What is the title of your latest release?
A BOTANIST’S GUIDE TO TRADITION AND TREACHERY
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Botanist Saffron Everleigh is off on the adventure of a lifetime on an expedition to newly formed Turkey, but when one of the expedition crew is poisoned, all fingers point to Saffron and it’s up to her and her fiancé, Alexander, to discover the real culprit and prove her innocence.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I’m a great admirer of Agatha Christie and take a lot of inspiration from her Poirot stories, and some of my favorite books are of him abroad, particularly DEATH ON THE NILE and MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA, so the draw of that part of the world for Saffron’s next mystery was appealing. I visited Turkey as a very young woman and was enchanted by its beauty and history, so I decided that she would venture to newly formed Turkey on an expedition. I chose Smyrna (modern day Izmir) because of its beautiful location on the Aegean Sea, its layers of history and the presence of the ruins of the ancient marketplace, and the fascinating and tragic history of the Smyrna Catastrophe. In 1924, the city laden was ripe with conflict, and that’s a great place for murder to solve.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I would absolutely hang out with Saffron! She and I have a lot in common, like a love of adventure, plants, and nerdy, brown-eyed men. I’d honestly just follow her around a botanical garden and listen to her geek out about all the plants.
What are three words that describe your hero?
(I’m not sure if this is meant to be hero as in male main character or also supposed to be heroine so I will answer for both and you can choose whichever the intended subject is!)
Alexander Ashton, Saffron’s fiancé, is loyal, competent, and endearingly nerdy. Saffron Everleigh is curious, determined, and a little naive.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned a lot about the history of Turkey, both more recent – recent as in its formation into Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire – and its ancient history. Surprisingly little of this ended up in the actual book; authors are forever researching for hours only to write one line of text, and it usually ends up being cut from the final manuscript anyway! But I felt I needed to understand these layers of history in order to faithfully describe the goings-on and discoveries in the agora, the marketplace, where Saffron is doing her research, and also to write the Turkish characters and how Saffron would interact with them.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit as I go. Overwise, I fail to course-correct and end up going far off my original plan and usually not in a good way. I’ve learned to write thorough outlines due to the amount of science I incorporate into mysteries – scientific clues are so much harder to improvise! – so sticking to the outline is important.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I am woefully basic in my food and beverage preferences. As the weather turns hot, I treat myself to what my kids call “coffee milk,” which is an iced coffee that is truthfully just chocolate milk with a little coffee mixed in.
Describe your writing space/office!
I have a nice big white desk (well, it’s white under the marker stains courtesy of my kids) with a shelf and perfect little drawers sitting in front of the bay windows at the front of my house. It’s wedged inelegantly between my husband’s desk and my bookshelves, on which sit all my books so in moments of authorly distress, I can look over at them and remember I am not a complete hack. I’ve got plants (mostly hoyas; they tolerate my inconsistent attention very well), a botanical art poster, a nice big second screen so I don’t have to spend hours squinting at my laptop, and a lot of pretty rocks.
Who is an author you admire?
Robert Bennett Jackson crafts unique, intriguing worlds and mysteries. Lisa Kleypas is a force, and I wish I could live in her romances. Shannon Chakraborty is a masterclass in integrating history with rip-roaring adventure.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Ilona Andrews’s Hidden Legacy Series (the first is called BURN FOR ME) made me realize that I could find books that fit me exactly as a reader and gave me hope that I could write the same kind of perfect-for-me book that readers would also love. The combination of adventure, romance, action, and historical consideration in that series really speaks to me.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I’d been querying A BOTANIST’S GUIDE TO PARTIES AND POISONS (the first Saffron Everleigh Mystery) for a year in the hopes of finding a literary agent and was ready to shelve the book (put it aside to work on something else) when I learned from a fellow author friend that it was possible to sell a manuscript directly to publishing houses. After researching, I found that very few publishers do this, and I sent my query to an editor at the first one I found that accepted unagented mystery manuscripts. Within two weeks, I had a contract for the first two books in the series in my inbox. My parents were visiting, and they took silly pictures and videos of me electronically signing my contract at my kitchen table. I wish I had celebrated more! I think not having gone through the agenting and submission process, I didn’t have a real feel for how big of a deal it was. Good life lesson: celebrate every win.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Fantasy is my first literary love, and I’ve come to love romance, as well. My favorite is when I can find books that blend fantasy, romance, and mystery.
