Dudley's second Robyn Devara mystery, The Red Heron continues Devara's ­intriguingmisadventures. The poison in the ground and possibly in the water table of an environmentally sensitive wetland turns out to be the least of the crew's ­worries as a sniper takes aim at Devara's latest project. Sabotage turns into murder most bizarre when a dead man is found with a garden variety gnome and a pack of Polaroids.

Karen Dudley wrote a short stack of wildlife biology books for kids before trying her hand at mystery--mostly for the satisfaction of ‘bumping off’ people who irritate her in real life. Then after four environmental mysteries, she had an epiphany . . . she wanted to write fantasy! So she did. Her historical fantasies take place in ancient Greece, and they still include the odd corpse (which is not surprising, given the number of annoying personalities in the world) as well as deities and the odd mythical monster. Her first Epicurian Epic, Food for the Gods, has been nominated for the prestigious Aurora awards, the Boney Blithe award for Humours Mystery, A High Plains Book Award nomination for best culinary book as well as the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher. It's follow up, Kraken Bake will be released next spring.

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