Mowat, author of Never Cry Wolf and Sea of Slaughter, had access to Fossey's private papers; he has used excerpts from her diaries, amplifying the material with interviews from people who knew her wellfriends, enemies, colleagues, lovers. It is a gripping story from beginning to gruesome end, filled with drama, intrigue and love affairs. Fossey was an attractive, intelligent, determined woman; she was duped by some of the men in her life and, in the end, victim of ugly rumors and lies. Mowat redresses the record and offers a new theory about her murder in Africa in 1985. He believes that the two-year extension of her visa was Fossey's death warrant, that she had become a threat to Rwandans who wanted to exploit parkland for tourismnot a poacher, but a hired assassin killed Fossey. Her mercurial personality alone gives the book a wider audience than most in the nature-adventure genreand it is fitting that such a passionate defender of wildlife as Mowat write about her. Illustrations. (October 13)
