A Botanist at Bay — John Sherwood

Celia Grant, botanist and amateur sleuth, is on her way to New Zealand, where her daughter is about to have a baby.

She also plans, at the request of her friend the Duchess Hermione, to look for Uncle Bertie, Lord Albert Melton, whose strange disappearance is made even more puzzling by his photos of some very rare plants and a very naked redhead.

Upon her arrival, Celia learns that the redhead is Rosie Murphy, a radical member of New Zealand's Parliament, and a leader of an environmentalist battle against a dam that would endanger certain rare wild plants. Trouble is that Celia and her new friend, fellow botanist Tom MacRae, are certain those plants, the very ones found in Uncle Bertie's photos, aren't wild, aren't endangered, and were obviously recently transplanted at the proposed dam site!

Suddenly Rosie Murphy is murdered, and Celia Grant is the prime suspect! Can Celia combine her horticultural and investigative skills to learn the truth about the plants, find Uncle Bertie, and clear her name?