A Naturalist with Character—guest post for Bear Witness

Guest Blog Post, by Linda O. Johnston, who wrote Bear Witness, the first Alaska Untamed Mystery, under the pseudonym Lark O. Jensen:

A Naturalist With Character

Have you ever been to Alaska? I have. I’ve taken several cruises there over time, and went on a small tour boat on the waters near Juneau during my most recent cruise. Inspiration! That’s why I began plotting and writing the Alaska Untamed mysteries.

Why? Well, first of all I like animals, especially dogs. But I find it fun to observe wildlife too. I live in Los Angeles, in an area where I can sometimes see and hear coyotes, though they’re not my favorite kind of local wildlife, especially since I worry about my small dogs. But they live on a nearby hillside where deer are, too, and they’re a lot more fun to see. Plus, I like squirrels in my yard and murders of crows, and there is even a flock of parrots who come around often to the park where I exercise.

But then there’s Alaska, where I loved seeing the mama seals with their babies on small ice floes in the water off my tour boat. There were also whales and dolphins in the water, eagles and kittiwakes in the air, and brown bears and wolves on the nearby hillsides.

They were all mentioned in Bear Witness, my first Alaska Untamed mystery under my first pseudonym, Lark O. Jensen.

My protagonist is Stacie Calder, a naturalist by nature and profession, who just happens to be a tour guide on a boat similar to the one that inspired me to start writing this series. She’s there with her sweet husky Sasha, who actually helps her discover and solve the mystery.

See, someone disappears from the tour boat one day, and Sasha’s great sense of scent helps to discover him on the next tour lying dead in the water in an inlet they visit. Who killed him? Well, Stacie has to figure that out despite being a naturalist and not a detective. She’s got quite a few suspects, as well as an officer of the law who not only gets upset with her for snooping but also becomes a love interest.

And does she figure out who the murderer is? Well, Bear Witness is a cozy mystery, and Stacie becomes an amateur sleuth, so I think you can guess the answer.

About Lark O. Jensen

Lark O. Jensen is the pseudonym of Linda O. Johnston, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer. Linda writes multiple series, including the Barkery & Biscuits Mystery series, the Superstition Mysteries, the Pet Rescue Mysteries, and the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries.

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