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Reviewed: Parrot Blues, A Neil Hamel Mystery By Judith Van Gieson Harper
Collins, New York, NY, 1995, 241 pp, ISBN: 0-06-017706-3, hardcover; price
varies In reading the first few chapters of this book, the similarities between some of the book's human and avian characters and some real life people and situations struck me. The book starts out with Albuquerque sleuth/layer Neil Hamel searching for kidnapped parrot researcher Deborah Dumaine and her remarkable parrot Perigee, an intelligent and rare "indigo" parrot (more commonly known as the Lear's macaw or Anodorhynchus leari). Dumaine is a professor at the University of New Mexico whose pioneer work with intelligence and talking in Amazon parrots is world-renowned. Hmm--mm--mmm--mmm ... sounds sort of like a description of a real-life researcher from Arizona ... Of course, anyone who lives with greys for any length of time is familiar with the work of Irene Pepperberg and Alex, the Congo African grey parrot and his thinking abilities. At that point, I read the author's acknowledgements; Irene Pepperberg and Alex were included. Then it made sense ... Mind you, that's not to suggest Dr. Pepperberg ever experienced anything like the characters in the book do. And there is that standard disclaimer, "none of its characters are based on any person, living or dead ..." although you will not convince me that some of this was not based on the Alex Studies. Anyway, in her efforts to track down the kidnapped prof and her parrot, Hamel goes after a notorious parrot smuggler, but along the way, kidnapping turns to murder. There are plenty of twists and turns, some red herrings (and blue parrots!) and surprises. Parrots do play a central role in this, as one of the suspects is Dumaine's grad student assistant, who stands to gain quite a lot in terms of taking over the ongoing research project if the prof is not found ... It's a story that mystery readers and parrot lovers should enjoy - especially, if, like me, they are both. The book is almost 10 years old, and out of print, so if you want to obtain a copy, your best bet is www.amazon.com . -
Reviewed by John Geary "They are extremely rare in captivity, damn near extinct in the wild, and very, very valuable." - comment about Lear's macaws from Parrot Blues To learn more about Lear's macaws and how you can help save them, visit http://www.parrots.org/index.php/encyclopedia/profile/lears_macaw/ |
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