Habitat

The latest environmental mystery featuring Venus Diamond, a Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife agent, continues to showcase Seattle and the San Juan Islands. Venus has been on leave from her job since her marriage to Richard Winters, and she has missed the work. So when Richard is suddenly offered work consulting on forest fires in the Ivory Coast, Venus is thrilled when her old boss, Oly Olsson, asks her to investigate an arson case involving a former colleague and very close friend. The remains of Dr. Hannah Strindberg, brilliant embryologist and founder of Breedhaven, a radical experimental genetics clinic on Helix Island, have been left at the arson scene along with the bodies of 13 other prominent international scientists. Strindberg's research on endangered species and her bold experiment to save them by genetic engineering was extremely controversial. When Strindberg's will is read at a meeting of relatives and Breedhaven trustees, Venus learns that she herself has been named the primary guardian of ""Hannah's Ark,"" Strindberg's collection of endangered species embryos. The will also stipulates that Venus is to accompany the ark aboard a NASA space shuttle that will place it into an orbiting space station for safekeeping. This plan doesn't sit well with the trustees, and it isn't long before things fall apart. Hannah's Ark disappears. Venus suddenly finds herself on somebody's endangered species list, and she uncovers a frightening plan for genetic experimentation that might involve the Russian mafia. What's remarkable about this absurdly plotted novel is that the doings remain sufficiently engrossing to keep readers from suspending their interest along with their disbelief. (Nov.)