The Anteater of Death

Book excerpt: 2009 Winner of the Arizona Book Award for Mystery/Suspense If Lucy, the pregnant Giant Anteater from Belize, didn't kill the man found dead in her enclosure at California's Gunn Zoo, who did? 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 and former beauty queen mother, who loathes Teddy's dangerous job, starts introducing her to eligible bachelors. Then Teddy herself becomes a target for murder.