THE NATURALIST is a whodunit worth reading just to
meet Dr. Theodore Cray, a college professor/scientist whose inquiring mind evolves
him into a tenacious sleuth.
Spurred
by guilt feelings that his teaching might have led one of his former students,
a brilliant researcher, into circumstances that resulted in her murder, Cray
sets out to uncover what happened to her.
At the
outset, police consider Cray a suspect, because he knew the dead woman. He is
quickly released when a perfuntory autopsy lead the police to believe a bear is
the killer. The setting for this novel is Montana.
Cray’s
speciality is bioinformatics, which combines advanced computer programs with
biology. As he says of himself: “As a scientist, I observe, I analyze. I make
guesses.”
With
that background, Cray first decides a human not a bear killed his student. The
police, of course, sneer at his conclusion. Then he sets off on a hunt with an
extraodinary outcome, in this well-plotted, nicely-written whodunit, that is a
pleasure to read.
A
SUGGESTION: Please consider reading my novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST, the story of a short order cook, who aspires to be a recognized pencil artist. He stumbles into a battle with a nutty billionaire. The outcome will surprise you.
