A MURDER OF CROWS-- review

A MURDER OF CROWS by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett ISBN: 978-147-1412424 A 2022 release from Embla Books Billed as a cosy mystery, this UK crime novel is far more complex and mysterious than the typical cozy. Readers can acquire clues to the depth and breadth of the story by looking at the map in the front of the printed edition of the novel. Principal character is Dr. Nell Ward, a licensed, educated and trained ecologist. In the UK that's an important job requiring a substantial scientific education and a willingness to penetrate grubby situtions populated by nasty lives of bats, insects and other critters, often dismissed out of hand by developers and most other humans. Habitat research surveys are legally rquired in new development on previously existing farms and plantations. Such surveys have financial implications and Dr. Ward is an ecologist who considers the job of vital importance to the environment. We find her searching through brambles and a long-closed, abanoned tunnel at Manor House Farm where she becomes emeshed in a murder investigation. In fact, she becomes suspect, not illogically, due to certain indiscretions in her past which give any police team investigating the murder, pause. Dr. Nell Ward is a woman of talent, intelligence and conviction who carries a checkered past. Protecting her reputation as a lady, helping to preserve bat and critter habitat and moving forward with her nascent love life in the company of fellow scienctists and college buddies, while helping solve the murder, moves this rich and entertining novel forward, if not always at the best pace. This is, however, a well-plotted, incident-rich story following several fascinating characters. If the pace slows occasionally, the narrtive is bolstered by the main narrative and the work of Dr. Nell Ward and her scientific coleagues. Dr. Ward is a modern woman well worth appreciation.