Anteater of Death

This cozy mystery begins with Lucy the Giant Anteater from Belize narrating. She smells a human interloper in her pen at the Gunn Landing Zoo and discovers him covered with hundreds of delicious ants. The victim of the zoo turns out to be Grayson Harrill, an employee and husband of the wealthy Gunn family who sponsor the zoo. The narration is then picked up by Theodora “Teddy” Bentley, another zoo employee.

Teddy knows that Lucy didn't kill Grayson which immediately puts her on the opposite side of boss and most of the community. Eventually Teddy expands her investigation and ends up being shot at, slugged on the head in a swirling fog, and eventually becomes a suspect in another murder. She also ignores any advice of her show more over-protective mother, her fugitive father, and her ex-boyfriend who just happens to be the sheriff.

What a delightfully fresh and funny mystery this turned out to be. It's filled with humor and some real laugh at loud moments. The atmosphere of the zoo is very realistic. In addition to a well thought out mystery plot we also learn a lot about monkeys, wolves and giant anteaters, as well as individual animals like Makeba, a giraffe who gis expecting a baby; Cisco, the alpha male wolf; and Carlos, the magpie jay who wants Teddy for his avian mate. I absolutely loved it and plan on reading the rest of the series. show less

First Line: Intrigued by the commotion underneath the banana palm, Lucy curled her four-inch claws under her leathery pads and moved forward on her knuckles to investigate.

If Lucy, the pregnant Giant Anteater at the Gunn Zoo in central California, didn't kill the man found dead in her enclosure, who did? It's up to her keeper, Teddy Bentley, to find out before the anteater is shipped to another zoo in disgrace.

Before Teddy can really get started, another human bites the dust, the monkeys have a hissy fit, the wolves are in a tizzy, and the rich Harbor folks are trying to evict Teddy from her houseboat. Has Teddy got what it takes to save Lucy-- and herself?

I have long been a fan of Webb's series set right here in the Phoenix show more metropolitan area which feature P.I. Lena Jones. I also know that Webb can do humor after reading her blog entry about being left at a truck stop while on a book tour. When I learned that she was starting a new-- and cozier-- series featuring a zookeeper, I was eager to try it out.

Although The Anteater of Death features one of those characters I want to slap-- the Annoying Mother-- I really enjoyed the book. Teddy has a good sense of humor that made me laugh out loud more than once, she truly cares for animals, she deals as best she can with The Mother, and she has good instincts on how to conduct an investigation:

"Since I couldn't seem to find any actual clues, the solution to the mystery might be found in behavior. For all their purported brainpower, people are still animals. Deny them food, exercise, or sex, and they get cranky. Threaten them and they become downright dangerous."

Although the Bad Guy should've been obvious to me, the reveal came as a surprise-- mostly because the book was filled with attention grabbers, both two- and four-legged. This isn't called a "Gunn Zoo mystery" for nothing. Animals do play significant roles in the book, so if you're allergic, this may not be the book-- or the series-- for you. I loved the plot, the setting, most of the characters, and all the animals. show less

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Book Description: But 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 the Merilee, 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; and Caro, Teddy's socialite mother, a former beauty queen who loathes Teddy's dangerous job, starts introducing her to "eligible show more 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.

My Review: Very pleasant read, enjoyable way to wile away a few hours, and a chance to go behind the scenes of a zoo.

Plus I now love Lucy the Anteater as a character.

None of the human characters left me with such warm feelings, though I like Teddy and can see she'll be interesting as time goes by. Joe, her love interest, is clearly being set up as a complex character with A Past, and Teddy's mother Caro is more to my liking by the end than she is at the beginning.

But. And this is a big one. The killer and the motive for the killings of the two characters who die...well, it wasn't deft, and it wasn't in keeping with the build-up. Way too little made of the killer, at least for the sake of the big reveal, so we're not given any click of puzzle pieces coming together until too late to make it fully satisfying.

Still and all, it's a darn sight more fun to see a mystery keep me guessing than require me to close my eyes and will the knowledge away every twenty pages! So this series is a next, please, as I move on to book two. Always a good feeling for a serial series murderer...I mean murder mystery fan.

Of course I do. show less

Another book heard on the iphone. It is sooo cool to be able to listen to a book as I drive, walk, clean etc.
I jsut finished this one yesterday, and again, I guess really because I love mysteries, I enjoyed this book. I was particularly fascinated by the information Webb includes about how zoos operate, and about the animals' designations according to danger. I also loved how she gave Lucy the anteater such an interesting personality in the opening. I don't blame her for being peeved about that human ending up in her enclosure. I love how she loves her bananas, and in the end how she loved her baby after it was born. I know it's anthropomorphizing the animal, but hey, who says they don't actually think that way in their own minds - how show more are we truly to know what goes on in their minds?
It's a little annoying that the main character can't seem to have a happy love life, but that seems a common aspect of the mystery genre, at least these kind of mysteries written around the young woman who can't keep herself from trying to figure out what's going on. I guess a good relationship might get in the way.
I plan to look for more book in this series as well. show less

Book on CD read by Hillary Huber

Zookeeper Theodora (Teddy) Bentley is responsible for the Gunn Zoo’s Giant Anteater, Lucy. When cleaning Lucy’s enclosure Teddy finds the body of a man. But Teddy is certain that he wasn’t killed by Lucy, and she has to prove it.

As cozy mysteries go, this is a pretty good one. A zookeeper is an interesting – and different – occupation for an amateur sleuth. Teddy’s life is complicated by a mother (Caro) who is a former beauty queen and socialite, and a father who is wanted by the feds for embezzling. As if that’s not enough to deal with, the local Sheriff is a former high-school flame, and it seems the attraction is still hot. Of course, Caro disapproves of the migrant-worker’s son and show more persists in trying to introduce Teddy to a wealthy eligible bachelor. And then a few miscreants at the harbor where Teddy moors her boat – The Merilee – are threatening to have her evicted from her berth.

Webb gives tidbits of information on the animals Teddy cares for, as well as the joys and challenges of living aboard a refitted trawler. We get some back story on Teddy and Sheriff Joe Rejas, as well as Teddy’s family. Teddy is a strong female lead, intelligent and self-sufficient, if a little foolhardy at times. There were plenty of suspects to keep me guessing, and a reasonably satisfactory ending. I’ll definitely read more of this series.

Hillary Huber’s performance on the audio was less than stellar. She has good pacing, but I really hated the voices she used for most of the characters. show less

I enjoyed this one. While the protagonist made some blindingly stupid decisions - all too typical in a cozy series - the writing about the animals more than made up for it. The author does a great job of getting inside an animal's head without anthropomorphism - and clearly gets that people are not all that much more complicated than other animals.

Unsurprisingly, I have a bit of a crush on the love interest :) If anything knocks me out of this series, it will be the protagonist making plot-driven-yet-stupid relationship decisions. She gets a pass for now, since this is just the first book in the series and I want to hear more about the zoo and all its denizens. Hopefully that won't happen in later installments :)

Lucy, the anteater at Gunn Zoo, is pregnant. When a man is found murdered in her enclosure, she is initially blamed, but they soon find out he was shot before he ended up in her enclosure. Her zookeeper Teddy (Theodora) tries to help out her former (high school) boyfriend (now sheriff), Joe, with the investigation.

I really liked this – of course a lot of my enjoyment was due to the zoo animals. I also loved that the first and last chapters were from Lucy's point of view. I'm definitely planning to read more in the series.