cover image Night of the Panther: A Tony Lowell Mystery

Night of the Panther: A Tony Lowell Mystery

E. C. Ayres. St. Martin's Press, $22.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-312-15607-7

Florida, as portrayed by Ayres (Hour of the Manatee; Eye of the Gator), is no sunshine state. Government shutdowns, the rise of local militias and developers behind every tree make life tough and troubling for the thoughtful, including PI Tony Lowell and Detective Lena Bedrosian of the Manatee police. Lena calls for Tony's help when she sniffs a cover-up in the investigation of the murder of her cousin, Marge Pappas, a dedicated game warden whose only crime seems to have been taking her responsibility to protect a nature preserve in Big Cypress Swamp seriously. From such greedy neighbors as a local militia chapter and a politically connected hunt club, Marge protected her bit of turf as fiercely as the panther who has recently given birth there, with only State Senator Kranhower as an ally. Ayres moves from backwoods to state capital with admirable dispatch, but his tale needs one character on which readers can focus. Tony's part in the proceedings is distractingly sporadic, and the action-adventure ending seems tacked on to the carefully set up plausible situation. Nevertheless, the Florida Ayres paints and the issues he raises linger after Marge's case is closed. (May)