What’s your favorite movie?
I’ll cheat by saying another series: Lord of the Rings. I don’t consider them separate movies because if I’m watching one, I’m watching all of them, in order, quoting every other line.
What is your favorite season?
Spring is my favorite season. I live in North Texas, so I feel a little silly complaining about gray winter since our winter is about five minutes long, but when everything goes green, I feel like I can breathe again. We also have gorgeous wildflowers from the end of February into July, and I’ve enjoyed learning their rhythm: first the bluebonnets, then the primroses and bastard cabbages (hilarious name), then the Indian paintbrushes, and so on.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I have a love-hate relationship with my birthday, but now my kids are old enough to understand birthdays, seeing their excitement to celebrate makes it all feel light and fun.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I absolutely adored The Residence! I’m campaigning for more seasons of Cordelia Cupp.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
It’s a tie between Thai and Persian. My husband and his family are Iranian (thus the last name!) and I could live on rice and ghormeh sabzi. I would also cheerfully eat pad see ew and panang curry for the rest of my life, provided it’s made with absolutely zero spice.
What do you do when you have free time?
Free time as a writer, mom, and wife… Yeah, doesn’t exist. My brain is one long to do list. The rare moments when I’m too tired to work or clean I like to watch Castle or The Office and do something with my hands like altering clothes with a needle and thread.
What can readers expect from you next?
Anyone who has followed me for a while knows I want to publish in fantasy. I’ve written half a dozen fantasy manuscripts but only recently found the right story to pursue, so I hope I can say that what’s next for me is a fantasy debut. As for Saffron, after A BOTANIST’S GUIDE TO TRADITION AND TREACHERY, Saffron and Alexander are heading back to England to deal with all the fallout from the expedition and solve a locked-room poisoning involving a secret student society at their university. More mystery, adventure, and smooching!
A BOTANIST’S GUIDE TO TRADITION AND TREACHERY by Kate Khavari
Brilliant botanist Saffron Everleigh has set sail on her first research expedition, but it’s disrupted by accusations of murder when one of her fellow scientists is murdered in this daring fifth installment.
Saffron Everleigh is newly engaged and full of optimism as she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime for any scientist: a research expedition. She sails to newly formed Turkey with her fiancé, Alexander Ashton, and a bevy of fellow researchers under the watchful and reformed eye of Dr. Henry. With only two other women on board, Saffron soon finds she is right back in the same infuriatingly misogynistic environment that marked the earliest days of her career. Only this time, Saffron is determined to show everyone, including Alexander, that she can handle the trials of an expedition.
And trials she has in spades. Before the expedition team has even arrived, Saffron has managed to find an enemy in historian Joseph Clark, who frequently torments the assistant that Saffron has taken under her wing, Martin Neill. But when Martin unexpectedly dies, Saffron is targeted as the main suspect.
Falling ruins, venomous snakes, and mysteriously blocked passages are the least of Saffron’s worries. With unexpected help from a familiar face, Alexander and Saffron have to work fast to prove not only that Saffron is innocent but that they both have nothing to do with a larger conspiracy at play among the expedition crew.
Mystery Amateur Sleuth | Mystery Historical [ Crooked Lane Books, On Sale: June 9, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9798892424394 / eISBN: 9798892424400 ]
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About Kate Khavari
Kate Khavari is the author of fiction ranging from historical mysteries to high fantasy epics. She has her parents to thank for her fascination for historical mysteries, as she spent the majority of her childhood memorizing Sherlock Holmes’s and Poirot’s greatest quips. A former teacher, Kate has a deep appreciation for research and creativity, not to mention the multitasking ability she now relies on as an author and stay at home mother to her toddler son. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas with her husband, son, and a lovely garden that contains absolutely no poisonous plants.
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