fifth novel is for confirmed MacLeod acolytes only; others would be better off skipping ahead to The Corpse in Oozak's Pond. I know I wish I had.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. This entry into MacLeod's Peter Shandy Mystery series is different from all of her others. It took a bit to get into it because of the old fashioned language she uses in this. Once I got used to it, the story was quite funny, and I am glad I read it.

[Phair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this first around the original pub date and recalled it fondly although it was a bit "far out" from her usual Peter Shandy mystery series. Decided to pick this up again because Hogweed has been in the news lately as an increasingly invasive weed in my area. Nasty reputation it has.
Anyway, the premise is that our aggy profs are attending a conference in England on Hogweed and a field trip to study the weed turns into a "trip" back to Ye Olde Times with castles, lords, griffins, wyverns and quests plus a witch or two. Most fun part was the way our profs kept "inventing" modern things like soap, etc. and the language. I am amazed that MacLeod was able to sustain the Olde Time-y jargon at full bore for almost the entire book ["To vanish ye hogweed, ye must use a special spell which only I wot how to work, methinks, now Gwratch be agone. 'Tis ye only spell I wot how to work, gin ye want the truth. For aught else I maun rely on potions,trickery, or sleight of hand. Alas, mine hands be not so sleight as once they were. 'Tis a rotten life for an aging hag."]. And happily, just as suddenly as Peter and company landed in that fantasy world, they pop back to the now with a new understanding of the nature of hogweed. Definitely a curiosity but fun for the reader who enjoys something a little different.

[Karen Plummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fifth book in the Peter Shandy series is so different than the previous four that I find it difficult to write a review which summarizes the content properly. It begins as Shandy and his two friends and colleagues from Balaclava Agricultural College are visiting England to attend a symposium on an epidemic of giant hogweed plants. The initial speaker is incredibly dull, and Peter's response is to ask for a recommendation for a good pub and then let the three Americans do a little bit of field research into the issue. As they drive to find a good place to examine the hogweed, they stop at a quiet pub for refreshment and then something strange happens... and to give away no spoilers, you'll just have to read the book.

It is loads of fun with a good mystery thrown in for Peter and friends to solve. I enjoyed this so much that I read it in one sitting. Couldn't wait to see what happened next.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fifth in the Peter Shandy cozy mystery series set in Massachusetts and revolving around a botany professor, who is also an amateur sleuth. The focus is on Peter’s, Dan’s, and Timothy’s visit to Britain and their quest to eliminate the vicious, evil giant hogweed.

My Take
MacLeod is just as funny in The Curse of the Giant Hogweed, but wanders off in a totally different direction. She has managed to tie the rambunctious giant hogweed in with Peter’s field of expertise and then sends him and his friends time-traveling.

As for dialogue, MacLeod introduces odd grammatical constructions and weird spellings that will make your brain stutter. And it’s all from a third person global subjective point-of-view from a variety of perspectives.

It’s that giant hogweed that figures everywhere with additional conflicts thrown in with Torchwyld’s unfortunate quest, the kidnapping of women from Ysgard’s domain — who can blame the ladies from wanting out?, family issues, and greed of so many kinds, leading to betrayals, kidnapping, and murders.

MacLeod also has fun with castle requirements, which include having a hag. Then there is the lament of the men who are helpless without their women, partly because there’s no one to comb the nits out of their hair. Ugh. As for food, who knew it could be such a lethal weapon.

The king’s family is a real mix, running the gamut of gentle to selfishness,
Ooh, baths as a wedding present. What’s unexpected is how welcome this is, lol. Manners!

For all that Torchwyld loves Syglinde, the king has set him a quest, the failure of which will lead to a lifetime of grief.

Lol, I’m with Hywell that “poetry be always such a bother to figure out”.

Hmm, MacLeod does a switcheroo on the lawyer’s warning to never ask a question unless you already know the answer when she notes that women should be asked if they want rescuing.

The characters are a strange conglomeration from good to evil, mostly depending on whose side they’re on — theirs, ours — and then switching back and forth. It’s human nature at its most real. The actions? Oh, boy. There is plenty of activity. A list of adventures that finally leads to the cure.

It’s Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, evil shapeshifting, kidnapping, betrayals, and practical acceptance. Yep, there is plenty of kindness in here, even if weirdly.

What prompted me to rate The Curse of the Giant Hogweed as a 3 was MacLeod’s not making this time traveling believable — at least in how it worked! — and the weirdness of where the three professors went. If you can ignore this, it’s a fun story.

