Check out Fenton Kay’s newest O’Flaithearta Biological Consultants Mystery, available at Amazon. Here’s the gist:
Stephans kangaroo rats (SKR) are Federally protected. They are found in the same areas as unprotected Pacific kangaroo rats (PKR). A developer wants to build on a property that contains prime SKR habitat. The developer has filed a Federal lawsuit claiming that the kangaroo rats the Feds say are SKR are really only PKR – SKR don’t exist. Sean O’Flaithearta is contracted by the Metropolitan Water District (MET) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to prove that SKR and PKR are separate species and occupy different habitats found on the property. The developer is financed by a Mexican drug cartel. The developer hires a local illegal animal dealer and trapper to remove all of the kangaroo rats from his property and to scuttle the O’Flaitherta study. The trapper’s partner dies while pirating rats from the study site. The County Sheriff’s Department takes an interest in the study. Local environmental activists are attacked by unknown thugs. Unknown to the USFWS and the O’Flaithearta team, who are plotting to bust the rat trapper and the developer, the DEA, and the FBI are watching the developer and the cartel. Someone is watching the two women members of the O’Flaithearta team who are posing as researchers in need of kangaroo rats. The developer is nearly killed by the cartel. Other thugs try to intimidate the O’Flaithearta team. The rat trapper is shot while being arrested. All …
