Murder in the Botanical Garden of JM Guelbenzu

About the book

The new novel, tenth and last, in the legendary detective novel series starring Judge Mariana de Marco.
A farewell announced by José María Guelbenzu when he gave life to the judge in 2001 with the publication of Do not harass the murderer.
Since then, there have been a total of ten installments with outstanding success among critics and readers.

“—The bouquet placed in the woman’s hand is the mark of the murderer,” he explained to his companions.

—The bouquet of aconite? —the chief inspector asked with a skeptical expression.

—It suggests the possible signature of the criminal. Aconite, inspector, the judge responded, is one of the most poisonous plants that exist. In the form of aconite powder extracted from the roots, it can be mixed with food or some liquid, for example alcohol, and cause death in less than half an hour to whoever has ingested it.

A CORPSE BETWEEN THE PALMS

The body of Concepción Rivera, a middle-aged woman, appears hidden behind a beautiful royal palm in the Botanical Garden of Madrid, along with a bouquet of aconite and a bottle of whiskey. Secretary of the Friends of the Gardens Club, (not to be confused with the official Association of Friends of the Botanical Garden) formed by a group of colorful characters who are enthusiastic about gardening, had gone to the Garden a few minutes before its closing.

Who was with her and how could she leave without being seen? Did her companion poison her? How did she get her to drink her poison? How did the murderer escape from the Closed Garden? Next to the woman is a bouquet of aconite and a sample bottle of whiskey. Why was a bunch of aconite, the source of the poison, found next to it? and, above all: Why murder her in a place like the Botanical Garden just before closing?

If it weren’t for the unpleasant rictus on her face, she would have looked like a sleeping beauty. The only thing she didn’t quite match was the place where she died. A botanical garden is a garden of life. Furthermore, the place chosen by the murderer, a few meters from the few pedestrians who were passing by, on the sidewalk of the promenade, on the other side of the fence, on the street where the booksellers’ booths on the Moyano slope were lined up.

There is nothing to suspect that anyone close to them could be involved, despite the fact that all members of the club possessed the poisonous aconite flower as an ornament.

The insightful judge Mariana de Marco, already installed in Madrid, in the Court of First Instance and Investigation, begins the investigation of the case while her sentimental partner, the journalist Javier Goitia, unemployed due to the strong crisis that is hitting the print press, He decides to narrate the investigation in the form of a journalistic chronicle. This fact will confront them in a strange love rivalry that will fester dangerously.

Each one will decide to act on their own: Javier narrating the story as it happens and the judge, accompanied by her judicial secretary, beginning the interrogations. The case becomes complicated as the investigation darkens until it seems unsolvable. But the judge, once again, using her intuition and her insight to separate the superfluous clues from the significant ones, will tie up all the loose ends to create a surprising and dramatic ending.

PORTRAIT OF JUDGE MARIANA DE MARCO

Of Judge Mariana de Marco we can only say for the moment that she had been installed for a year in her new position as Judge of First Instance and Instruction in Madrid, the city where she was born and which she left to settle in a coastal town in Cantabria called San Martín del Sea.

Mariana was close to turning forty-eight or forty-nine, I don’t know exactly: what she considered the gateway to the most challenging decade in the life of a woman today, the same thing that in the past was considered the end of The thirties the culmination of the physical disappearance of female beauty.

She was firm in the exercise of her job, but uninhibited in her dealings with others, especially with men; It was obvious that she was a woman of character.

Madrid was not the city of G…, where we came from, but I was sure that over time he would manage to adapt his habit to the new scenario; I have not met a more tenacious or combative person than Mariana, incapable of backing down from any challenge.

Accessing his privacy was like besieging and taking a bastion of his well-walled and defended fortress. I don’t say this to boast, but, on the contrary, to celebrate my luck. His strength intimidated everyone and everyone, and although his cordiality always appeared at first contact, it didn’t usually go beyond that.