Gunn Zoo Mystery

If Lucy, the pregnant Giant Anteater from Belize, didn't kill the man found dead in her enclosure, who did? California zookeeper Teddy Bentley must find the real murderer before her furry friend is shipped off to another zoo in disgrace. Then another human bites the dust, the monkeys riot, and the wolves go nuts. Things get worse when the snooty folks at Gunn Landing Harbor attempt to evict Teddy from her beloved houseboat. That's just the beginning. Her father, on the lam from the Feds for embezzling millions, gets targeted by a local gangster. Her socialite mother, Caro, a former beauty queen who loathes Teddy's dangerous job, starts introducing her to “eligible bachelors.” But Teddy has already given her heart to Sheriff Joe Rejas, a migrant worker's son. Caro is not pleased. Zoo life, animal lore, and the leaky ups and downs of Central Coast California houseboat living create a thrilling backdrop for murder.

When zookeeper Theodora “Teddy” Bentley fishes the body of Koala Kate out of Gunn Landing Harbor, she discovers that her fellow zookeeper didn't drown; she was strangled. The clues to Koala Kate's killer implicate other animal keepers at the Gunn Zoo, including Outback Bill, marsupial keeper and Kate's Aussie ex-boyfriend; and Robin Chase, the big cat keeper who's got it in for Teddy. Also displaying suspicious behavior are a shady “animal psychic” and even Caro, Teddy's much-married, ex–beauty queen mother. Meanwhile, to pay for repairs on the motor on her beloved houseboat, Teddy agrees to appear on a weekly live television broadcast featuring misbehaving animals. Between a cuddly koala, a panicky wallaby, and a killer zeroing in on her, all hell is about to break loose. A Posioned Pen Press Mystery

Theodora "Teddy" Bentley, zookeeper at the Gunn Zoo, takes the zoos llama, Alejandro, to a Renaissance fair in the Monterey Bay area. That is where Teddy discovers the still-warm body of the Reverend Victor Emerson, owner of the local wedding chapel, dressed in his costume as Henry the Eighth. At first it appears that Alejandro stomped the man to death, but a closer look shows a crossbow dart in the man's back. Teddy's investigation reveals that Reverend Victor wasn't really a reverend at all but an escaped convict, which means that every marriage he performed in the past twenty years is null and void. Teddy's mother, Caro, a spoiled ex-beauty queen, becomes the chief murder suspect and is immediately jailed when she causes a riot in the courtroom. The "reverend" had twice married Caro to wealthy men, and when both marriages failed, Caro received large financial settlements that she may now have to give back-certainly a motive for murder. But Caro wasn't the only person gunning for Victor. The child of the man that Victor the convict once murdered may have wanted to kill him too. Then even Teddy herself is handcuffed and jailed. Even worse, Teddy's embezzling father flies in from exile in Costa Rica to help spring Caro from jail, putting his own freedom in jeopardy. As Teddy continues her investigation, she finds herself up to her ears in Renaissance fair actors and stuntmen, assorted animals, squabbling boat live-aboarders, and gang members.

An exotic trip to Iceland puts Teddy the zookeeper in the middle of the murder case of a wealthy bird watcher. California zookeeper Theodora Bentley travels to Iceland to pick up an orphaned polar bear cub destined for the Gunn Zoo's newly installed Northern Climes exhibit. The trip is intended to be a combination of work and play. But on day two, while horseback riding near a picturesque seaside village, Teddy discovers a man lying atop a puffin burrow, shot through the head. The victim is identified as American bird watcher Simon Parr, winner of the largest Powerball payout in history. Is Teddy a witness-or a suspect? Others include not only Parr's wife, a famed suspense novelist, but fellow members of the birding club Parr had generously treated to their lavish Icelandic expedition. Hardly your average birders, several of them have had serious brushes with the law back in the states. Guessing that an American would best understand other Americans, police detective Thorvaald Haraldsson grudgingly concedes her innocence and allows Teddy to tag along with the group to volcanoes, glaciers, and deep continental rifts in quest of rare bird species. But once another member of the club is murdered and a rockfall barely misses Teddy's head, Haraldsson forbids her to continue. She ignores him and, in a stunning, solitary face-off with the killer in Iceland's wild interior, concludes an investigation at once exotic, thrilling, and rich in animal lore.