Product Description

Plagued by rumours that she poisoned her fiance, Lucinda Bromley manages to live on the fringes of polite society, tending her beloved plants - and occasionally consulting on a murder investigation. For the notorious botanist possesses a unique talent: she can detect almost any type of poison. But the death of a lord has shaken Lucinda to her core. At the murder scene, she picks up traces of a poison containing a very rare species of fern - stolen from her conservatory just last month. To keep her name out of the investigation, and to find the murderer, Lucinda hires fellow Arcane Society member, Caleb Jones. As a nearly overwhelming desire blooms between them, they are drawn into a deadly conspiracy that can be traced to the early days of the Arcane Society - and to a legacy of madness that could plunge Caleb into the depths of his own tortured soul...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18627 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Amanda Quick is a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, the author of forty New York Times bestsellers under various pen names; more than twenty-five million copies of her books are in print. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Customer Reviews

Good Arcane Society Victorian set story, amusing characters
I think that this is the best of the Arcane Society series of novels that I've read so far. It's a good entertaining story and amusing central characters.

In Victorian London, botanist Lucinda Bromley is shunned by those of the ton and lives on the fringes of polite society. It is believed that her father poisoned his business partner and then shot himself and that Lucinda poisoned her fiance.

Lucinda pocesses a unique psychic talent, she can detect any type of poison and is used by Scotland Yard in suspicious death cases. However, in one such case, she has a nasty shock, because she realises that the victim has been poisoned with a very rare Amazonian plant of which there is only one in Britain and she ownes it. Unfortunately for her it was stolen from her conservatory not long ago. Terrified that she will be accused of murder she sends for Caleb Jones, one of the famous Jones family who founded the Arcane Society. Caleb has just started up his Jones
Investigative Agency.

Caleb's talent is to sieve through puzzles and mysteries until he has solved them, making him ideal for a PI. However, he is also a very eccentric character and has no time for the niceties of polite society.

Lucinda is a very sensible, down to earth woman and though at first is somewhat put out by Caleb's apparent rudeness, she is also drawn to him.

Desire blooms between them as they are drawn into a deadly conspiracy game masterminded by those in the Arcane Society who want the founder's "magic" potion.

Unfortunately, it is also believed by his family, and Caleb himself, that he has inherited a legacy of madness.

Enjoyable interaction between the characters and a much more enjyable story than some of the others in this series.

The Perfect Poison
What a joy Amanda Quick is. Whether writing as Jayne Ann Krentz or AQ or as in the past Stephanie James. As always with the perfect read - you've reached Page 10 before you are aware that half an hour has passed when you only meant to just have a quick 5 minute glimpse.
Whether writing in the past,present or future her characters - particularly her women are such fun. Though I have never actually met one of her unhandsome heroes - I actually married a carbon copy. I was delighted that Caleb Jones the master of patterns and their meanings has met his match in The Perfect Poison and is destined to have a long and happy married life.
Long Live our Psychic Senses.