Readers of Mary Rosenblum’s popular novel,

The Drylands,

have asked her what will become of the forests in that future—does she envision the entire country as a desert? Ms. Rosenblum replies, “Well no, I don’t. So I took a look at the forests of southern Oregon, and what happens to the trees, in ‘The Botanist.’ ” The author has just sold her first mainstream mystery,

Blood Work,

and she is working on

Black Sheep

—the second book in the series.