Every week, we share dispatches from Texas Country Reporter, the long-running TV show that invites you to hop in and travel along to explore the back roads of Texas. 

Luci Zahray spends hours in the garden outside her home in Gatesville. To say she has a green thumb is an understatement. But all her plants are poisonous—some deadly. And that suits her just fine. Luci has a master’s degree in toxicology from Texas A&M University and advises mystery writers around the world on how to kill people with poison.

In this video from Texas Country Reporter, Luci explains that there may be strychnine on her shelf, but it’s all in the name of research for future twists and turns in murder mysteries.

This weekend, catch an extended version of this story on the latest episode of Texas Country Reporter. Browse showtimes here.