Review: Quintus Huntley’s Botany

Botany
by Quintus Huntley
Ripple Books

Quintus Huntley’s Botany marks a fresh start to an intriguingly unique crime spree saga by Royce Leville, the pseudonym of Perth-born, German-based writer Campbell Jefferys. Botany encompasses a richness of history and architecture with tantalising tales of murder, mystery, fine art and the glamorous deception of the upper-class elite of Perth.

There’s something so surreal about reading about Perth landmarks in such vivid colour, where you can almost taste the salty sea tang of the Fremantle Doctor breeze through the prose. The buzz of the busy city and Northbridge nightlife of yore feels almost nostalgic in its perfumed scent of ketamine, speed, and romanticism of crime and scandal. The poetry trickles its way through the pages where author Royce Leville shines in his ability to capture a moving scene through the way he strings sentences along like a dance. Everything feels rich and birthed in history; places feel familiar and vivid, and there is a real beauty wrapped around its cold-blooded murders.

Botany sees a down-on-his-luck poet, Quintus Huntley, tossed into the throes of a disturbingly unique murder of a violinist after police suspect his involvement. In a bid to prove his hands are clean of the crime, he teams up with a ragtag bunch of characters from different Perth backgrounds to solve the murder. Those are Detective Ellie Everest and PR writer Aphra Massey. The characters are sharp, witty and commanding, but each of the three core protagonists feel like the same mind in a different body. Although their motives for solving the murder are different, their characteristics and satirical quips feel very one-note at times, often forgetting who’s at the helm as the perspective shifts almost without warning.

Of the three, Detective Ellie Everest feels the most endearing and magnetic of a character, where her headstrong determination and playful interactions open the door to a warm nature not seen by the others. Juxtaposed with her sass and haunting rockstar backstory, it makes for a more fleshed-out archetype you can find yourself rooting for. Particularly when paired with her direct opposite in the cocky Detective Booth. The two bounce off each other like the typical hardened cop and the wealthy daddy’s boy rookie combo pairing. These scenes add a real sense of humanity and have you leaning in with a great big smile as you yearn for more of the pair’s witty quips and rivalry charm.

The main issue that drags on the novel like a needy child tugging for attention is that Quintus, in all his sass and wit, feels unlikeable to the point that you wish that the killer had offed him instead. Moments with him are filled with contempt as this carbon copy of Sherlock Holmes with a proposition for poetry and less likability bounces around Perth in a drunken haze. There’s a real sense of female empowerment and understanding that comes off naturally through the characters of Everest and Massey that almost makes Huntley feel like a comedic sidekick afterthought that fails to grasp the limelight or be funny in his own tale.

In all its strengths of world-building and suspense, the conversations between characters are what tie the novel together neatly and where it really shines. Dialogue feels lived in and adds to the authentic charm of the book. A conversation about a body washed ashore becomes belly-jigglingly comical with that added deadpan Perth sarcasm. There’s research into the lives that inhabit the west coast, not just its history, that ironically breathes life into scenes filled with murder.

Where Botany differs from other crime novels, apart from the ballsy move to set the scene in Perth of all places, is the way art flows like rich black ink through the veins of the story. At its heart Botany is an ode to artistry in all its myriad of forms, from music to poetry to the art of life and death and even sex. It’s a tantalising tale that drives you from the start to the finish with one question always at the forefront of your mind… why a fountain pen?

SAM MEAD