The Woman in the Garden is a puzzle like mystery that follows Eustacia Rose. Rose was a Professor of Botanical Toxicology and lives alone in London with an extensive and dangerous rooftop garden. The professor's life now revolves around tending the garden, buying black market plants, and using a telescope to "scientifically" document the lives of neighbors. While gazing, Rose focuses on the apartment of a young woman who is visited by numerous men, whom she nicknames after different poisonous plants. And the illegal plants aren't the only secret that the Professor is keeping close. 

When the aforementioned young woman, Simone, is pushed into a car by one of these men, Eustacia Rose decides to take matters into their own hands because it's clear the police don't care enough. What follows is a tense mystery that slowly unravels in ways I didn't see coming, while I enjoyed looking back to see the clues the author planted. 

I flew through this book and enjoyed the unique, floral writing that so well described various rare plants and their effects. The dynamics between Eustacia and an elderly neighbor, the investigating officer, and an old colleague were especially endearing. This read well as a standalone, but it is second in a series and the ending made me very anxious to read the third... but it wasn't a cliffhanger! 

I highly recommend this for a mystery that's a little outside of the box with an androgynous main character, a Sapphic crush, and an intricate mystery that steadily unravels.