Raptor: A Neil Hamel Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Van Giesen's characters drive the suspense-driven plot
Review: In this Neil Hamel mystery, the death of Neil's distant aunt leaves Neil with a diary and a plane ticket to observe an environmental miracle, the white Arctic falcon. But instead of seeing the glorious falcon, Neil and her birding party see a body flying off a cliff. Little does Neil realize that the trip she decides to take to Montana to see this bird will turn out to be a search for a murderer:

"'It wasn't a falconer, I'm tellin' you. There are plenty of other people around who hated Pederson's guts. The man had it comin' and goin'.' He climbed down from the fence. 'You give my best to March. Goodness is a rough trail, especially where he is. And don't forget to say hello to that girlfriend of his, Kate.' He grinned. 'Now there's a woman with spirit. She can park her boots under my bed anytime she wants to.'"

Van Giesen moves Neil and her mysterious love, the Kid, from Albuquerque: where if the hot sauce isn't burning your throat it has no taste; to the dangerous regions of Montana, where the greatest danger can be anything from a snowstorm that catches the birders unaware; to the horrible traps used on beautiful, unsuspecting, and diminishing animals for profit; to the people themselves, whose motives are hidden by the wide-open skies and mountains. Neil tries to adjust as she sleuths for March, the wrongfully accused ranger. Van Giesen's characters drive the suspense-driven plot; at the same time throwing in quirks of Neil's which make her all the more human. Neil is a lovable neurotic: from her smoking and drinking habits, to her "inappropriate" relationship to the Kid, to her turning her nose up at anything that remotely resembles food. The reader pictures an Ally McBeal galloping around the hillsides with heart and clothes flapping. But somewhere she finds the strength to get the job done, before she resumes her nonconformist lifestyle. Raptor is a delight, and Neil does it her own way.

A very popular mystery writer from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Judith Van Gieson is an author who has a plethora of information on the web, and enough name recognition so that her author bio simply includes the names of some of the catalog of mysteries she has written, including: North Of The Border, Confidence Woman, and Vanishing Point. Van Gieson is

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer