HERB YOUR ENTHUSIASM MYSTERY WRITER FINDS MORE THAN ONE USE FOR INDIGO.

Byline: Barbara De Witt Staff Writer

Herbs have been used for centuries to cure what ails you, but Texas author Susan Wittig Albert has discovered what doesn't cure can kill you - and that makes for a great mystery plot.

Albert, who grew up on a farm, is the author of the best-selling China Bayless Herbal Mysteries series. Her sleuth is an attorney-turned-herbal- shop owner so there's plenty of gardening lessons on everything from witches' bane to her personal favorite, rosemary. Of the latter, Albert says it grows everywhere, smells great, makes a stimulating tea and is said to spark memories.

In her newest whodunit, ``Indigo Dying'' (Berkley; $22.95), Albert gives us a lesson on indigofera, a woody-stemmed bush with tiny sweet pea-shaped flowers that is native to northern China, Korea and Japan. But indigo blue dye - often associated with denim - can be processed with aniline, a colorless, poisonous oily liquid.

``It's true that plants have been the poison of choice in novels ... and in the case of indigo I enjoyed knowing that the plant has been so valuable over the years that people literally died for it. Every cask of it (the processed dye) shipped from India to England was stained with human blood. But I don't kill people with herbs in my books,'' Albert explains during a recent phone interview.

However, she researches extensively. Not only to write with authority since her main character is a better gardener than she is, but to avoid annoying letters from experts with a critical eye and poison pen. ``Yes, I do get them,'' she laments.

Referring to her research, Albert says the Chinese used indigo as a detoxifying herb to cleanse the liver, as well as to create a blue dye. ``The blue color is not from the leaves - which are green - but emerges after the processing,'' she explains.

Albert also learned that in some cultures the dye process was considered so dangerous that pregnant women were not allowed near it, while in other cultures - such as Japan - the color was considered so sacred that only older men were allowed to work with indigo.

Indigo also was one of the first cash crops in the United States (next to cotton), brought over to the Carolinas from the Caribbean ... and was about to become a cottage industry when the American Revolution broke out and ruined the plans.

So, if indigo doesn't grow in Texas, how did Albert select it for the book?

She says Indigo is the name of a fictitious town, inspired by the real- life Texas ghost town called Blue.

The mystery writer/gardener often consults M. Grieve's 1931 two-volume book ``A Modern Herbal'' (available at www.botanical.com), but there are a number of new books for herbal gardening. Among them are ``Botanica's Organic Gardening'' (Laurel Glen; $24.95) by Dr. Judyth McLeod; ``Sunset Western Garden Book'' (Sunset; $32.95), edited by Kathleen Norris Brenzel; ``Better Homes and Gardens Herbs'' (Meredith; $16.95) and ``Ortho's All About Herbs'' (Meredith; $11.95). To learn more about indigo and other dyeable plants check out ``Dye Plants and Dyeing'' (Timber Press; $19.95) by John and Margaret Cannon.

MEET THE WRITER

Who: Susan Wittig Albert, author of ``Indigo Dying.''

When: Tuesday.

Where: 12:30 p.m. at Mysteries To Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 7 p.m. at Mystery Book Store, 1036-C Broxton Ave., Westwood Village.

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no caption (Book: ```Indigo Dying'')