RAIN DANCE

by Skye Kathleen Moody ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 1996

A first mystery with an environmental theme features a female Department of Interior (DOI) agent tracking poachers and other politically incorrect (and very dangerous) scum. We first encounter diminutive Venus Diamond, weakened by malaria, as she is being abruptly pulled from a long-term assignment in Singapore and sent back home to investigate the strange death of a wealthy timber widow whose body has been pulled from the waters off Ozone Beach, Washington, a politically correct resort. Had Madge Leroux noticed the altered nesting habits of the pelicans on the isolated lighthouse island she recently purchased? Had it led to her death? Had her hard-living son made a shady deal with the US Navy, represented by skulking, sandy-mustached Jack ""Popeye"" O'Connor? Isn't village council president Janice Mercy a tad surly to outsiders, especially considering the importance of the tourist trade? Why is fellow DOI cop Sparks pooh-poohing the mutilation of bears on his turf?. And, finally, will Venus be able to shake her fever long enough to solve several murders, as well as focus on the romantically interesting men who cling to the trajectory of this rather complicated tale? Moody oversells her heroine (a movie-star mother, a rider of Harley Davidsons) and overpacks her plot (in a rare first novel that actually should have been longer). But the spirit and sophistication--you'll think of the classic Avengers TV series--smooth any number of rough edges.

Pub Date: Sept. 10, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 256

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories: FICTION