A Birder's Guide to Murder

Book excerpt: When the guest of honor is killed at an annual birding convention, justice will be swift . . . A flying visit to the City of Brotherly Love takes a murderous turn for Amy Simms, owner of Birds & Bees . . . Amy and her bird-loving crew are ducking out of Ruby Lake, North Carolina to attend the annual American Birding Expo in Philadelphia. The event will generate publicity for Birds & Bees, though assistant manager Esther is strangely reluctant to attend. Before she’s even set up their booth, Amy manages to insult JJ Fuller, famed bird photographer and the expo’s guest of honor. An inauspicious beginning, made worse when JJ is found dead as a dodo, his head caved in by a pair of binoculars. The police suspect Esther is mixed up in murder, and her mysterious past starts coming to light. Amy isn’t sure what to believe. JJ boasted that he would be the first to locate a near-extinct woodpecker. Did a rival decide to beat him—literally—to the punch? With a ZombieFest convention taking place in the exhibit hall next door, there’s all kinds of creepiness to contend with. And somewhere among the birders and the walking dead there’s a killer hoping to fly the coop before justice is served . . .