From Publishers Weekly
The latest environmental mystery featuring Venus Diamond, a Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife agent, continues to showcase Seattle and the San Juan Islands. Venus has been on leave from her job since her marriage to Richard Winters, and she has missed the work. So when Richard is suddenly offered work consulting on forest fires in the Ivory Coast, Venus is thrilled when her old boss, Oly Olsson, asks her to investigate an arson case involving a former colleague and very close friend. The remains of Dr. Hannah Strindberg, brilliant embryologist and founder of Breedhaven, a radical experimental genetics clinic on Helix Island, have been left at the arson scene along with the bodies of 13 other prominent international scientists. Strindberg's research on endangered species and her bold experiment to save them by genetic engineering was extremely controversial. When Strindberg's will is read at a meeting of relatives and Breedhaven trustees, Venus learns that she herself has been named the primary guardian of "Hannah's Ark," Strindberg's collection of endangered species embryos. The will also stipulates that Venus is to accompany the ark aboard a NASA space shuttle that will place it into an orbiting space station for safekeeping. This plan doesn't sit well with the trustees, and it isn't long before things fall apart. Hannah's Ark disappears. Venus suddenly finds herself on somebody's endangered species list, and she uncovers a frightening plan for genetic experimentation that might involve the Russian mafia. What's remarkable about this absurdly plotted novel is that the doings remain sufficiently engrossing to keep readers from suspending their interest along with their disbelief. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Another wild and wooly chapter in the life of Venus Diamond, an agent with the Department of the InteriorFish and Wildlife division. Strange things are happening at Breedhaven Laboratory, a research center on Helix Island, off the coast of Washington State. The work there is centered on the saving of endangered species and is largely the province of world-renowned Dr. Hannah Strindberg. Years of collecting and freezing the DNA of threatened species has produced a kind of ark for the future. Then Hannah dies, in a Seattle restaurant firealmost certainly arsonalong with other scientists celebrating the passage of a treaty aiding their cause. Hannah's close friend and working colleague Oly Olsen calls on Venus to investigate, even though she is still on leave after her marriage to environmentalist Richard Winters. Venus protests but undertakes the job, beginning a search for the motive behind Hannah's death and some other mysterious happenings on the island. Breedhaven has a board of trustees: island dwellers often opposed to the laboratory's goings-on. Venus soon uncovers the agent at work for a foreign countrytrying to find Hannah's ark and her decoding materials. Ulterior motives and betrayals of trust abound, and what has happened to the genetically pure Borneo Bay kittens? There's moremuch moreas Venus manages to survive in this grossly overstuffed saga, bearing no trace of the crispness and clarity present (in small amounts) in previous outings. (Wildcrafters, 1998, etc.) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
