Raptor

Narrator Neil Hamel, an attorney and liberated woman who made her first appearance in North of the Border , seems puny in contrast to the real star of Van Gieson's second novel, a never-tamed female gyrfalcon. A chance to see the raptor takes Neil from her young lover at home in Albuquerque to the wilds of Montana, where she joins March Augusta and the birdwatchers in his charge. Staring up at the bird's aerie from the foot of a cliff, they witness the fall of Sandy Pedersen, a poacher for hire. While trying to grab the falcon to sell to an Arabian prince, Sandy was killed by a device set off at his approach, and March is arrested for the murder. Neil is sure the guide, a naturalist and avowed protector of wildlife, isn't a killer, so she prepares to defend him in court. Meantime she checks on others she suspects, human raptors, lusting for the great bird. There is excitement in the story but more in vivid details about the wonderful gyr, who makes Neil and the other humans seem rather shabby by comparison. (Jan.)