Customer Reviews

A Nest In The Ashes: A Birdwatcher's Mystery

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Christine Goff is making a name for herself as an author of birding mysteries. I am no fan of the genre, but my curiosity and a good review of the series in _Birding_ magazine convinced me finally to read the books. This third installment starts quite well indeed, with fire-fighting scenes that rise a time or two from the merely convincing to the nearly gripping. But soon it falls into the tired pattern of the first two books in the series: the birding content is a bit jejune, and the mystery and its resolution are uncompelling. I bristled, too, and have not finished bristling, at the narrator's comment that ATV's are kept from some federal lands by an "excess" of regulation. If this is not just a severe slip in diction, it is outrageous on the part of an author who hopes to sell books to members of the birding community.
But you know what? I'll probably read the next one anyway.

Eric Linenger works for the National Park Service in the Rocky Mountain National Park. His boss and close friend, Wayne Devlin, goes missing when they are starting a prescribed burn. The plan is to burn off 1000 acres of dense vegetation to remove fuel to reduce the risk of a catastrophic wildfire. Eric does not wan the burn to take place because this is the prime habitat for the green-tailed towhees and the Virginia's warblers. Nora Frank, who is Devlin's 2nd in command, begins the burn against his recommendations.

Linda Verbiscar, news reporter for KEPC-TV, is on hand with her cameraman Charlie to document this prescribed burn. This is one of the reasons Nora continues with the burn.

The burn quickly gets out of hand. They have to evacuate the visitor's center, Shangri-La housing development, east end of Beaver Meadows Wildland Center, and Youth Mountain. When Eric arrives at Youth Mountain to oversee the evacuation, Vic Garcia, Elk Park County Sheriff, discovers that 2 boys are missing. Unfortunately with the fire out of control, they don't have the time or manpower to search for the boys now. They evacuate everyone else and go to help contain the fire.

Lark Drummond who owns Drummond Hotel and is a partner in the Warbler Café is also a volunteer firefighter. She is also dating Eric. Once she discovers that the burn is out of control, she joins to help.

Devlin is charged with deliberately setting this fire. Eric, with Lark's help, sets out to clear Devlin's name. In the process he discovers many people had reasons for ensuring the burn got out of hand.

I like the characters in this book. I hope they will continue in the series, but I have been told this is not the case.

My only complaint about this book is that it is billed as a Birdwatcher's Mystery series. There was very little bird watching. It was more a National Park Service series. I hope that in future books, bird watching will play a bigger role.

I think the plot and setting are well written. The characters are very believable. I found the topic interesting as well. It was very informative yet an enjoyable read.

I recommend this cozy. I look forward to reading others.

In this third book in the series, author Christine Goff takes a great leap forward in her already accomplished birdwatcher series. Goff weaves Colorado mountain lore into the standard mystery elements of intrigue and suspicion in a very enjoyable way, and introduces a new protagonist in each book. In this one it's Eric Lininger, a park ranger who must not only set, and then battle, a forest fire, but grill his acquaintances to figure out who set it--and why. Highly readable!

This Birdwatcher's Mystery features Eric Linenger, a National Park ranger who is helping with a controlled burn at Rocky Mountain National Park. Eric has his doubts about the burn and is concerned about the destruction of habitat for Green-tailed Towhees and Virginia Warblers. Despite Eric's reservations the burn is carried out and soon goes out of control. Eric's boss and mentor, Wayne Devlin, is found dead at the site of the blaze and authorities suspect that Wayne set the fire.

Christine Goff's series has a wonderful Colorado setting and frequent descriptions of birds found in Rocky Mountain National Park. The major flaw with this book is its melodramatic and unlikely conclusion, but otherwise it is an enjoyable read.