The Red Heron: A Robyn Devara Mystery

Robyn Devara Mysteries #2

by Karen Dudley

Gnomus gardinia. Garden gnome. Field biologist Robyn Devara had never felt the urge to study this particular species...until now. The Holbrook garden gnomes have come down with a case of itchy feet. Paris, Vienna, even the Serengeti; the gnomes have been vacationing everywhere, returning to their homes with photographs of their travels. But the gnomes aren't the only ones in need of a holiday. Woodrow Consultants is in Holbrook to clean up an abandoned pesticide plant, a site scheduled to be converted into a toxic waste treatment facility. But with a fragile wetlands and heron colonies mere kilometres away, many of the town's residents oppose the project, including whoever's taking potshots at Robyn's co-workers with a .22. Left out of the action because of a broken leg, Robyn has surreptitiously followed her co-workers (including the attractive but elusive Kelt Roberson) to Holbrook where she is to rest and recover. The local garden gnome-nappings may have started as a harmless prank, but they quickly take a darker turn when a missing gnome shows up alongside the brutally murdered body of Richard DeSantis, an environmentalist with family connections to the waste treatment facility. Amidst looming controversy and long-buried secrets, Robyn begins to suspect a psychiatric patient with a history of violence, the victim's stepfather, a disturbed accountant, the faceless saboteur, even her best friend's mother. Physically vulnerable and emotionally torn, Robyn struggles to find the killer--or killers. Too bad the gnomes aren't talking....

Genres: Mystery

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 1999

About the author

My checkered past includes field biology, production art, photo research, palaeo-environmental studies, editing, archaeology and Classical Studies. Needless to say, I just couldn't seem to settle on one job and sometimes I thought there was something wrong with me--a sentiment echoed by my mum. Then, a number years ago, an epiphany! I finally realized that what I really wanted to do was . . . everything! And if you want to do everything, the best way to do it is to be a writer.

I wrote four environmental mysteries and a short stack of wildlife biology books for kids before I had another epiphany . . . I want to write fantasy! So I did. Food for the Gods is an historical fantasy novel set in ancient Athens. It's all about chefs and gods and food and murder and strange beasties and a huge amount of fun. Think Xena meets Iron Chef and you're starting to get the picture. I'm now working on the sequel, Kraken Bake.

I live in Winnipeg with my husband, daughter, and assorted authorial cats.

Reviews

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

🎃🎃🎃🎃
First things first: this author is my friend. We volunteered together many years ago. However, if I didn't honestly enjoy her books I would read them surreptitiously and slink off without leaving a review. Here's the thing, I really do enjoy her writing.

This was another re-read for me—I first read it back when it was first published. I remember those good old days when Calgary had a huge bookstore downtown and I went to hear Karen do a reading from this novel. Her inscription on the title page brought it all back to me. But if possible, I remembered even fewer plot details of this second book than I did of the first.

You know, I got thinking about Steve Burrows' Birder Murder mysteries while I was wending my way through this book. How Burrows went for a policeman as a main character where Karen chose an amateur sleuth. But both main characters spend a fair amount of time outdoors to do their investigations and both would rather be birding. The joy of both series for me is the solid bird knowledge exhibited by the authors. (Quite a contrast to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, which most often leaves me muttering and spluttering about the inaccuracies.)

If you didn't share a volunteer workplace with the author, many of the character names in this volume wouldn't mean anything to you, but I got a lot of warm fuzzies reading friends' names in substantial roles. Plus I was reminded of several people who hadn't crossed my mind for decades! (George, I wonder where you are?) I seem to recall Karen revealing at one point that she used the names of those who ticked her off as the names of the murder victims. I wonder which Richard and Melanie won that honour here?

A very enjoyable stroll down memory lane.



Cross posted at my blog:

https://wanda-thenextfifty.blogspot.c...

[Canlit4ever · Rating 4 out of 5]

An improvement on the first book of the series, written with more confidence, skill, and joie de…ecrire. Lol. Lots of interesting background facts on environmental pollution and birds to make the contextual aspects of the story interesting. A fun read from a Canadian author.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing this week's animal theme, I quite enjoyed Canadian author Karen Dudley's Red Heron. The heroine is a biologist and a birder, and her description of the prairie "staging ground" for migrating birds made me want to go and see it immediately. (It is the right time of year, after all.)

While Robyn's work collegues are busy surveying an old toxic waste site, the dead bodies start to pile up.

Robyn's sense of humour and her unrequited longing for one of her co-workers lighten the tone and make this an enjoyable and humourous read. While I often get the "who" by the end of the book in this series, I never get the "why", allowing me the pleasure of both feeling clever, while enjoying being fooled at the same time.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

strangely intriguing, with just enough science so that I did not feel like I was reading a trashing romance/crime book.