Book Review: Life and Death at Zoo Arroyo (OT)(zoo/sanctuary, wild animals, breeding gone amuk?)

Life and Death at Zoo Arroyo, A Witherston Murder Mystery, by Betty Jean Craige (Luminare Press, $13.95 paperback, 332 pp)

Wow!

The year is 2030. 

The place is a small southeastern zoo-sanctuary run by the Arroyo twin brothers, a veterinarian and a PhD geneticist, where they rehabilitate wild animals and seek to increase the numbers of species in dangerous decline.

The characters are almost too numerous to remember (much like an overly long Russian historical novel), many of whom seem to be related and Hispanic, thus making Life and Death at Zoo Arroyo a cultural novel that also educates (Peru and various musical instruments, especially). 

The protagonists (good guys) are a 20-something scientist with a masters degree, the veterinarian twin and others who turn out to be bad guys who kidnap wild animals and sell them to private zoos, among other related nefarious acts.

The reader will learn the difference between a mosaic and a chimera (biological, actually genetic, terms) and will also learn how to take copious notes in order to solve a murder or two.

The author is a retired literature professor who writes successfully about many different subjects, including her relationship with a grey parrot, Cosmo.

The Book

Arroyo is the sixth Witherston murder mystery but the first in a series of mysteries starring the twins at their animal zoo-sanctuary. The previous titles centered around the small town (4,000 population) of Witherston and the twins' parents' generation of characters. Some of the same characters appear in each book so reading them in order may help but is most certainly not necessary.

 The Plot

We have one shooting after another, an international biology prize with a 5 million dollar award, and three generations of humans, as well as wild animals with human names whom we encounter and almost get to know.

Style

In four parts, Arroyo begins with pages and pages of conversation, written almost choppily, apparently for the younger reader. Part two brings us to a narrator who is much more adult-like, so that Arroyo seems to have been written by two authors with different styles. Thank goodness for larger than usual print, however, because this is a long book and convoluted, but you will want to read it all in one day as the suspense mounts.