A perfumery owner, his jealous wife, a gourmet chef, and a wildcrafter all have reason to invade a protected meadow, but when one of them is found murdered, Marine Fish and Wildlife Agent Venus Diamond is determined to solve the case."
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Moody's second novel with Federal Fish and Wildlife Agent Venus Diamond opens with a rash of murders in and near a fragile meadow in Yodeler National Wildlife Preserve, on the coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Because the first murder took place on federal land, Diamond and a team of agents initiate the investigation. As more murders occur, Diamond must determine whether the suspects and motives are connected to a perfume business that produces the rare blue-poppy scent, the peninsula's endangered flora and fauna, or a proposal to the secretary of interior to sell the meadow. Although Moody's writing could be leaner, Blue Poppy is filled with interesting facts about the Pacific Northwest and the perfume and fashion industries. In addition, the novel is an intriguing mix of environmental thriller and police procedural, with sympathetic characters; gritty, realistic portraits of police work and bureaucratic politics; and an unexpected solution to the mystery. John Rowen
From Kirkus Reviews
A second outing for tiny Fish and Wildlife troubleshooter Venus Diamond (Rain Dance, 1996) sends her to a lovely salt-spray meadow on the outskirts of Seattle. Jilted via e-mail in chapter one, Venus throws her engagement ring into the freezer and applies her know-how to the fatal shooting of a young scientist, an interloper found just yards from the leased poppy fields of a nearby perfumery (Blue Poppy, so exclusive a scent that Venus's movie-star mom wears it) with the scales of a thought-to-be extinct butterfly (the Dungeness Silverspot) still staining his fingers. In due course, Venus meets the media-slick Avalon brothers, busy choosing next year's Miss Blue Poppy, and the Budge sisters: haute couturiere and butterfly black-marketeer Mimi and drop-dead gorgeous Lily, still recovering from her infatuation with Mimi's fianc‚, the lepidopterist who did indeed drop dead. Then there's Cookie, Richard Avalon's jealous wife, and wealthy, elderly Aggie, who lives the natural life in a mountain shack (and dies an unnatural death). Before the close, two more will be dead--a temperamental model and a poisoned resort chef--and you'll meet a family of bears named Sunbeam, Berry, Roe, and Radio. There's some terrific social and environmental lore, plus a number of eye-catching characters, but Moody never slows down for more than a superficial scan of her crowded horizon. An author with a lot of potential, but she reads like Jackie Collins on a busy day. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent environmental mystery!,
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This review is from: Blue Poppy (Pacific Northwest Mysteries) (Hardcover)
Skye Kathleen Moody's second novel about Venus Diamond, Fish and Wildlife agent, set in the Pacific Northwest, is a riveting and thrilling mystery. Venus heads to Fern, Washington, home of an exclusive perfume corporation, to investigate the murder of a Canadian lepidopterist. Moody again demonstrates her depth of research into environmental issues surrounding endangered species and fragile ecosystems. Her cast of interesting, quirky, believable, and resourceful characters and her well-woven plot make this novel not only an excellent and exciting mystery, but a novel which promotes a thoughtful consideration of some of the major issues surrounding modern society and its interaction with earth's ecosystem.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
blue poppy,
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This review is from: Blue Poppy (Paperback)
Arrived quickly and and is an awesome book. This is one of my favorite authors and I was pleased to find her book.
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