I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
The Curse of the Giant Hogweed
by
Charlotte MacLeod
amateur sleuth, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Mysterious Press on November 6, 2012 and has 273 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Rest You Merry, The Luck Runs Out, Wrack and Rune, Something the Cat Dragged In, The Corpse in Oozak's Pond
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.
