A Ghost of Caribou by Alice Henderson
What’s it About?
Wildlife biologist Alex Carter encounters an unsolved murder and a town in turmoil while in search of a majestic, all-but-vanished animal.
A Ghost of Caribou (William Morrow)isthe third in a series of light-up-the-night/edge-of-your-seat suspenseful wilderness thrillers written by Alice Henderson featuring wildlife biologist Dr. Alex Carter. It is most definitely not a cozy mystery. It may well keep you awake at night with your lights blazing!
Many of us prefer our wilderness mild. Daylight hiking with ample picnic provisions in the company of noisy friends to keep bears at bay could be fun in fair weather. Glamping (camping with all creature comforts including a roof over one’s head and indoor plumbing) could be a pleasant diversion.
The very thought of living alone in a remote wilderness area among wild animals, without cell phone service, is not only inconceivable but positively terrifying. However, for the author and her fictional counterpart, the isolation offers meaningful work and quiet contemplation in a seemingly peaceful paradise.
Biologist Tracks Wandering Wild Caribou
During the course of recent field research assignments as an independent contractor wildlife biologist, Alex Carter has survived harrowing adventures in A Solitude of Wolverines in Montanaand A Blizzard of Polar Bears set in the Canadian arctic.
She hopes her new job will be devoid of homicidal gunmen this time around. Alex has been hired by the Land Trust for Wildlife Conservation to conduct wilderness studies to determine whether a southern mountain caribou, extinct in the lower 48 states, has wandered from Canada into Washington State in the Selkirk Mountains as reported by a volunteer who claims to have seen one. This mountain range extends from the southwestern portion of British Columbia into northeastern Washington and the northern panhandle of Idaho.
Caribou and reindeer are the same animal; large members of the deer family, thus also related to elk and moose. In North America, reindeer are domesticated members of the caribou family. They are herbivorous and uniquely, both males and females grow antlers.
The southern mountain caribou are so elusive the indigenous people referred to them as “gray ghosts of the forest” as they live in dense, old-growth forests in snowy, high-altitude locations. Their big, shovel-shaped feet function as snowplows to both walk on the surface of dense snowpack as well as to clear the ground to gain access to tree-growing lichen, a primary food source, allowing them to survive extreme winter conditions.
Excess logging of old-growth timber and the expansion of winter recreation either killed them outright or drove these endangered animals farther north into Canada. A successful study could lead to changes in logging practices.
Wildlife Sanctuary Brings Alex to a Small-Town
Alex loves her chosen profession which provides opportunities to travel and do interesting work studying a variety of species. Accommodations vary widely and may be quite primitive.
On this assignment, she is looking forward to her base in a 1930’s ranch house in The Selkirk Wildlife Sanctuary. It will be more comfortable than many assignments as the house has heat, running water, indoor plumbing, a small kitchen and a functioning landline with internet access but zero cell phone service. She can stay in touch with her lifelines, her widowed father and best friend, Zoe, a working actress.
Her Dad, a successful landscape painter, has realized one of his dreams, of being accepted as an artist-in-residence at a prestigious plein air festival at the Grand Canyon where he will paint, exhibit and teach for the summer. Zoe keeps her laughing about bizarre problems occurring on the Studio City set of a big-budget Sci-Fi film where she has the lead.
The preserve is located outside of a small foothills town, Bellamy Falls, that has all the essentials with a well-stocked grocery store, a bakery, a couple of cafes and a sheriff’s office. She is delighted her Montana friend Kathleen MacKlay will be working nearby as a summer fire lookout. Alex Carter is in her element, ready to set up remote cameras and begin her research.
A Murdered Forest Ranger and Frequent Conflicts
The scene is less idyllic when she arrives in Bellamy Falls planning to shop for groceries before traveling to the ranch. A missing female forest ranger has been found murdered with the body moved and strung up in the town’s park. She then learns a backcountry woman hiker went missing a year ago near the preserve.
There are frequent clashes between loggers — who are clear-cutting nearby — and activists including a young woman who has camped for months in a makeshift tree house high in the branches of one of the oldest trees in the threatened old-growth forest. There is a temporary ban on logging here that could become permanent if the caribou is proven to be present.
Clyde, the lumberjack on site to oversee the safety of the now dormant logging equipment, is enraged about the possibility of lost jobs. He frequently threatens the “tree hugger” with bodily harm and extends his rage to include Alex when he learns she has been hired by the Land Trust. In this preserve, the most dangerous predator is man.
Alex is alarmed by clear signs the remote cameras she has installed have been tampered with and certain photos erased. She encounters a squatter in the woods, trip wires that trigger a number of life-threatening mantraps, a system of underground tunnels and evidence suggesting a serial killer may be in their midst.
She narrowly escapes severe injury if not death during the course of her research. When her friend Kathleen is snatched from the fire tower, all of her survival skills and wilderness lore come into play as she launches full-on into search and rescue-mode. It’s a twisty, hair-raising, thrill-a-minute mystery in A Ghost of Caribou that you don’t want to miss.
Based on Author’s Own Studies and Research
Alice Hendersonis a real-life eco-warrior who, aside from the ruthless serial killers and murderers she conjures up, is thoroughly acquainted with the environments where she works to protect wildlife species and uses as the settings for her riveting novels. During the course of her career, she has surveyed grizzly bear populations as well as wolves, wolverines, jaguars, bats and other endangered mammals.
Like her protagonist, Alex Carter, Alice Henderson is a wildlife researcher specializing in bioacoustic studies (investigating and recording sounds). Her work includes determining animal and bird species present on preserves and in parks by setting up and using remote cameras and sound equipment as well by examining tracks, scat and direct observation. It takes tremendous courage, skill and training to tranquilize wary creatures in order to make health assessments and attach monitoring devices.
In addition, the author and Alex Carter create maps and provide detailed geographic information while checking for signs of poaching. Both share concerns and fears about climate change, greed leading to habitat destruction, overdevelopment and species extinction degrading air and water quality that threaten the health and very life of our planet Earth. Alice Henderson’swriting is effective on two levels as she gently educates a wider audience without preaching while providing exhilarating entertainment blending fiction and fact. She provides links with additional information in the back of each book. Her work could translate to a riveting film or television series in the hands of the right team.
About Alice Henderson
Alice Henderson’s love of wild places inspired her new thriller series, which begins with A Solitude of Wolverines, as well as her novel Voracious, which takes place in Glacier National Park.
Alice is a dedicated wildlife researcher. Using a variety of methods including bioacoustic studies, she undertakes wildlife surveys to determine what species are present on lands that have been set aside for conservation. There she ensures there are no signs of poaching and devises ways to improve habitat. Using geographic information systems (GIS), she also designs wildlife corridors and builds habitat suitability models and species distribution models. She has surveyed for the presence of grizzlies, wolves, spotted owls, wolverines, jaguars, endangered bats and more.
She has also written media tie-in novels, including official novels for the TV shows Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While working at LucasArts, she wrote material for several Star Wars video games. She was selected to attend Launchpad, a NASA-funded writing workshop aimed at bringing accurate science to fiction. She holds an interdisciplinary master’s degree.
Publish Date: 11/15/2022
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers
Author: Alice Henderson
Page Count: 320 pages
Publisher: William Morrow
ISBN: 9780063223004
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