Excuses, excuses, excuses . . .

The Story
Transported back to ye olde England, Wales to be precise, an unrealizable search is in progress for a missing griffin.

Maidens are being kidnapped and some devoured(!), leading to the possibility of war.

The Characters
Professor Peter Shandy, a co-inventor of the super rutabaga and creator of the Portulaca Purple Passion, is married to Helen Shandy, an assistant librarian who’s cataloging the Buggins Collection. He also becomes the head bard. Jane Austen is the family cat.

The deaf Professor Timothy Ames, Peter’s best friend and co-inventor, will be the arch-druid. Jemima is Tim’s unlamented deceased wife. Winona is Tim’s aunt. His aunt Hilda has a great recipe for lye soap.

Iduna Stott, a good friend of Helen’s, is married to Professor Dan Stott ( The Luck Runs Out , 2), the chairman of the animal husbandry department, who will become the assistant arch-druid. Matilda is Stott’s sister with a preference for fantastical stories.

England
Professor Pfylltrydd is giving the speech. The Pig in Clover has the best bitter.

Olde Wales
Torchyld y Dewr, a.k.a. Torchy, is the king’s great nephew in love with Lady Syglinde, who is the king’s ward. His father was Lord Edolph, the king’s nephew. Torchy suspects he actually will be known as Torchyld yr Anobeithioil.

Synnfford is ruled by King Sfyn, who has three sons: Crown Prince Edmyr (Dilwyn is deceased and the sneaky Dagobert is his and Aldora’s remaining son), the randy, roving Prince Edwy (married to the fleetly flailing fly-flicking Edelgysa and their son is Owain, Aloisa their daughter), and Prince Edbert (his sons are Gelert and Gaheris). Aunt Gwynedd. Cousins Gwendolyn; Guinevere; who is a skinny redhead; and, Imogene, who is a fat brunette. Lady Megan had a bee in her bodice. Maude is Edelgysa’s great-aunt.

Ffyffnyr is Great-uncle Sfyn’s pet griffin, inherited from his father Sfynwair ye Compassionate. Hebog is the largest gyrfalcon. Murfynn is master of the hawks. Dwydd is an old hag who resides in the king’s castle.

Lord Ysgard and his sons — Yfor, Yfan, Yorich, Huw, Hywell, and Hayward. Degwel is Ysgard’s suspect steward.

Cerridwen is the sow and/or barley goddess; Phorcis is a.k.a. the Sow Demeter. Dr McCulloch has explored them. Gwarch is the evil shapechanging witch. Lord Mochyn had been Gwarch's consort. Medrus had been Mochyn’s clerk and is now a glow. Ruis was a wicked king.

Balaclava, Massachusetts
Hilda Horsefall had a terrible time of it in Wrack and Rune , 3.

Balaclava Agricultural College
Thorkjeld Svenson is the president of the college and its head thunderbolt hurler, a descendant of Vikings. Balthazar is the college’s prize boar. Belial Buggins was the Bard of Balaclava.

Christabel is a biologist at Amherst. Miss Bates is Emma Woodhouse’s chatty neighbor.

The Heracleum mangtegassianum, or giant hogweed, is a threat.

The Cover and Title
The cover has a chocolate brown background with two overlapping lime-green circles in the middle each with a creamy outlined cluster of flowers. At the top is an info blurb in white with the author’s name below it also in white. Below the circles is the title, also in lime-green. Below it is the series info in white.

The title is the professors’ quest, disabling The Curse of the Giant Hogweed.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can I get my money back?

Into each life some rain must fall. I buy a LOT of books and enjoy most of them, so I shouldn't complain when I get a dud, but that won't stop me.

This is the fifth in the series and I loved the first four, so I was pumped up about this one. Nothing wrong with the premise. Botany professor Peter Shandy and two of his colleagues from Balaclava Agricultural College are attending a conference in Wales. While their wives shop, the men sit through boring lectures and pray for lunch break to arrive.

Balaclava College is small, but respected. A new plant (or perhaps a mutant variety of an old one) is causing huge problems with its out-of-control growth. The locals are hoping the experts from Balaclava can find a solution. So far, so good.

Then things go downhill. Peter Shandy pops into a pub for a bite to eat and some ale. While there, he goes through some kind of time warp and ends up in Medieval Wales, fighting the Giant Hogweed. Characters from the series show up, but in the guise of lords and ladies and knights and who-knows-what. With "funny" names.

