An Unthymely Death Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  AN UNTHYMELY DEATH

  THE KHAT WHO BECAME A HERO

  THE ROSEMARY CAPER

  IVY’S WILD, WONDERFUL WEEDS

  DEATH OF A ROSE RUSTLER

  MUSTARD MADNESS

  THE PENNYROYAL PLOT

  A VIOLET DEATH

  A DEADLY CHOCOLATE VALENTINE

  BLOOM WHERE YOU’RE PLANTED

  Praise for the China Bayles mystery series . . .

  “Mystery lovers who also garden will be captivated by this unique series.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

  “One of the best-written and well-plotted mysteries I’ve read in a long time.” —Los Angeles Times

  “An entertaining detective writer.” —The Dallas Morning News

  “A nice book to curl up with on a blustery day.”

  —Chicago Tribune

  “Albert has created captivating new characters and a setting dripping with atmosphere.” —Publishers Weekly

  “[China Bayles is] such a joy . . . an instant friend.”

  —Carolyn G. Hart

  “A treat for gardeners who like to relax with an absorbing mystery.” —North American Gardener

  “An appealing series.” —Booklist

  “A wonderful reading experience.” —Midwest Book Review

  “Gripping.” —Library Journal

  “Cause for celebration.” —Rocky Mount Telegram

  China Bayles mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert

  THYME OF DEATH

  WITCHES’ BANE

  HANGMAN’S ROOT

  ROSEMARY REMEMBERED

  RUEFUL DEATH

  LOVE LIES BLEEDING

  CHILE DEATH

  LAVENDER LIES

  MISTLETOE MAN

  BLOODROOT

  INDIGO DYING

  AN UNTHYMELY DEATH

  With her husband, Bill Albert, writing as Robin Page

  DEATH AT BISHOP’S KEEP

  DEATH AT GALLOWS GREEN

  DEATH AT DAISY’S FOLLY

  DEATH AT DEVIL’S BRIDGE

  DEATH AT ROTTINGDEAN

  DEATH AT WHITECHAPEL

  DEATH AT EPSOM DOWNS

  DEATH AT DARTMOOR

  DEATH AT GLAMIS CASTLE

  Nonfiction books by Susan Wittig Albert

  WRITING FROM LIFE

  WORK OF HER OWN

  A Berkley Book

  Published by The Berkley Publishing Group

  A division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street

  New York, New York 10014

  This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of

  the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or

  dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2003 by Susan Wittig Albert.

  All rights reserved.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means

  without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only

  authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of

  copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  BERKLEY and the “B” design

  are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Berkley trade paperback edition / June 2003

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Albert, Susan Wittig.

  An unthymely death / Susan Wittig Albert.—Berkley trade pbk. ed.

  p. cm.

  Contents: An unthymely death—The khat who became a hero—The Rosemary caper—

  Ivy’s wild, wonderful weeds—Death of a rose rustler—Mustard madness—The pennyroyal

  plot—A violet death—A deadly chocolate valentine—Bloom where you’re planted.

  eISBN : 978-0-425-19002-9

  1. Detective and mystery stories, American. 2. Bayles, China (Fictitious character)—

  Fiction. 3. Women detectives—Texas—Fiction. 4. Texas Hill Country (Tex.)—Fiction.

  5. Herbalists—Fiction. 6. Texas—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3551.L2637U67 2003

  813’.54—dc21

  2002043933

  PUBLISHERS NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The Publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The Publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  A NOTE TO READERS

  THIS collection of stories began with a suggestion from an editor at Country Living Gardener magazine, where I regularly write a column called “The Herbal Thymes.” CLG was expanding its Internet site and wanted to include some light and lively gardening mysteries designed especially for on-line reading, to be published in weekly episodes. “Would you be interested?” the editor asked.

  I pondered the idea for all of two seconds and yelped an impulsive, enthusiastic yes! It would be fun to sidestep the more serious themes that are usually front and center in the book-length China Bayles mysteries. It would be especially interesting to include more gardening and herbal information, since many readers have told me how much they like that aspect of China’s herbal adventures. I had come to understand that readers often read the books not just to be entertained, but also to learn. And since I’ve spent so much of my life as a teacher, that was just fine with me.

  But when I hung up the phone, I wondered with a flash of panic whether I’d just talked myself into a corner. I’d never even read an on-line short story, much less written one, and I didn’t have a clue as to how to go about it. However, I was intrigued by the idea of writing a short story in episodes, with links between story elements and herbal lore, garden information, recipes, and craft ideas. The mysteries would be light and entertaining, the structure and format would be fun to tinker with (especially all that supplemental linked material, which I was thinking of as “story enrichment”), and I would be able to bring in all the familiar Pecan Springs characters, as well as introduce a few who had not yet appeared in the already published China Bayles mysteries. A whole new adventure in storytelling!

