A Shimmer of Hummingbirds

I was interested in this book because of the "Birder Murder" tag. It seemed like a unique twist on the crime/detective genre. This is book 4 in the series, but this was the first one I have read.

The book follows the story of Domenic Jejeune. He is a detective and also an avid bird enthusiast. His brother has done something illegal and is on the run. Domenic goes to Colombia on a birding expedition, with an ulterior motive of trying to find out more about whether his brother really is guilty.

There is also another plot running alongside that of the DCI. Whilst he is in Colombia, his team is investigating a murder, and another detective is drafted in to help out in his absence.

Both storylines are detailed and interesting. They are not connected as such, apart from some contact between the characters, but they run alongside each other very well. The chapters more or less alternate between the two stories, and they run cleverly in tandem in terms of pace and tension, finishing at the same time.

The descriptions of the countryside and birds are beautifully written and very detailed. Both the jungle and rural English countryside settings are idyllic as seen through the eyes of the author, in spite of the murder and intrigue contained within the described scenes.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Both of the mysteries were clever and unusual. I must admit that at times, particularly at the start of the book, I was a little lost and it took some time for me to get to know the characters. I put this down to not having read the earlier books in the series, and the author assumes that the characters are already well-known to the reader at this point. However, this did not spoil my enjoyment of the book as a whole and I am keen to go back and read the earlier books in the series.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a more traditional detective or mystery novel. There is no extreme suspense or tension in the book and it is not contemporary in terms of the characters, locations, speech or the lack of violence, sex, drugs, internet usage, etc. This is just a beautifully written, adult, quite serious and fluently descriptive, good old detective story.