The term eco-thriller or eco-mystery seems to be very much in vogue at the moment. This has partly been driven by the recent publication of two titles; Olga Tokarczuk’s, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (tp$23) and Shaena Lambert’s Petra (tp$22.95 ).
Olga Tokarczuk won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2018. This novel was published in Poland in 2009 but not translated into English until 2018 and not available in Canada until 2019. Set in Poland, the female narrator, Janina Duszejko, lives in a remote forest near the Czech border. The area is sparsely populated in winter because most of the houses are second homes used only in the summer. The narrator makes enough money to support herself and her two dogs by caretaking these houses in the winter months. Although there are deaths, of members of a local hunting club, this book is in the words of one reviewer “not your classic murder mystery”. It is not clear whether Janina is more concerned about the human murder or the shooting of a stag.
Canadian Sheana Lambert’s novel, Petra, is based on the life of Petra Kelly, who was one of the founders of Die Grunen (the German Green Party) in 1979 and served a number of terms in the West German Bundestag between 1983 and 1990. She had been a prime mover in the 1980 campaign to ban nuclear weapons and to stop NATO from stationing nuclear weapons in West Germany. It was during this campaign that Petra came into contact with a NATO general, who was converted to her cause and eventually the ‘General and the Peace Maiden’ became a major force in the campaign to ban nuclear weapons and save the planet.
However, mysteries with environmental themes are not really a new phenomenon. A quick survey of some of the most popular mystery writers shows that many of them have novels where environmental issues play a part. It is the solving of the murders of two Supreme Court Justices in Washington D.C that is the premise for John Grishams’s second novel, The Pelican Brief, (mm used $5) although much of the action in this book takes place in New Orleans. It is in Louisiana, that the motive for the deaths, a cover up of an environmental disaster, occurs. Grisham has other titles which could fall into the eco-thriller category, including The Appeal, (mm$12.99), published in 2007, which deals with the dumping of toxic waste. A toxic waste cover up is also at the heart of Donna Leon’s Death in a Strange Country, (tp $23) published in 1993. The second book in Leon’s series set in Venice has Commissario Guido Brunetti called to the discovery of a body floating in the canal outside the hospital on Santi Giovanni e Paolo. A parallel theme that runs through many of the eco-thrillers is government corruption. While David R. Boyd’s Thirst For Justice (tp$22.95) deals more with the humanitarian issues faced by his protagonist Dr. Michael MacDougall, while serving with MSF in the Congo. It is hard to avoid the impact of the degradation of the environment on his characters. David R. Boyd is a Canadian lawyer who is the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment.
Anna Pigeon, the main character in Nevada Barr’s mystery series, is a park ranger. Obviously, an occupation that is going to provide more opportunity for running into environmental issues. Two of the novels in particular deal with these issues; Superior Death, (used $5) published in 1994 and set in the Isle Royale National Park which deals with eco-justice and Ill Wind (mm $11.99), published in 1995 and set in the Mesa Verde National Park. Barr herself worked for a time as a seasonal park ranger after her husband gave up his career as a theatre director in New York, when he became interested in environmental issues. Another author who knows a lot about wildlife issues is Keith McCafferty, who is the Survival and Outdoor Skills editor of Field & Stream magazine. In Buffalo Jump Blues (tp$22) the fifth title in his Sean Stranahan series, a herd of bison is found dying at the bottom of the cliffs facing the Madison River. Stampeding animals over the cliffs had been a way the indigenous peoples were able to catch the animals on whom they depended for both food and clothing, before guns had come into the American West. In searching for an answer to this modern stampeding Sean comes face to face with adversaries who neither respect the land nor the animals who inhabit it. It also raises questions about the U.S. wildlife management policy.
Global warming and rising sea levels are other environmental issues that recur. Michael Crichton’s, State of Fear, (used $5) published in 2004 is one and Matthew Glass’ Ultimatum, (mm $13.99) published in 2009, is another. Ultimatum set in 2032 charts the political battles and secret negotiations, between the United States and China to deal with the issue that is threatening the existence of Miami and other coastal cities around the world. Water, although this time fresh water, is also at the heart of Marcia Muller’s Cape Perdido. This title is not part of her long running Sharon McCone series. The issue in this novel is water harvesting and its impact on local communities. An issue not unknown in present day Canada.
I am ending this survey of eco/enviro mysteries back in New Orleans with James Lee Burke’s Creole Belle, (tp $23) published in 2012. An oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening both the bayous and the population both human and animal. Detective Dave Robicheaux is no stranger to environmental disasters as in a previous novel, Tin Roof Blow Down, (used mm$5) published in 2007 he was in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Many who were actually in New Orleans during the immediate aftermath of Katrina in 2005 believe that this novel gives the most complete and honest account of the event.
I suspect that there are many authors and titles that I may have overlooked in this piece. If there is an omission that you feel strongly about, please let me know.