He had prepared a thorough analysis of both the Amanita Muscaria and Amanita Phalloides mushrooms including large photographs of both species that he had downloaded from the department’s database. He had found his discussion with Dexter and Underwood stimulating. Although his mycological research still held the same curious fascination for him that it always had, Miller felt that his life had been drifting into the abstract. Research papers and lectures were interesting enough but he enjoyed the challenge and human interaction of fieldwork. However, in the UK that invariably meant trudging through soggy marshes and forests in the pouring rain and fog with a group of half-interested natural science students in tow. Still, until his dream job appeared at a West Coast American University, he would have to content himself with Wellington boots, traffic jams and trudging across dank fens. The challenge of applying his knowledge to a practical set of problems – and a murder hunt at that – was too good an opportunity to refuse.