  The on-line garden mysteries were a great success, and over the next two years, I wrote six of them for CLG. But many readers asked if the stories could be put into a “real book” so they didn’t have to read them on the computer, and they pointed out that their friends without computers couldn’t read them at all. I discussed the idea with Natalee Rosenstein, my editor at Berkley Prime Crime, and we came up with the format for this book. In the process, I added four entirely new stories, substantially rewrote the six original stories, and developed a great deal of all-new “enrichment material.”

  As I’ve written and compiled these stories, I’ve had one purpose in mind: to show the many fascinating ways our gardens and what we grow in them can enhance our everyday lives. As you read each story, I hope that you will learn something new and unexpected about herbs, those plants we cultivate both for their delightful selves and for the many ways they have benefited us and our ancestors, back through the eons to the dawn of human culture. Remember, though, that before you use any herb to treat a physical or mental ailment, you should consult a qualified herbalist. Since China Bayles
is only a fictional character, you can’t take her word for it!

  —Susan Wittig Albert

  Bertram, Texas

  March 2002

  STORY NOTES

  THE CHARACTERS

  If you’re not already acquainted with the books in the China Bayles mystery series, there are a few things you may want to know about the major characters you’ll meet in this collection of short stories.

  China Bayles is the owner of Thyme and Seasons Herbs. Some years ago, she left her successful profession as a criminal defense attorney and moved to Pecan Springs, a picturesque town halfway between Austin and San Antonio, on the eastern edge of the Texas Hill Country. She bought a century-old stone building a couple of blocks from Courthouse Square, started her shop, and began a kinder, gentler life that is enlivened by the occasional mystery. China is forty-something, has brownish hair with a wide streak of gray, and is always intending to go on a diet and exercise more. She’s quick, clever, and (according to her intuitive, right-brained friend Ruby) far too logical and left-brained. She’s always trying to find a balance between her need for personal independence and her desire to be connected to people she cares about, like Mike McQuaid. She and McQuaid were married in the book Lavender Lies. With McQuaid’s teenaged son, Brian, and grouchy basset hound, Howard Cosell, they live in a large Victorian house on Limekiln Road, a few miles outside of Pecan Springs.

  Mike McQuaid, China’s husband, is a former Houston homicide detective, now a part-time professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Central Texas State University and a part-time private detective. He’s six feet tall, broad-shouldered, and dark-haired, with a twice-broken nose and a been-there-done-that face that just misses being handsome. A shoot-out with a drug gang (in Love Lies Bleeding) left him walking with a limp. He collects guns, plays poker with his buddies, and is usually around when China needs him.

  Ruby Wilcox is China’s best friend and confidante. She owns the Crystal Cave, Pecan Springs’s only New Age shop, where she sells such items as tarot cards, rune stones, crystals, and books on astrology, the occult, and the Inner Journey. Not long ago, she and China converted the apartment that adjoined their shops (where China lived until she and McQuaid moved in together in Rosemary Remembered) into a tearoom called Thyme for Tea. Ruby is a six-foot-something redhead with gingery freckles who loves weird, way-out clothes, although on her, weird looks wonderful. (And anyway, what’s totally weird in Pecan Springs is probably your ordinary streetwear in New York or Los Angeles.) Ruby also loves to imagine herself as a private detective on the trail of a criminal—Kinsey Milhone, Stephanie Plum, and V. I. Warshawski, all rolled up together.

  Sheila Dawson is Pecan Springs’s first female police chief and one of China’s and Ruby’s best friends. She is a willowy, well-dressed blonde who looks like she’d be right at home at the Junior League. But Sheila, a former security chief at CTSU and a fifteen-year veteran of law enforcement, is more at home with a gun on her hip and a badge on her shirt.

  AN UNTHYMELY DEATH

  Thyme heals all wounds.

  —Anonymous

  HEY, China, what’s that you’re planting?” Ruby Wilcox asked.

  I patted the dirt firmly around the base of the plant and straightened up. “It’s ginkgo,” I said.

  Ruby Wilcox is my best friend and partner. Her Crystal Cave, the only New Age shop in Pecan Springs, Texas, is in the same century-old stone building that houses my herb shop, Thyme and Seasons, and our jointly owned tearoom, Thyme for Tea. The building is surrounded with herb gardens, and at this moment, I was working in the garden out front.

  Thyme and Seasons and its herb gardens are a far cry from the Houston law office where I used to work as a criminal defense attorney. Leaving the law, moving to a small town, and opening my own business—these are the best things I’ve ever done for myself (second only to marrying Mike McQuaid, that is). And while some people might find small-town life limited or low on thrills and excitement, that hasn’t been a problem for me. Between the shop, my family, and my friends, I have just about all the excitement I can handle. And if I want to kick up my heels in the big city, it takes less than an hour to drive from Pecan Springs to either Austin or San Antonio. Altogether, it’s a nice arrangement.

