book details

Book: Nature's Gory by Harriet Darling

categories: Book, Nature Photography, Journalist, Murder, Killer, Oregon, Sleuth, Mountains, Sheriff, National Park, Thriller

Harriet Darling

about this book: "Nature's Gory" is a novella about a young nature photographer who stumbles over the body of a dying man as she hikes in the woods off a mountain highway near Portland, Oregon. When the sheriff determines it was murder, Darryl Whitman is suspected since it was she who discovered the body. She readily alibis herself and prepares to go on to her next assignment, but is requested not to leave town until a hearing can be held.

Readers of thrillers with a strong female lead will enjoy "Nature's Gory," though there is some explicit violence. I found the most difficult part of writing this book to be the violence; usually a Young Adult and Middle Grade author, I tend to write more fantasy, but Darryl very much wanted her story told.

Since the lead character is a nature photographer, there was quite a bit about photography that I didn't know and had to research. But my son has done a great deal of nature photography so he helped a lot with the details.

I did enjoy writing the book, but I will probably stick more to my fantasy tales in future.