Death of a Songbird

The Birdwatcher’s Mysteries #2

by Christine Goff

The owner of a posh Colorado hotel spots a killer at a distance-and finds herself too close to the crime for comfort.

An engaging and believable heroine. (Earlene Fowler)

Genres: Mystery, Ebooks

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

Chris Goff is an award-winning author of eight novels--six based on environmental themes and two in a new international thriller series. Her bestselling Birdwatcher's Mysteries have been nominated for several WILLA Literary Awards and a Colorado Authors' League Awards. Tony Hillerman, the New York Times bestselling author of the Navajo mystery series, said, "You don't have to be a bird lover to fall in love with Christine Goff's charming Birdwatcher's Mysteries;" while David Morrell, the New York Times bestselling author of Murder as a Fine Art, called it "a wonderfully clever, charming, and addictive series." The series is currently published by Sharpe Books.

There are currently two books in Goff's international thriller series. Red Sky, her most recent book, came out in June 2017 to critical acclaim and was a finalist for a 2018 Colorado Book Award. Her series debut, Dark Waters, was dubbed "a sure bet for fans of international thrillers" by Booklist, nominated for the 2016 Colorado Book Award, the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Crime Fiction Audiobook, and published internationally. Manhattan Book Review called it "Absolutely masterful..."

Goff began her career writing non-fiction, penning columns for several local newspapers in Summit County, Colorado, as well as articles for regional and national publication. Later she edited rock and ice-climbing guides for Chockstone Press and worked in graphic production for "Living the Good News," a division of The Morehouse Publishing Group. A long-standing member of multiple writing organizations, she serves on several national boards, including: International Association of Crime Writers and Sisters in Crime. The program coordinator for Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book, she lives in Colorado.

PRAISE FOR BIRDWATCHER'S MYSTERY SERIES

​ "You don't have to be a bird lover to fall in love with Christine Goff's charming Birdwatcher's Mysteries." -- Tony Hillerman, New York Times bestselling author of the Leaphorn and Chee novels.

​ "The birds of the Rocky Mountains will warm the binoculars of birders who have waited a lifetime to see real stories about birds in a popular novel." -- Birding Business Magazine

​ "A wonderfully clever, charming, and addictive series." -- David Morrell, author of Murder as a Fine Art.

​ "Very entertaining. Birders and nature lovers alike will enjoy this new twist on the cozy mystery." -- The Mystery Reader

PRAISE FOR RED SKY

​ A fine sequel to 2015's Dark Waters ." -- Publishers Weekly
​
"Jordan makes a fine lead character. Give this to readers who like Matthew Palmer's blend of diplomacy and thrills." -- Booklist

"Suspenseful and entertaining. Chris Goff writes with a sure hand and knows how to keep the reader turning the pages... Add her name to the growing list of excellent female thriller writers such as Taylor Stevens, Jamie Freveletti and Zoe Sharp."
-- Deadly Pleasures​

"Goff excels in setting the hook..." ​ -- Kirkus Reviews


PRAISE FOR DARK WATERS

​ "Great characters, action and location--altogether terrific." -- Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author

​ "Strong first thriller." -- Publishers Weekly

​​ "Goff reveals a knack for thrillers. A sure bet for fans of international thrillers." ​ -- Booklist

​ "Whip-smart, informed, and tightly woven, Chris Goff's international thriller Dark Waters reeks of authenticity and intrigue. Through her frank depictions of modern-day Israel, and on the backs of nuanced characters, Goff has fashioned a story that unfolds at a blistering pace, and feels like it all could happen tomorrow. Writing like a seasoned pro, she crushes the genre in her debut effort." -- Mark Sullivan, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of Private L.A. and Thief

​ "Goff combines cultural detail, rich geographic description, and countless plot twists to create an engaging and satisfying thriller." -- Foreword Reviews

Reviews

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lark Drummond is a partner in the business that supplies coffee to her luxury hotel, as well as a friend of the owner, Esther, so it's a surprise when she learns that Esther has cancelled all of the hotel's current and future coffee orders. The timing is particularly terrible - the hotel has completely run out of coffee and is currently hosting a birding convention - so Lark heads over to Esther's cafe to figure out what's going on.

She doesn't get a chance to talk to Esther much, but she does witness an argument between Esther and Teresa, the 18-year-old daughter of one of the Mexican coffee growers Esther works with. She decides to save her questions for a better time, and unfortunately never gets a chance to ask them at all. While out bird watching, Lark witnesses someone stab Esther to death.

This is an unusual cozy mystery series in that all or most of the books star different characters. The characters do seem to have intertwining relationships and interactions, so I felt like I missed out on a little by not having read the first book, but overall it wasn't too difficult a series to jump into.

That said, it didn't really work for me. I learned a bit about coffee and why, if you care about birds and the environment, it's so important for coffee to not only be organic but also shade-grown. The book also worked in information about illegal immigration and bird watching.

Unfortunately, this was the most boring cozy mystery I'd read in a while. I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, and the mystery itself wasn't terribly interesting. Lark was a bit of an idiot, telling the book's top murder suspects the location of a ledger that almost certainly contained an important clue, and as annoying as her one staff member, Stephen Velof, was, he seemed to have a better handle on the hotel, its atmosphere, and the rules it was bound by than Lark. Lark seemed more dedicated to bird watching than to her hotel.

I can't really speak to the accuracy of the bird watching aspects. I didn't think they were particularly exciting, but I was at least semi-interested in the red-face warbler sightings: Colorado wasn't considered to be part of its range, so I wondered if the sightings would somehow be incorporated into the mystery. I maybe shouldn't have expected quite that much.