  Ruby bent over to peer doubtfully at the plant. “That dinky little twig is ginkgo? It’s got a heck of a lot of growing to do. The last ginkgo I saw was a tree. A big tree.” She looked up. “Taller than this building.”

  “Give it time,” I said with a grin, and picked up my shovel. “Like about five hundred years. I started this little guy from a cutting, and it’s got some growing to do.” The oldest surviving tree on earth, ginkgo was once described by Charles Darwin as a “living fossil,” because so many of its primitive botanical features are still intact. Extracts made from its leaves have been used for over five thousand years to improve blood circulation, treat asthma and bronchitis, and enhance memory. And even if it were entirely useless, I would still enjoy the dappled shade created by its fan-shaped green leaves. While this little fellow begins stretching up to his full height, I’m going to put up a sign letting people know that his ancestors were already ancient when humans were just beginning to rub sticks together.

  From the back door of the shop, my helper, Laurel Riley, waved at me. “You’re wanted on the phone, China,” she called. “It’s Hannah Bucher.”

  “Oh, good,” I said, shouldering my shovel and heading for the shop, Ruby tagging along behind. Hannah is a seventy-something herb gardener who lives in Cedar Crossing, not far away. She specializes in thyme, growing and selling dozens of different varieties of this beautiful herb. She had promised to give me some plants of a new cultivar of lemon thyme, so I could try it in my garden. I’d been waiting impatiently for her call.

  Thyme is an aromatic perennial herb that’s a favorite for culinary, landscape, and medicinal uses. Grow it from cuttings or root divisions, in a dry sandy soil in full sun. Harvest by cutting a few stems (or even the entire plant) and hang it to dry in a dark, dry place. In the kitchen, use fresh or dried thyme in stews, fish dishes, and with beef, lamb, pork, or poultry. (Lemon thyme is especially good with fish and chicken and in lemon desserts.) In the medicine cabinet, you’ll find thyme oil in many commercial preparations, such as mouthwashes and hemorrhoid salves. The plant has a long association with the afterworld, and in some cultures, it was believed that after death, the soul found sanctuary in its blossoms. In non-Christian cultures, thyme was strewn on the corpse to ease the passage into the next world.

  But Hannah hadn’t phoned to talk about herbs. Instead, she’d called to ask me to come to Cedar Crossing to see her, and something in her voice prompted me to ask why.

  “It’s an urgent personal matter,” she said. She lowered her voice, as if she were afraid she might be overheard. “I hate to say it, China, but I’m afraid someone is—” She stopped, and then in a lighter, brighter voice, went on: “I do hope you’ll be able to come and get those lemon thyme plants soon. I’ve been saving them for you. When can you come?”

  I glanced at the calendar. McQuaid and Brian—my husband and our thirteen-year-old—were going to Houston the next weekend to catch an Astros game. “How about Sunday?” I asked. Ruby and I had been meaning to visit our friends Barbara Thatcher and Ramona Pierce, who also live in Cedar Crossing.

  “Sunday would be fine.” Hannah’s voice became low and urgent again. “Unless you can come sooner. And please bring Ruby. I need to talk to both of you.”

  Frowning, I hung up and went to the door of the Crystal Cave. As usual, Ruby was burning her own handcrafted herbal incense, which creates a perfect backdrop for the tarot cards, rune stones, crystals, and books on astrology and the occult that she sells.

  “Want to drive over to Cedar Crossing on Sunday?” I asked.

  Ruby pushed a curl of henna-red hair out of her eyes and looked up from the stack of books she was shelving. “Your plants are ready?”

  “Yes, but that i
sn’t why Hannah called. She wants to talk to us. It sounds like something’s wrong.”

  Ruby gave me a curious look. “What do you suppose is going on?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, feeling troubled. “I guess we’ll find out on Sunday.”

  Since the early days of human culture, fragrant herbs have been burned to enhance spiritual experience or just to cleanse and sweeten the air. (Can you imagine what some of those closed-up cave dwellings might have been like without the fragrant scent of burning juniper?) Here is a recipe you can try.

  RUBY’S HERBAL INCENSE

  4 parts powdered makko*

  1 part powdered sandalwood

  1 part powdered cinnamon

  1 part powdered cloves

  1 part powdered star anise

  1 part powdered frankincense

  Add enough warm water to make a pliant dough. Knead thoroughly. Shape into small cones and let dry for a day or so, at room temperature.

  *Makko, the powdered bark of a small evergreen tree, acts as a binder and a burning agent, making the use of charcoal unnecessary. You can purchase it at herb or craft shops.