GR says I read this book, but I didn't really. I kept speed-dialing ahead, hoping that this was just a dream (a SHORT one, preferably) and Shandy would wake up and we could get back to business. Sadly, it never happened.

I see that many reviewers liked this book. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it, but the impression I got was so poor that I'm sure I'll never give it another try. Normally I don't review books unless I've read them completely, but I really love this series and this one isn't representative. I would hate for a reader to start here and reject the whole series.

Maybe if you like Sci-Fi or mythical tales, it would be for you. Me, I'm going on to the next book in the series and if old Charlotte doesn't get the boys back to Balaclava County, she's lost a reader.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Instead of taking place at the ag college in MA (I can't begin to spell the name of it!), this one has Peter, Dan Stott, and Tim going to Wales to help with their Hogweed problems.
the bulk of the book takes place in the past/or somewhere magical and the switchover from real to whatever that was is jarring.

I was sure Prof Shandy had been given an hallucinogen for some nefarious purpose.

For the first chapter after this switchover happens, I was thinking I might not finish the book, but it changed from all dialog (really hard to deal with at times) to our usual Peter narrating his investigations and then it turned out to be an OK story, and I give the author credit for trying something new, but I think I enjoyed it much less than the last few.

If you like Peter Shandy, might be worth reading. Oh, and I listened to the audio book which might have made that dialog easier? I'm not sure.
all the Ye for The and other stuff did grate at times, especially when you keep thinking it's temporary and then realize it's going to keep going.

At some point I realized how much I like the Character of Dan Stott, who has such dignity, and isn't the figure of fun I assumed he would be when first introduced, because of his large size.

[Kathy KS · Rating 2 out of 5]

This just might be my least-liked book in the Peter Shandy series, at least so far. If it weren't for the fact that the main characters are usually entertaining and I enjoy the silliness of the series, I would say it soured me on the entire series. But I'm hoping the next volume will be back on track.

In this entry in the series, Peter and a couple of colleagues find themselves in Wales at a seminar about problems with hogweed. As well-respected experts in the agricultural college world, they will be presenting. While on a road trip to view some of the giant hogweed, they somehow enter an alternative world of some type.

Here's where the wheels fall off... They find themselves in the world of knights, etc., and become involved in local issues. As someone who has studied early British history and has always enjoyed various versions of the King Arthur tale, I was very disappointed about how tedious I found everything. The effort to make everyone speak old English (of a sort) was also an irritant. I just didn't like it much. Period.

Yes, I'll read the next in the series.

[Jim Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the first four Peter Shandy novels by Charlotte MacLeod, Peter, a professor of at an agricultural college in Western Massachussets, solves a series of murder mysteries. They are often funny and peopled by amusing characters. (In fact they are one of those series where you keep reading not as much for the mystery but to see what happens to the characters next.)

In the fifth book, Peter and two of his colleagues have to travel to Wales to help with an outbreak of an invasive plant species, the giant hogweed. They stop in a pub for a pint of bitter, but suddenly Peter finds himself and his colleagues in a different world, a medieval Wales but with magic and magical creatures. There they have an adventure similar in spirit to the Princess Bride, though Peter again has to solve a mystery as part of it. It's all great fun, and an interesting turn for the author to pull on an audience expecting another cosy mystery.

Great fun.

[Kyrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Shandy, Tim Ames, and Don Stott have gone to Wales (along with Peter and Tim's wives) for a conference on The Giant Hogweed. After a lecture about as exciting as you'd expect, the men head to a pub, where Peter falls asleep. The remainder of the book deals with the bizarre dream he has about medieval Wales. The characters in it are strikingly similar to many of the characters from Balaclava College. Yes, a murder is involved. Yes, Shandy solves it. It's like MacLeod had a drunken bet she couldn't write a Celtic fantasy. She no doubt won.
If you like the series, you'll probably find this one a hoot (although it starts slow).

Also, this fulfills the 2018 Popsugar Reading Challenge for a book with an ugly cover.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like nothing better than a funny fantasy novel with a bit of a mystery thrown in. Make the main characters academics, and there is a recipe for fun. Professors Peter Shandy, Timothy Ames and Daniel Stott have traveled from Balaclava Agricultural College in Massachusetts to the England to help deal with an overwhelming problem with Giant Hogweed, which threatens to overrun the historic hedgerows of the British Isles. Little do they expect that a brief stop at an old pub will whisk them into medieval times where they must help a disenchanted giant, rescue a straying royal griffin and even solve a murder to protect the royal succession. But at least they may find the key to disarming the noxious hogweed.

