Macaws of Death: A Robyn Devara Mystery

Susan Merskey is freelance writer in London, Ontario.

Three suitcases filled with macaws and other members of the parrot
family turn up in Calgary. These victims of the trade in tropical-bird
smuggling are beautiful, expensive—and dead. In addition, one of the
macaws is unknown to science.

Enter field biologist Robyn Devara. Hot on the trail of the mysterious
macaw, she finds herself stationed at an isolated field camp in the
Costa Rican jungle, dealing with a research team that includes a former
wildlife trafficker, his angry nemesis, a number of wide-eyed graduate
students, a university professor who regards all graduate students as
the lowest of the low on the academic totem pole, shifty maintenance
workers, a sexy project leader, and a group of armed poachers. The
assignment is challenging, exciting, and definitely a change from
routine paperwork. Then everything turns very sinister: communication
with the outside world is cut off, deadly snakes start slithering into
cabins, and numerous members of the field team die in rapid succession.
The plot thickens faster than the jungle undergrowth, but in the end,
the murderer is revealed.

The story unfolds rapidly, drawing the reader in with its page-turning
suspense. (Once I started it, I could not put it down.) The author has
drawn abundantly on her own experiences as a biologist to give us vivid
images of the steamy Costa Rican jungle, the politics and challenges of
scientific expeditions, and the excitement of discovering new species.
Macaws of Death is her third Robyn Devara mystery, and it’s a good
one.