In Rhino We Trust

August 19, 2019
Butler’s fine third Jenny Willson mystery (after 2018’s No Place for Wolverines) takes the Canadian national park warden to Namibia to help train new officers hired to crack down on that nation’s rhino horn smuggling problem. Her arrival comes soon after the discovery of a rhino carcass, stripped of its horns, in a Namibian nature conservancy, along with the corpse of anti-poaching ranger Chioto Shipanga, who was shot to death. Shipanga was missing for two days before his brother-in-law and friend, fellow ranger Sam Mogotsi, found the body. Despite Mogotsi’s closeness with the deceased, the authorities view him as the prime suspect. Inevitably, the homicide investigation overlaps with Willson’s work, and she becomes increasingly concerned about the inquiry’s integrity. In an unnecessary romantic subplot, she gets help from Danny Trang, a Canadian photojournalist who’s attracted to her. The clever solution to Shipanga’s murder will have fair-play fans marveling at how they were deceived. Readers will want to see more of this appealing heroine.