The Gardeners of Eden is the third episode of season 10 of Father Brown.
Celebrity florist Octavia Eden, diagnosed with a terminal illness, returns to live in Kembleford where she was born. Living at the manor with her daughter, Lizzy Eden, and niece, Noele Scharma, she gives them a series of tasks to determine who will inherit her estate. At one of the events, John Mulch, the previous owner of the manor, dies of aconite poisoning. Mulch was an angry, embittered man, and Sullivan arrests his wife, who has Aconitum plants growing in her back garden. Believing her to be innocent, Father Brown probes into the reason Octavia left Kembleford heartbroken 45 years previously and inadvertently gets Brenda Palmer arrested for breaking and entering. The daughter and niece call a truce and complete the last task together, to the delight of the dying Octavia, who knows they had more in common than she had told them.
Tropes:
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: Forty-five years prior to the events of the episode, Octavia gave her newborn daughter Noele to her sister to raise. After the sister died, Noele came to live with Octavia and Lizzy; believing herself to be Octavia's niece.
