Domenic Jejune is suspended. Not to be working on police investigations. Not to be getting information from his fellow officers. And yet, somehow he ends up looking into a suspicious death in Antarctica. The victim was a refugee with no family and no strong ties to any country. The Antarctic base is on land not claimed by any country. There is literally no jurisdiction. Lots of wiggle room to allow Jejune to insert himself.
At first, the schedule at the police station is so quiet that Colleen Shepherd starts a painting project to clean up the place. Then there are fires, some of the birding blinds in the saltmarsh and part of the Institute that the murder victim worked for. Coincidence? Nobody really thinks so—now Shepherd has to convince Jejune to drop his investigation or risk losing his job.
It's a small police department, so the politics are personal. Jejune may not be present, but all the others feel his influence in their work. They know they have to pick up their games. And yet, they manage to get tangled in a mess like kittens in a yarn basket.
Burrows really faked me out at the end. He did a real Agatha Christie move, playing with my emotions relentlessly. Well done, sir. Some things are resolved, but important questions remain, indicating, to me at least, that there is at least one more volume of the birder murder mysteries still to come.
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