Naked
Came the Manatee.
1996. Carl Hiaasen, et al. G. P. Putnam's
Sons, New York. 201 pp. clothbound, $22.95.
Naked Came the Manatee is an immensely silly mystery that should be on the top of any vacationer's stack. If this tale doesn't take your mind off work, nothing will. Set in Miami, this comic thriller was serially written by 13 noted Florida writers, who each wrote one chapter that had to further the story created by the earlier writers. Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry wrote the hilarious, challenging first chapter and introduced a character that probably gave the subsequent writers fits: a manatee named, in unmistakable Barry style, Booger. It is Booger who gives Naked Came the Manatee its environmental theme. Life in Biscayne Bay is hell for a manatee. Booger swims in polluted water, is mangled by speed boat propellers, and tangled in carelessly discarded fishing nets, all real threats to real Florida manatees. But added to all this are concerted attempts to shoot him by the wacko villains who populate this story. Wondering whether Booger will survive will keep you turning the pages-that, and trying to follow the convoluted trail of a severed head with an uncanny resemblance to Fidel Castro.
Captiva.
1996. Randy Wayne White. Berkley Prime
Crime/Berkley Publishing Corp., New York. 319 pp. paperback,
$5.99.
In Captiva, an impending ban on commercial net fishing tears apart a small community when the net fishers blame the sport fishers for literally ending their way of life on Florida's Sanibel and Captiva islands. When this conflict leads to murder, government agent turned marine biologist Doc Ford finds himself in dangerous waters. At once a target and a suspect, Ford must search for the real murderer while both the net fishers and sports fishers close their separate ranks to conceal the truth. Further clouding the issue is Ford's infatuation with an intriguingly off-beat woman who sees her and the island community's future not in fishing but in tourism. But finally tracking down the villain takes Ford from Florida to Sumatra, where only his long-suppressed agent mentality can save him. Randy Wayne White is a superb writer about nature. His depiction of the conflicts between different fishing interests and developers is right out of real life-apart from being a writer, White is a Florida fishing guide-and he manages to wrap environmental education in a thrilling package populated by fascinating characters. I discovered Captiva first, although it is actually the fourth in White's Doc Ford series. I'm looking forward to starting from the beginning.
Shooting
At Loons
1995. Margaret Maron. The Mysterious
Press/Warner Books, Inc., New York. 241 pp. paperback, $5.50.
North Carolina's beautiful Outer Banks is the setting for Shooting at Loons, which features unorthodox judge-cum-sleuth Deborah Knott. Not unlike Captiva, in Shooting at Loons conflicts between fishermen trying to preserve their centuries-old way of life, environmentalists trying to preserve unspoiled seashore, and developers trying to make fortunes in beachfront property erupt into murder. When Knott discovers the first body, her working vacation turns into a murder investigation, and she stands a good chance of becoming a victim in this emotional environmental war. The author knows North Carolina and its varied communities well. She paints as colorful and convincing a picture of the yacht club set as she does of the struggling fishing families, and deftly exposes the clash of values that provides so many of her characters with a motive for murder. Reading this book at the beach, you might people-watch with a new perspective.
Endangered
Species.
1997. Nevada Barr. G. P. Putnam's
Sons, New York. 306 pp. clothbound, $22.95.
Park ranger Anna Pigeon is on fire detail at Georgia's Cumberland Island National Seashore but her only chance to douse any flames comes when a pilot with a shady past and the island's only drug enforcement agent crash-land in a steamy palmetto thicket. Sabotage clearly caused the deadly crash, and Anna, unhappy with the official investigation, starts her own search for the truth. Suspects are as thick as the summer's humid air; possible motives as diverse as the island's wildlife; and soon, thanks to her solo sleuthing, Anna's life and career are as endangered as the sea turtles nesting on the beach. The suspense builds to a thrilling-and surprising-conclusion as Anna discovers a skeleton in just about everyone's closet, even the one person you least suspect. Nevada Barr writes with her usual authority about the insular world of the Park Service and the cast of characters who work for it and who hang out on its edges, from bureaucratic secretaries and supervisors to genteel volunteers and half-mad biologists. She also beautifully describes the natural world. Reading Endangered Species, you really feel the heat, hear the whine of mosquitoes, savor long ocean swims, and see ghost crabs scuttling across the sand. All in all, a great read.
Black
Leopard.
1997. Steven Voien. Borzoi Books/Alfred
A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 287 pp. clothbound, $23.00.
The fictional West African country of Terre Diamante is no place for a vacation, or for American field biologist David Trowbridge, whose pioneering study of rainforest leopards is interrupted first by a bloody massacre and then by violent political mayhem. Even living together in a remote national park, professional rivalry kept Trowbridge and prickly French primatologist Jean Luc at loggerheads. But when Jean Luc and his team are murdered, Trowbridge is determined to find out who did it and why. Was it the elephant poachers Jean Luc had declared war on, the loggers chipping away the edges of the rainforest park Jean Luc loved, or someone with even more sinister goals? While Trowbridge searches for answers-and tries desperately to finish his leopard study-he finds himself on center stage in a drama of official corruption whose last act is slated to be death for the rainforest park and its wild residents. With Black Leopard and his previous novel, In a High and Lonely Place, Voien has created a new category-the environmental-political thriller-that offers a glimpse into the increasingly high-stakes battles being fought around the world to save the last patches of nature.
—Susan Lumpkin
