Bindweed — Janis Harrison

The murder weapon itself was unusual--a hornet's nest placed inside a small room. But the choice of victims was stranger still. Who would kill Toby Sutton, a slow-witted but endearing young man who did odd jobs for the shopkeepers of Hawthorn Street in River City, Missouri?

Flower shop owner Bretta Solomon takes Toby's death to heart and is determined to find his killer.

The only possible connection she can make is linked to Toby's deceased mother's extraordinary garden and some missing hibiscus plants. Still, killing the harmless, hapless Toby for a bunch of flowers seems far-fetched at best and clues are sparse. But when another victim falls to an aromatic but poisonous bubble bath, Bretta makes the botanical connection and unearths a secret enterprise, a hidden laboratory and a killer who understands the lethal power of Mother Nature.