The Forest Prime Evil

When the controversial environmental activist, Christopher Shepard, also known as Green Man, is killed by a falling redwood, a radical conservation group hires private investigator Stuart Winter to find out who killed Shepard

The riddle of modern-day Johnny Appleseed Christopher (``the Green Man'') Shepard's death--was he killed by a falling redwood branch, as the police think, or by an operator-assisted branch, as his surviving friends in the radical ecological commune EverGreen suspect?--provides an excuse for San Francisco shamus Stuart Winter to drive to Garberville (whose two main drags are Redwood Drive and pot). There, he'll learn that the Green Man had antagonized not only logging bigwig Harold (Bull) Dozier, but also fundamentalist preacher Reginald Sawyer, marijuana moguls Red, Cincy, and Coop, and whoever didn't approve of his nudist midnight back-to-nature rituals. Stuart also learns that not all environmentalists like each other. Highly competent mystery-mongering, generously stuffed with red-herrings, subplots, and woodsy background--though several notches below Stuart's impressive debut last year in No Sign of Murder. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Far removed from ancient Rome, a modern private investigator, San Francisco-based Stuart Winter, ponders the apparent murder of the "Green Man," a self-styled Johnny Appleseed. Hired by a radical eco-defense group, he journeys to the redwood forests of northern California, where he suspects both pro-logging and pro-"save the Old Growth" factions. As he digs deeper into the Green Man's past, however, he broadens the range of suspects. Serviceable prose, quick-moving plot, and plenty of facts about endangered redwoods contribute to a fine second outing for Russell ( No Sign of Murder , Walker,
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.