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Falling Into Green: An Eco-Mystery
Everything -- in nature and in murder - is connected... As an ecopsychologist, Dr. Esmeralda Green is skilled at solving the mysteries of the mind, especially if they collide with the laws of nature. But when a body is found below the crumbling cliffs near her Los Angeles home, she is pulled back in time to a tragedy that defies all understanding. When a young girl is murdered at the same cliff that took the life of her best childhood friend, Ez suspects the two are connected - and, having always lived up to her ecological name, she has learned to trust her intuition and the cues that the natural world can offer. In fact, from her hybrid car to her organic diet, Ez is living a sustainable life in every way - except for the man she's falling in love with, an attractive TV news reporter who drives, of all things, a Hummer. After Ez discovers a key piece of evidence, she is swept into a maze of corporate corruption and family secrets whose depths seem to have no bounds. As she finds herself venturing into ever more treacherous territory, her intuition and psychological skills can take her only so far. With the memory of her childhood friend haunting her at every turn, Ez finds herself falling further and further into danger. Both an eco-mystery and a love story, Cher Fischer's captivating debut novel offers an intimate look at the myriad ways in which nature defines us. "Fischer's debut mystery introduces a fascinating topic-ecopsychology...readers intrigued by a New Age topic, psychological work with troubled clients, and Los Angeles's cultural diversity may enjoy." -- Library Journal
340 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 16, 2012
Original and entertaining. I came away with a heightened environmental perspective and a desire to visit Santa Monica. :)
June 26, 2020
I didn't know eco fiction was a genre until I happened upon this in a list of books with vegan protagonists.
Fantastic fun mystery with a little romance and a lot of nature. Highly highly recommend.
Fantastic fun mystery with a little romance and a lot of nature. Highly highly recommend.
May 3, 2023
Falling Into Green: An Eco-Mystery is a hair raising thriller/mystery that draws you in right away and keeps you on the edge of your seat with nail-biting suspense all the way to the very end.
The life of an eco-psycholoanalyst is about to head into a whirlwind of danger and deceit. The death of a family friend opens a portal to past tragedy and pain and unanswered questions that put her own life in peril. No one around her is free from suspicion; there is no one she can completely trust or turn to except herself.
Along the way, we learn of many aspects of climate change and its effect on our ecosystems and about how important going green is in the fight to save the planet.
Having received this book as a Library Thing Early Reviewers selection some years back, while I regret being extremely delinquent in reading and reviewing it; in some ways I'm glad that I read it from the perspective of the current time. The signs, symptoms and warnings of climate change are all too familiar to a Californian from today's vantage point and those aspects of the story rang jarringly true to form. When the book first came out, I don't think I was aware enough, or even ready to be receptive to what now is an accepted fact of life.
The life of an eco-psycholoanalyst is about to head into a whirlwind of danger and deceit. The death of a family friend opens a portal to past tragedy and pain and unanswered questions that put her own life in peril. No one around her is free from suspicion; there is no one she can completely trust or turn to except herself.
Along the way, we learn of many aspects of climate change and its effect on our ecosystems and about how important going green is in the fight to save the planet.
Having received this book as a Library Thing Early Reviewers selection some years back, while I regret being extremely delinquent in reading and reviewing it; in some ways I'm glad that I read it from the perspective of the current time. The signs, symptoms and warnings of climate change are all too familiar to a Californian from today's vantage point and those aspects of the story rang jarringly true to form. When the book first came out, I don't think I was aware enough, or even ready to be receptive to what now is an accepted fact of life.
October 6, 2012
Falling Into Green is billed as an “eco-mystery” and features Esmerelda (aka Emerald) Green, an ecopsychologist who uses horse-back riding, among other techniques, as patient therapy. Esmerelda quotes a report that says: “Ecopsychology acknowledges the environment as an important part of the human psyche.” Indeed, there are environmental concerns woven throughout both the mystery and the lifestyle of the protagonist.
I had a hard time liking Esmerelda (‘Ez’) Green. She comes across as a self-righteous fanatic about environmental issues. Her reasoning seems faulty to me.