All in all, I'm glad to be done with this and don't plan on reading any other books in this series.

Additional Comments:

This book had an awful lot of typos - a character's name all in lowercase, "later" instead of "latter," etc. I wasn't impressed with the editing.

Extras:

A page about Wood Warblers and a page about the Migratory Bird Conservancy.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Lisa Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun mystery with many tense moments. The ornithology information will be a boon to bird-watchers, but what I enjoyed most was how the plot about corporate shadiness veers off into an interesting subplot of immigration and the civil unrest in an area of Mexico.
(This review cross-posted on Amazon/Bookbub.)

[Meg Morden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this eminently readable whodunnit. The main character, Lark Drummond, daughter of a US Senator and owner of the Drummond Hotel and part owner of the Chipe Coffee Company is an avid bird watcher. She spots the murder of a friend and business partner across a lake while spotting birds (the errant redfaced warbler). The ensuing mystery involves, bird conservationists, Mexican Coffee cartels, Mexican revolutionaries, rogue CIA agents. What I particularly enjoyed were the bird references and descriptions. it made want to grab my binoculars and get outside!

[Judith Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second book in the Birdwatcher's Mystery series again involves a murder that a group of birders help solve. This time the effect of coffee cultivation on migratory birds is a major part of the story. There's suspense involved, and rare bird sightings too.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s more me than the book. I’m not a mystery fan.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple mystery set in a fictious town in Rocky Mountain National Park and using birdwatching and conservaion themes. This is the second in the series and make good light reading.

[Dorothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lark Drummond is the owner of a luxury hotel in Elk Park, Colorado, and is also the silent partner in a coffee shop enterprise, until one day she witnesses through a birding scope her partner, Esther, being murdered on the parking lot of the shop. From that point, Lark loses her silent status. She sets out to find out exactly what happened to Esther and why, and opens up a complicated can of worms concerning Mexican coffee growing and exporting and undocumented aliens from that part of the world. Stir in the participants of a birding convention that is in town and Lark has just about more than she can handle.

Goff manages to mix in some very useful information about the growing of coffee and how it relates to the health of the migratory songbird population. She explains why it is important for consumers to be aware of how their coffee is raised, and why, if they care about birds, they should only purchase shade-grown coffee. She also gives some sympathetic exposition to the plight of both the coffee growers and those who harvest the coffee beans.

Lark is a fairly believable and empathetic character. Goff seems to have a little better handle on her than she did on Rachel, her heroine in her first book. All in all, not a terrible effort, and now I'm going to move along to the third book in the series. These are short books and very quick reads.

[Jessica Bronder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lark Drummond has a silent partner, Ester Mills that helps run the Colorado Drummond Hotel. But things are going to get sticky when Lark learns that she has bird watching convention going on, two maids out sick, and that Ester just cancelled her coffee order. To get a breath of fresh air, Lark goes out bird watching with Rachel Stanhope and sees Ester being murdered. It is now up to Lark to figure out who did it and why.

There is a lot going on in this story. The main part was about the coffee. It’s amazing how things can affect the environment and when I read about shade grown vs. full-sun grown coffee it made me thing about where I was getting my coffee from. Of course there are the bird references which just add to the story too.

This is a cute little mystery with bird watching as a main theme. I love all the information that you get from reading Death of a Songbird. It was just like A Rant of Ravens, just the extra little bits that make the story better.

If you like the quick, cozy mysteries make sure to check out the Birdwatcher’s Mystery series. They are great books with lots of extra information and a great location.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

[Stina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book #23 of 2013

I actually got this as a gift for my mother, and I suspect she got more out of the birding aspects of the story than I did. And this was a little difficult for me to read, as I kept trying to visualize Estes Park instead of the fictional setting, and that meant I kept trying to turn the cop characters into people I knew from working at LCSO. Maybe that's why I did't feel like I had a really good handle on any of the characters. None of them really jumped off the page and came to life for me, and a few months later, now I can't remember who killed whom or why. I just remember wishing that some of the subplots had been resolved or at least (since this is a book in a series) brought to some kind of stopping point.

I did like how Chris brought together the birding world and the coffee trade in the story. The exposition might have been done a little more smoothly, but I feel I now have a better understanding of the politics of coffee as well as a greater appreciation for the local natural beauty.

[Grey853 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lark Drummond runs a luxury hotel and is a silent partner in a local coffee shop and importer business. She's also an avid birdwatcher. When her partner is murdered, she's drawn into a series of concerning and violent events. There's even another murder. Will Lark be the next to die?

I enjoyed the characters well enough, but the plot is weighed down with far too much discussion of organic coffee and how it's grown down in Mexico. There's also a lot about the growing civil unrest there and how it affects the world of coffee.

I would've preferred more about the birding and less about the coffee business.

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mystery itself was just OK--not very suspenseful, to be honest--but the writing was fine, the main characters were likeable, and I certainly enjoyed the vicarious Colorado birding. This book also gets a thumbs up for not making birders seem like complete wackadoodles (unlike another birder-themed mystery I recently finished). I don't know what non-birders would make of this, but if you like birds and mysteries, you might enjoy it.

[Chris Leuchtenburg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want so much to like this series as I get a thrill when one of the characters spots a ptarmigan or a Three-toed Woodpecker. But there isn’t enough birding content in these stories to hold my interest. The narrative is sometimes clumsy with hackneyed plot devices and somewhat lacking in the personal interest subplots that make ‘cozies’ so pleasant. It isn’t a bad book, just not very good.

[Kate Cleland-sipfle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not her best, but interesting. I'm glad birders really aren't that likely to do away with one another.

[Sylvia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mystery