A Book Review, The Scarlet Kingfisher

Last summer, I need a good read since I was stuck dealing with nasty chemo to get rid of cancer.  It came in the book, The Scarlet Kingfisher by Robert Henry Benson.  I didn’t know what to expect.  Most mysteries I read of this type are good but predictable.  To my surprise, this one is a page turning mystery. Robert Benson hooks you right from the start.  The book starts out with a bang when you wonder “How in the world is this guy getting away with this?”   But it continues with the introductions to the maligned hard working ornithologist just trying to complete his field work.  This book has so many twists that it was hard for me to put it down.  Most books like this take you way out in left field leaving the science unbelievable.  Robert Benson is a retired avian researcher and long-time birder. 

I let my friend who is an avid reader and loves good mysteries borrow it.  She said she just couldn’t put it down.  She is a retired US Fish and Wildlife biologist.  In her opinion, the book is rooted in science and packed with adventure.  

Is it possible to still discover a new species of kingfisher in the United States?  How can that be especially since the kingfisher is scarlet?  What else is going on that ranch?  So on the cold winter days ahead why not pick up a copy of The Scarlet Kingfisher and settle in for an indoor adventure.

The publication date was August 26, 2014 and it is now available on Amazon.com. 

  Amazon:  

http://amzn.to/1tbWN0F

Here a taste of the adventure from the book jacket.

“Nothing could excite Dr. Beach O’Neill more than the possibility of discovering an unknown species of bird.  Some day he hoped to travel to exotic rain forests where he could fulfill this childhood dream.  His world is flipped out of control when a south Texas ranch foreman reports seeing a strange red bird on the banks of an isolated river where O’Neill is conducting research. Things turn bad when Beach discovers the mutilated body of the foreman. The county sheriff thinks O’Neill is the killer but doesn’t have enough evidence to prove it.

Thus begins a reckless contest between Beach O’Neill and an array of despotic villains who wish to be the first persons on Earth to possess the “Scarlet Kingfisher.”  Unsavory characters, both local and global, want Beach and his botanist girlfriend Rebecca Schroeder, out of the way and off the trail of this unique avian rarity.  O’Neill is torn between his obsessive desire to capture the bird and present it to science and Becky’s wish to let it remain in its river home as nature intended.  Will this red kingfisher and two different world views tear apart their relationship?  Will disparate forces have their way?”