Pregnant and still grieving her husband’s murder, Iris Oakley wants only to do her job as a bird keeper at Finley Memorial Zoo while she creates a new life as a single mother. But she finds her boss, Kevin Wallace, under attack by an elephant. Why would reliable old Damrey attack the foreman? The zoo is thrown into turmoil, and coworkers nominate Iris to find out what really happened. She uncovers a surprising number of motives to kill Wallace, but Damrey, the elephant, doesn’t have one. Adding to the chaos, zoo animals are disappearing into thin air. And then there’s the people picketing…

REVIEW

Publishers Weekly
09/13/2010 Fiction
Web Exclusive Did Not Survive
Ann Littlewood, Poisoned Pen
Zookeeper Iris Oakley, who lost her husband in her first outing (2008's Night Kill), returns to Finley Memorial Zoo near Vancouver, Wash., for a second harrowing adventure that meshes the complexities of animal care and human failings. Early one morning, Iris discovers her boss, Kevin Wallace, face down in the elephant enclosure, apparently being mauled. What first appears to be a dreadful accident is revealed by autopsy to be a murder and merely the first incident to bedevil the little zoo. Although she's six months pregnant, several colleagues suggest that Iris should look into other disturbing events, including the theft of a zoo van and the body of a tiger. Fascinating details of zoo life--the impending birth of clouded leopards, collecting urine samples from elephants--lend color. Man again proves to be the most dangerous animal, and Iris needs all her cunning to discover the rogue behind the violence in a follow-up that should win Littlewood more fans. (July)

Reviewed by: Publishers Weekly

EXCERPT

Damrey fumbled at the jacket with her trunk tip, then set a giant forefoot on the person’s back and began rocking the body back and forth. I bolted for the staff door, fumbling to find the correct key. Inside, as close as I dared to the bars, I screamed at Damrey, “Get away! Get the hell off him!” She paced away from me, striding in a big circle around the stall, coming back to pluck at the body with her trunk and shove at it with a forefoot. Nakri roared again from the back stall and went down on her knees with her trunk outstretched through the gap in the door, reaching ineffectively for his arm.
A man. It looked like a man. Was he alive? Blood smeared the straw beneath and around him, with a dark, thick dribble on his head and down his face. I had to get him out of there before they killed him. If he weren’t already dead.