[Janet Farnham · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel so disappointed-and angry- with this book! I have been enjoying (ala 4 star ratings) the books in this series. With this 5th book instead of getting a murder mystery/who dunnit with Professor Shandy leading the delightful group of fellow characters, I was mired in some weird alternative universe of sci-fi fantasy crappola. If I wanted to read that genre, I would certainly have chosen elsewhere from the beginning. As it happens, it is a genre I find annoying to the max and this was the nature of the fifth installment from almost the beginning until the very end-hideous!

[GhostofMyrtle]

The Curse of the Giant Hogweed is the fifth in Charlotte MacLeod's mystery series featuring Peter Shandy.

As this is the first I have read I am not sure this is atypical or not but it's certainly a different and fun read with fantasy elements added to give a delightful twist to a murder mystery.

Despite its quite short length (my copy wax 168 pages) some people might find it seems longer die to the use of old English.

Nevertheless, if you would like a mystery with a difference, this is highly recommend.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started the book and did a double take. Like Peter Shandy I did't understand what was happening. How did this mild mannered college professor end up back in time and lost in Wales? Reading reviews here on Goodreads helped. At least I knew what I was up against. But the language did me in. So I read the beginning and the end ... I did enjoy the ending, Charlotte MacLeod wrote so well, but I couldn't read the rest.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit taken aback when the storyline transitioned into a dream/fantasy of Peter's which harkened to a lot of Norse mythology. It helped, eventually, that many of the characters were based on familiar faces from previous books, but still...this was not my favorite in MacLeod's Peter Shandy series. I don't fault MacLeod for trying a different approach to her presentation, but for me it was not as successful as a straightforward realistic setting.

[Victor Mabuse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. It was nothing like the Genesis song, The Return Of The Giant Hogweed, which is really why I bought it. Plus, the cover caught my attention.
I would describe this book as an episode of The Twilight Zone written by the writers of Monty Python. It effectively mixed fantasy, mystery, comedy, and hogweed into a unique work of art.
If you like quirky books, I recommend a reading of it.

[Cfabrication · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish.

I read this a few years ago, tried to listen, found it nearly unbearable.

The description of Ceridwen was so wholeheartedly negative (all yellow flapping dugs) that it made me think of the fact that the traditional "witch's outfit", black skirt, striped stockings, tall black hat, etc, is very like the traditional Welsh woman’s attire. I'm a quarter in and the only woman so far is evil.

Blech.

[Jessica Lerbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read fantasy books all the time and I love them. However, since this series didn't start out as a fantasy, it was extremely disconcerting when it turned into one, for no apparent reason and with no explanation at the end! Although the author was obviously amusing herself, and did a great job of correctly conjugating verbs, and staying in dialog, it was obnoxious to read and I didn't enjoy the book. Not sure if I'm going to continue with the series.

[PR · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what was expected...quite silly. Read to the end but not sure Why???

Sooo silly. Hope we get back to Massachusetts and Balaclava Agricultural College and the folks we have come to know in her next book in the series.
This one was unexpected.
Read to the end...not sure Why...have a real tendency to finish what I begin.no matter what..This was definitely a 'No matter what' kind of a Book...

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was a Peter Shandy of a different color.
I think she was having a bit of fun putting her Balaclava College characters into Dark Ages Wales. Peter, Timothy and Daniel all shine, we don't see much of the ladies and an early iteration of the college President and his lovely lady make a vivid appearance.
Contrived, yes, but also fun.

[Margaret Bond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this Peter Shandy mystery as well as the others I've read, mainly because it involves a mythological adventure in Wales instead of a crime set at Balaclava College in Massachussetts. It still has eccentric characters and a funny way with words. I could do without the profanity.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early Bird Book Deal | So weird. | This nearly lost me right at the start, but I stuck with it and in the end I enjoyed it a reasonable amount. That is not to say, however, that I think MacLeod should ever have bothered writing it.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel rather as if this book is a bait-and-switch, where all but ten pages are given over to a tale directly and admittedly inspired by children's fantasy tales.
Still Macleod keeps it entertaining, especially with amusing anachronisms.