Developer Harry Ness manages to win Phoebe’s land, promising her life rights to her home. Many other local groups from the Conservation Trust to a group of golfing doctors wish to buy the land from Ness and seemingly will stop at nothing to prevent another group from getting it.

While searching the land for any endangered species, thus preventing its development, Victoria stumbles across the body of a local, smarmy lawyer. No one seems especially shocked to find the man dead, nor is anyone surprised to learn that he has been dead for three or four weeks and no one seemed to notice he was missing.

With an eleven-year-old guide who is supposed to make Victoria’s outing seem innocent (but who makes a very unusual, very unexplained, side-kick), Victoria continues to explore the property, finding several species that will enable the Trust to invoke the endangered species act. The entire time Victoria and young Robin are exploring, they get the feeling they are being followed.

The peppy, elderly poet continues to hunt endangered species as she attempts to flush out a murderer, all the while enjoying the natural beauty of the relatively undeveloped island. Cynthia Riggs writes with a wonderful sense of place and includes minute, authentic details of the local wildlife, which go a long way to creating the overall atmosphere of this small town cozy.

The characters, save Victoria, are not especially well-fleshed out, and some of them (Phoebe’s granddaughter) flit in and out with no real purpose, other than the possibility of another suspect, an idea which never really takes hold. The mystery surrounding the endangered species is more intriguing than the murder of a sleazy layer, and while many suspects abound, few are considered and several obvious ones are overlooked.

Nonetheless, The Cranefly Orchid Murders is a warm, folksy mystery with a charming heroine and a wonderfully drawn, very inviting setting.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry