A Cast of Falcons is the third book in the Birder Murder Mystery series by Steve Burrows. The author is Canadian and this is the first book I have read for the Canadian Reading Challenge. In this case, the books are set in the UK but the main character is from Canada.
From the description at the Simon & Schuster website:
A man falls to his death from a cliff face in western Scotland. From a distance, another man watches. He approaches the body, tucks a book into the dead man’s pocket, and leaves.
When the Scottish police show visiting Detective Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune the book, he recognizes it as a call for help. But he also knows that answering that call could destroy the life he and his girlfriend Lindy have built for themselves in the village of Saltmarsh, in north Norfolk.
Back in Saltmarsh, the brutal murder of a researcher involved in a local climate change project has everyone looking at the man’s controversial studies as a motive.
My thoughts:
Domenic Jejeune does not even like being a DCI, he would rather be focusing on birdwatching. But he is very good at his job and he had made a name for himself in his previous job in London. In the first book in this series, he was newly appointed to the police department in the small Norfolk town of Saltmarsh, located in the heart of Britain’s premier birding country. In this book, Jejeune is more comfortably settled into his job and his team of detectives, but the return of someone from his past threatens to upset the equilibrium in his work and home life.
I have always enjoyed this series for the bird watching tidbits and the setting. The mystery plots have been secondary for me. However, here the plot is related to climate change and environmental issues and is very well done.
Dominic is introspective or oblivious at times, off in his own world, and this characteristic causes problems in both his work and at home. Sometimes I find that behavior irritating, but it makes him more human too. I also like the secondary characters in this series and how they develop over time.
This is one of two mystery series that I am reading primarily because of the inclusion of birdwatching and the depictions of the coastal areas where the birds thrive. I would caution however that some reviewers felt that birding was too much of a presence in the plot of this series. The other series that features birdwatching is William Shaw's DS Alexandra Cupidi Series.
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Publisher: Point Blank, 2018 (orig. pub. 2016)
Length: 384 pages
Format: Trade paperback
Series: Birder Murder Mysteries, #3
Setting: England & Scotland
Genre: Police procedural
Source: I purchased this book.
18 comments:
This sounds like a very enjoyable read, Tracy. And I'm intrigued that the main character is a birder. I don't think I've read that many stories where that's the case. It sounds like an interesting mystery, too. I may have to try this series.
Margot, I do love that the main character is a birder, and a very serious one. I like to read about birders and birding, even though I am just a bird lover. For that matter, the author is also a birder.
I'm sure I've mentioned that I have book 1 of this series on my Kindle and plan to get to it soon. It sounds like my kind of thing as I'm a bird lover too. Ann Cleeves wrote a series about birdwatching, before she got going with Jimmy Perez and Vera.
I have never read any sort of novel about a bird watcher so it sounds interesting to me too.
I love that the main character is a bird watcher! That alone makes me want to give this series a try. :D
I've always enjoyed watching birds, but have gotten even more into it since I put the Merlin Bird ID app on my phone. Now I listen for them, too! This sounds like an interesting series. I'll have to keep it in mind for the future.
Cath, I had forgotten about Anne Cleeves early series about birdwatching. Thanks so much for reminding me. I purchased the 4th and 6th books in that series in 2007 but I kept waiting to find earlier books in the series. I finally found the first book in the series as an ebook but I still haven't read it. And I don't see that any others in the series are available here as ebooks. I will read that first one soon, and see what I think. At least one of Cleeves' Shetland books is set at a bird sanctuary (or something on that order).
I hope you enjoy A Siege of Bitterns when you read it.
Patti, I really like the series. I have the next three books and the 6th one I got from Rick Robinson's shelves.
Lark, if you enjoy reading about birds, you will like the books in this series. All three that I have read so far have plots that involve birding and the birding community, which is a bit far-fetched but that doesn't bother me.
Kelly, I remember your post about the Merlin Bird ID app. I read a nonfiction book about birding (Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear by Lev Parikian) and it talked about identifying birds by their songs. I have a lot of unread nonfiction books about birds on my shelves.
I'm not familiar with the series or its author, but the premise is "different" enough for a look - despite all the half-read series I'm already buried under. Sounds like fun.
Sam, it is a fun book, but the plot is serious enough. Not a lot of action, but definitely not a cozy.
I have problems about adding new series to my list also, I have so many now I will never finish.
It sounds like a book worth reading particularly for people who are into birdwatching.
Unfortunately I am not which I regret because it's a great way to get outdoors and explore nature as well as see and record many different types of birds.
Kathy, I enjoy this series and mainly for the theme of birdwatching. I have never been birdwatching myself however. For some reason just reading about the birds and the locations they live in is very interesting to me. I do enjoy the few birds that come into our small back yard, especially the hummingbirds that we try to attract.
Somehow I missed your earlier reviews of this author but I am definitely intrigued. I liked the book from the other birdwatching series I read and while I did not continue with that series (yet) my sisters did, so they might like this one too. I will check my library. One of my summer traditions is to put books on hold at a library in Cape Cod so that they are waiting when my sister arrives for vacation.
In real life, birdwatching and fishing would bore me to tears, I am sure! I like to multitask, not to wait around.
Constance, I was surprised to find that I had not done a full review of the earlier books in the birder series, only a brief one on my monthly summary post. That is a lovely summer tradition, putting some books on hold at a library in Cape Cod. (I have got to read some books set in Cape Cod.)
I think I would like birdwatching, but I think it would be too much of a time commitment. I have never fished but my grandparents did and I am pretty sure that fishing is not for me.
Interesting that the mystery features a lot of birdwatching. Are falcons the main birds ... or are there other kinds? It makes me more interested in the plot ... I have not heard of Burrows before ... but I should know more Canadian lit.
Susan, The story revolves around falcons; the possible poaching of a white gyrfalcon may be related to a death in the Saltmarsh area. But there are several other birding excursions in the plot which include birds native to that area.
I prefer mysteries and other fiction that have both Canadian authors and are set in Canada, but there are several Canadian mystery writers that I read that set their stories the UK and sometimes in the US.
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