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  • Published: 15 August 2006
  • ISBN: 9781400079520
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $35.00

Deadly Slipper



A reclusive English botanist helps a woman search for the truth about her missing orchid enthusiast sister in southwestern France in this “moody and elegant suspense story” (The Washington Post Book World).

Nearly twenty years have passed since Mara Dunn’s sister Bedie, an orchid enthusiast, disappeared while on a hiking holiday in southwestern France. Mara remains determined to find out what happened—but her only real clue is a sequence of wild orchids, including a mysterious, previously unknown Lady’s Slipper, captured on a roll of film found in Bedie’s long-lost camera. With the help of Julian Wood, a reclusive English botanist, Mara begins her search…stumbling into decades’ worth of local secrets and putting herself in danger. Rich in lush descriptions of the Dordogne, and laden with savory details of French cooking, Deadly Slipper is rife with surprising twists and turns.

  • Published: 15 August 2006
  • ISBN: 9781400079520
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $35.00

About the author

Michelle Wan

Michelle Wan was born in Kunming, China, in the middle of an air raid. Her early years were spent in India, and she has subsequently lived in the USA, England, Paris, Harare, and Rio de Janeiro. Her passions include French food, Brazilian novellas, walking, and orchids. She and her husband, a botanist, visit the Dordogne annually to photograph and chart wild orchids. She speaks English, Portuguese, and French. She is a great-grand niece of Sun Yat-Sen. Her first Dordogne mystery, Deadly Slipper, which introduced Mara Dunn and Julian Wood, was published in 2005.

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Praise for Deadly Slipper

"Orchid fever rules this impressive debut novel ... Not since Nero Wolfe has such a fragrant combination of orchid lore and suspense found its way into a mystery novel." -- Booklist