Safari

The new StanleyHastings mystery caper takes the ever-loquacious private detective on safari inZambia-what could possibly go wrong?Stanley Hastings on safari? I don't think so. Neither didStanley, until Alice's small inheritance-coupled with scrimping on a fewluxuries like food and rent-allowed them to book a group trip to Zambia. Nowthe New York PI is hiking with lions, canoeing with hippos, and having closeencounters with elephants and giraffes.It's a dangerous safari. The leader is a reckless, gung-ho great white hunter who delights in leaping from the jeep with a hearty, "e;Comeon, gang, let's see where this lion is going!"e; And a series of bizarreaccidents quickly dwindles the group's numbers. Why was the guide's youngspotter foolish enough to walk under a sausage fruit tree just as one of thehuge fruits fell? And how did the leaves of a poisonous plant wind up in atourist's salad? Are these really accidents?A stabbing tips the scale. It's murder, and the onlypoliceman in a hundred miles is a park ranger whose only murder case was thatof an ivory poacher shot dead in plain sight.It's up to Stanley to crack the case-if he can just avoidbeing eaten by a lion.