A collection of orchids can be arranged to perfection. A murder cannot.
At Vanecombe, a private orchid exhibition is meant to display rare blooms—not expose the secrets of the people tending them. When numbered labels are switched and a cut appears in the display baize, Eleanor Rooke calls in Julian Ashcombe and Clara Bennett to prevent a third act of sabotage. Before they can identify the culprit, the exhibition's travelling manager is dead, and the accident story surrounding his death begins to wilt.
Clara follows the practical details others dismiss: who handled the plants, what changed between the photograph and the showing, and where an ordinary green bundle went. Each answer unsettles a different account, while an apprentice's future hangs in the balance. Julian must distinguish a private wrong from evidence of murder—and resist the comfort of a familiar explanation. Even the rarest bloom can cast a misleading shadow.
On an island where beauty depends on exacting care, every label can be moved, every alibi cultivated, and one small alteration can change the whole display.
