Iris Oakley, a young zookeeper at the Finley Memorial Zoo, hopes to reconcile with her newly sober husband, Rick. But when he’s found dead drunk—and dead—in the lion exhibit, a paralyzing mix of grief and anger keeps Iris from questioning the assumptions around his death. But Iris’ friends motivate her to prove that her husband could not have died the way it appears.
Meanwhile, Iris must also adjust to losing her beloved job as feline keeper and instead learn to be a bird keeper. The zoo’s veterinarian respects her skills, but the foreman and senior bird-keep seem to prefer that she get a job elsewhere. After Iris survives a series of near-fatal “accidents,” she begins to understand what really happened to Rick. But first Iris must survive to prove it.
Ann Littlewood worked for the Oregon Zoo for twelve years as a zookeeper before a career in business writing with Kaiser Permanente. She lives in Portland, Oregon, across the river from Vancouver, Washington, the home of the fictional Finley Memorial Zoo. She is a lifelong environmentalist and a volunteer with the Audubon Society of Portland. She restricts her private zoo to one small dog and an earthworm colony.
Cassandra Campbell has recorded nearly two hundred audiobooks and directed many more. She has been nominated for and won multiple Audie Awards, as well as the prestigious Odyssey Award. She has received numerous starred audio reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and more than twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards. Cassandra was also named a Best Voice by AudioFile for 2009 and 2010.