Wildlife Rescue Series!

I have a kindred spirit in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

I was at the wildlife center a few weeks ago when I spotted a book perched atop the fridge. Hoot to Kill was the title. Hilarious! Great pun! Oh my goodness, it’s an animal-related eco-thriller! And there are more in the series! Another author doing what Carl Hiaasen is doing, what I’m trying to do.

And then there were three. Little smile of satisfaction. We have created a niche.
As soon as I got home, I logged into Amazon.com and ordered the whole series. Two weeks later, I was deep into Hoot to Kill. Here’s the back cover copy:

Most biologists believe the worst thing about field biology is watching everything else have sex except you.

Robyn Devara is no exception. In the remote logging town of Marten Valley, Robyn knows she’s not likely to win popularity contests, much less get any dates. After all, she’s there to survey the old-growth forest for spotted owls and, if she finds any of the endangered birds, it’s going to mean big changes for the people of Marten Valley.

As it turns out, hostile locals and militant environmentalists are the least of Robyn’s problems after she discovers a body in the forest–the body of a logging foreman, murdered by the well-aimed thrust of a tree spike.

Hoot to Kill is published by Ravenstone, an imprint of Turnstone Press in Winnipeg. Author Karen Dudley worked in field biology, production art, photo research, paleo-environmental studies, editing and archaeology before realizing that being a writer would allow her to be anything and everything.

Hoot to Kill is funny, elegantly written, intricately plotted and rich with the kind of detailed science and research only an expert could bring to a story. But don’t get me wrong; this isn’t a science text or a heavy, didactic tome. It belongs squarely in the murder mystery genre. I just happen to think it’s wonderful how much fascinating fact Dudley is able to weave into her story. The characters are interesting and described in original and humorous detail, and there’s just enough heat between Robyn Devara and a certain Kelt Roberson to lure readers in with the first book and get them seeking out the second.

Protagonist Robyn Devara is a consultant with a fictional envrionmental assessment firm based in Calgary, an excellent device that lets Dudley move her around the continent as various jobs come up; gives her a motely assortment of co-workers; places her on the side of the environmentalists without making her an extremist; and opens up possibilities for exploring environmental and animal rights issues from all angles.

That last aspect might be what I like best about the Robyn Devara Mystery Series, if only because it’s something I work so hard to achieve in my own books. It’s one thing to take a stand, have a point of view, take sides as the author of a series of books. It’s quite another to set an agenda and tell your reader what to think. There really are [at least] two sides to every story; if there weren’t, the environmental and animal welfare conflicts that continue to simmer and occasionally rage around the world would have been tidied up long ago like so many Friends episodes.

I’m just over half way through the second book now: Red Heron (another great pun!), and the third, Macaws of Death (love it!) sits waiting for me on my nightstand. I think Red Heron does an even better job than Hoot to Kill of walking this fine balance between myriad points of view–in this case, on the subject of pesticides. I’m learning a lot, and I can’t put it down. I can’t ask for more than that from any book. As soon as I finish it, I’ll report back.