Christine Goff, Death Takes a Gander

Death Takes a Gander

Berkley, Dec 2004, $5.99, 212 pp.

ISBN 0425183926

Angela is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent being trained by Ian, a senior agent. He calls dispatch who calls her to meet Ian for backup at Barr Lake but by the time she gets there, Ian is dead. She notices a swan acting peculiarly but her attention is mainly on Ian who the coroner says committed suicide. Without an experienced agent to train her, Angela's boss assigns her to Elk Park's first Annual Ice Fishing Jamboree to make sure the anglers don't catch any greenback cutthroat trout.

The event is sponsored by Donald Tavern, CEO of Agriventures, Inc. Before the Jamboree begins, there are a lot of sick geese on the ice with similar coloring to what Angela noticed when she found Ian's body. They treat the surviving geese for lead poisoning. Angela investigates how the lead got into their bodies. She rescues an unconscious agent from the icy water and lands a plane when her pilot succumbs to poisoning. Angela thinks that the incidents are linked, but how and why remains to be proven.

DEATH TAKES A GANDER is a great mystery because the heroine refuses to give up her investigation even when her boss takes her off the case. Angela is a feisty and independent woman who is not afraid to think outside the box, seeking the connecting thread that ties the incidents together. Christine Goff creates an intriguing mystery with lots of action without resorting to blood and gore so that fans of cozies will appreciate his work.

Harriet Klausner