[I]Blue Poppy[/I], by Skye Kathleen Moody, was a decent murder mystery--kept me guessing for most of the plot--especially wondering whether or not all the murders were committed by a single criminal or multiple miscreants. I think it is actually the second in a series featuring Fish and Wildlife Agent Venus Diamond (the daughter of a famous movie star, and Venus would like to forget that fact). I might get the first book ([I]Rain Dance[/I]) and see, too, if there are sequels to this one. However, I am not sure that it is a series--I will have to check that out.

Venus Diamond gets called to investigate a murder which has occured in the middle of a protected wildlife zone--a lovely meadow which is home to protected species and which the Department of Interior is considering selling. She doesn't want the sale to happen but may be powerless to prevent it, unless she finds a butterfly thought to be extinct. In the meantime, she must also solve subsequent murders--none of which seem related, but all of which she has a "feeling" about. Apparently the murderer has "feelings" about her too, and resents her investigation--at least two attempts on her life occur. Will she solve the crimes and save the meadow--staying alive in the process?

Violence in the book, but adolescents and older readers will be fine with it. I will Release this at our December 2011 BXing meeting.