Birdwatcher’s Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of The Birdwatcher’s Mysteries Books

The “Birdwatcher’s Mysteries” series written by author Christine Goff are traditional mystery novels with characters that are all birdwatchers. The series began in the year 2000 with the release of “A Rant of Ravens”, and is from the cozy mystery genre.

Even though she had sold three books from the series, there was still a lot she did not know. She only could identify more than sixty species of birds that came up to her feeders. It would be impressive, however, there are more than nine hundred North American bird species.

She has been able to identify even more birds since she started the series, but it puts her at the very best. She is still avid about birding, despite only being able to identify so many birds. To do research for the books, she has traveled all over the world. It was here that she was able to identify about two hundred more birds.

She has noticed that what is going with birds is usually a sign what is going on in culture. This is in regards to taking care of each other and the environment. Each of the books looks at a different environmental theme.

“A Rant of Ravens” is the first novel in the “Birdwatcher’s Mysteries” series and was released in the year 2000. Her marriage is close to falling apart, and her life is stuck in the slow lane. Rachel Stanhope is her name and goes to her Aunt Miram’s ranch, located in Colorado, it is also a bird sanctuary. She goes to try to find some sanctuary herself. She is unable to tell a swallow from a sparrow, and so she does not plan on doing much bird watching while she is there. Doing a favor for her aunt, she agrees to host the local bird watching society’s meetings.

She looks for one of the LeConte’s sparrows while she is out on her first expedition, she finds something gruesome. It is a reporter’s body, the reporter was with Birds of a Feather. Rachel knows the guy because he talked to Miriam about her dead husband’s being involved in a bird trafficking racket and he gave warning to beware. It looks like Miriam is suspect number one in the guy’s murder. Rachel looks through potential motives. Miriam goes missing without a trace, as well as three rare birds.

One fine example of what a cozy mystery looks like; it was interesting to see the mystery and the way it unfolded in the book. Fans of the novel find this to be quite the cute mystery; the details about bird watching are presented without ever once dragging the story down a bit. Some enjoyed learning about bird watching, something they did not know much about before starting the book.

“Death of a Songbird” is the second novel in the “Birdwatcher’s Mysteries” series and was released in the year 2001. Lark Drummond owns a luxury hotel and it is now packed with many birding convention attendees. The employees are driving her mad. Esther Mills (Lark’s buddy and business partner) canceled the coffee shipment for the hotel. She needs a rest from it all, and agrees to go with Rachel Stanhope (another of Lark’s friends) on a bird watching trip in the middle of the afternoon.

Things turn ugly when Lark sees Esther get killed while looking through her spotting scope. The bird watching club helps both Rachel and Lark find out who killed Esther. Suspects and motives start to stack up and it becomes pretty obvious that what originally seemed to be robbery gone wrong is a lot more sinister.

The book has some likable characters in it and it does not make birders seem like complete wackos. Fans of the novel found there was a lot going on with the story, which kept a lot of readers intrigued throughout. Another cute cozy mystery with references to birding, which simply adds to the entire experience. The information that you will be able to get about birding really entertains some readers.

“A Nest in the Ashes” is the third novel in the “Birdwatcher’s Mysteries” series and was released in the year 2002. Erick Linenger (a ranger from the National Park Service) has been asked to supervise something called a prescribed burn of one thousand acres of Rocky Mountain National Park. He knows the controlled burn is a necessity, it will threaten the habitat of both the Virginia Warblers and Green Tailed Towhees.

It is Eric’s job, even though his buddies at EPOCH oppose the move pretty strongly. The flames move well beyond the intended burn area. It ruins a real estate development before the fire can be put out. Wayne Devlin (Eric’s boss) is found close to where the fire started, and it looks like the fire was supposed to go out of control. He looks into things and finds that a lot of people had reason to want the burn to burn more than it was supposed to. That includes some of his so called friends.

Readers are brought right into the action, and are able to zip right on through the early part of the book, full of emotion. Fans of the novel find that you do not need to be into bird watching to enjoy the novel, although it will be a bonus if you are one. Some like the environmental issues covered in each book. Some are finding that Goff is really starting to find her stride with these books.

“Death Takes a Gander” is the fourth novel in the “Birdwatcher’s Mysteries” series and was released in the year 2004. Angela Dimato’s (a Special Agent with U. S. Fish and Wildlife) partner is deceased, with his death being ruled an accident. Angela gets pulled out of the field and is supposed to just supervise a fishing tournament going on Elk Lane.

The night before the start of this tournament, she finds an odd die-off of Canada Geese, two hundred of them to be precise. Over the course of her investigation, she finds out that her partner dying may be far from an accident. She gets help from some eclectic birdwatchers, and she aims to expose a coming environmental disaster. Angela also learns that killers of the same feather do flock with each other.