The Puffin of Death: A Gunn Zoo Mystery (Gunn Zoo Series)

by Betty Webb | Mystery & Thrillers |
ISBN: 1464204160 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 2/28/2017
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Tuesday, February 28, 2017
I found this fair-condition paperback on the book-swap shelf in the Tyngsboro MA post office lobby, and nabbed it for another release copy. (It's the fourth book in the over-the-top funny/goofy "Gunn Zoo" series that began with The Anteater of Death.) This one takes heroine/zookeeper Teddy Gunn to Iceland, and in many ways I think this helped the story: sit spared us the too-wacky goings-on with regard to Teddy's overbearing mother and flighty father, and focused more on the lovely Iceland setting and a new set of characters.

That said, it did stretch belief a bit to have Teddy romping around with a group of bird-watching tourists who've just lost one of their number to an accident-or-is-it-murder - but, that aside, I enjoyed the story. (I did spot a couple of typos; there's a list of character names up front, including those of the animals, from zoo critters to horses, and some of those names were mixed up. As I was reading along later in the book I found myself double-checking: "Wait, I thought that was a fox, why is it nesting?")

The puffin of the title is very cute and charming, in its squawky way, but Magnus the polar-bear cub stole every scene he was in. I'm not sure if nightlife in Reykjavik is quite as boisterous as the book makes out - or perhaps I'm jaded by some of the darker Iceland-based mystery novels I've read - but in any case it made for an entertaining story. And some of the bird-watching scenes were hilarious, including one where Teddy spotted a scarlet tanager and promptly threw all caution out of the window. [They're worth the trouble!] Another hilarious scene had to do with a part of the rocky coast where lots of film companies were shooting, with several different genres in progress at once; this caused some lovely scenes of spacemen and vikings all having lunch together.

Does Teddy solve the mystery, get the polar-bear cub back to the zoo safely, and resist the temptation to cheat on her loving fiance? Read and find out!

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Railroad Square (see notes for details) in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Released 7 yrs ago (3/1/2017 UTC) at Railroad Square (see notes for details) in Nashua, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book on the railing of the gazebo in Railroad Square at around 5:45 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2017 Great Backyard Bird Count release challenge; see the GBBC page here. ***

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