The Bartlett welcomes best-selling author, Marta McDowell for a wide-ranging and spirited discussion about gardening, murder, and writing.

What is it about the garden that suits it to literary murder? Perhaps it is the poisonous plants, sharp tools, shady corners, and read-made burial sites that make gardens mainstay in the mystery genre. Perhaps it is the gardens (and writers) themselves, with their “natural malice toward weeds, rodents and other garden undesirable. Rare is the gardener who can approach a slug without homicidal intent.”

From Edgar Allan Poe to Agatha Christie to modern bestsellers, hundreds of our greatest mystery writers have found inspiration in the sinister side of gardens. Gardening Can Be Murder is the first book to explore this genre’s many surprising horticultural connections.

About the Author

Marta McDowell lives, gardens, and writes in Chatham, New Jersey. She consults for public gardens and private clients, writes and lectures on gardening topics, and teaches landscape history and horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden, where she studied landscape design. Her particular interest is in authors and their gardens, the connection between the pen and the trowel.