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Mark of the Lion

a Jade Del Cameron Mystery
Nov 28, 2006
Being an animal lover, I admit I first picked up Mark of the Lion when I learned the author, Suzanne Arruda, was once a zookeeper. I soon found there were no animal encounters of the cute kind in this book, but the beauty of the writing and the post WWI era that it captures was enough to off-set any disappointment on that account. And there are animals, seen through the eyes of a time when real men went big game hunting and the natives they employed were equal to pack horses. The book begins with a riveting scene of Jade del Cameron driving an ambulance to the front lines of WWI France and a dogfight battled over the medical camp. A dying man's wish sends her off on an adventure to east Africa to unravel the mystery of his father's death and to find missing brother. The stiff-upper-lip colonists are shocked at seeing Jade wearing pants in public, while the younger women in this close-knit British society admire her nerve. Time and again Jade proves she's a very capable, independent woman who refuses to be discouraged by the murder of one of the colonists or the mystical beliefs of the natives who fear the laibon, a witch that can shape shift into the form of a lion or hyena. This book captivates with its sweeping descriptions of Africa's flora and fauna. It started out with a bang and kept right on going. I couldn't put it down.