Wondering why materialism has come to mean the same thing as beauty. I realized that if the idea of beauty is also connected to health, and subsequently cancer, we may all be jumping off a cliff. Really. How can we expect to survive if our health is connected to a beauty that seeks to find itself in the money derived from polluting ourselves?
Huh? How did we get from materialism to cancer?
Don’t get me wrong – I ‘m concerned about the planet too. I recycle, compost, hang my clothes to dry six months of the year, heat with wood instead of fossil fuels, and buy natural fabrics when I can. I drive a small car albeit not an electric one, I support wind power projects, buy locally when I can, and reuse rather than buy new if possible. clotheslineBut Ez rubs me the wrong way. She doesn’t seem to realize that there’s always more that all of us can do – her included, and that there are no easy answers to the issues facing the environment. Ez’s old couch with the ‘organic stitching’ just doesn’t impress me.
Note: Falling into Green is written in the first person simple present tense. This is no doubt a matter of personal taste, but I found this irritating, especially when it deteriorated into what seemed like stream-of-consciousness. This was especially the case when Ez goes into a trance (“fusing” with her horse, or hearing her dead mother talking through the jacaranda tree in her backyard).
The mystery hidden in all this judgemental posturing is actually decent. Ez is drawn into the current death of a young woman at the same cliff where her childhood friend killed herself 15 years earlier. She finds the two deaths to be related, and in doing so uncovers an environmentally sinister past & present of a local manufacturer. I think a couple of the main characters (the villains) seem over-drawn but I suppose that’s the price to pay for a plot of global proportions.
According to the author bio “Fischer has long been involved in environmental issues and is passionate about the green movement in the United States.” I would have been surprised to hear otherwise: she has an axe to grind and is trying to hit us over the head with that axe through her fiction.
3 stars for the solid mystery. I won this ebook format from Library Thing Early Reviewers.
I had a hard time liking Esmerelda (‘Ez’) Green. She comes across as a self-righteous fanatic about environmental issues. Her reasoning seems faulty to me.
Wondering why materialism has come to mean the same thing as beauty. I realized that if the idea of beauty is also connected to health, and subsequently cancer, we may all be jumping off a cliff. Really. How can we expect to survive if our health is connected to a beauty that seeks to find itself in the money derived from polluting ourselves?
Huh? How did we get from materialism to cancer?
Don’t get me wrong – I ‘m concerned about the planet too. I recycle, compost, hang my clothes to dry six months of the year, heat with wood instead of fossil fuels, and buy natural fabrics when I can. I drive a small car albeit not an electric one, I support wind power projects, buy locally when I can, and reuse rather than buy new if possible. clotheslineBut Ez rubs me the wrong way. She doesn’t seem to realize that there’s always more that all of us can do – her included, and that there are no easy answers to the issues facing the environment. Ez’s old couch with the ‘organic stitching’ just doesn’t impress me.
Note: Falling into Green is written in the first person simple present tense. This is no doubt a matter of personal taste, but I found this irritating, especially when it deteriorated into what seemed like stream-of-consciousness. This was especially the case when Ez goes into a trance (“fusing” with her horse, or hearing her dead mother talking through the jacaranda tree in her backyard).
The mystery hidden in all this judgemental posturing is actually decent. Ez is drawn into the current death of a young woman at the same cliff where her childhood friend killed herself 15 years earlier. She finds the two deaths to be related, and in doing so uncovers an environmentally sinister past & present of a local manufacturer. I think a couple of the main characters (the villains) seem over-drawn but I suppose that’s the price to pay for a plot of global proportions.
According to the author bio “Fischer has long been involved in environmental issues and is passionate about the green movement in the United States.” I would have been surprised to hear otherwise: she has an axe to grind and is trying to hit us over the head with that axe through her fiction.
3 stars for the solid mystery. I won this ebook format from Library Thing Early Reviewers.
July 21, 2012
I always love a good murder mystery. This book was about a woman named Esmeralda, who lives near Los Angeles. She is an Eco-psychologist who treats patients with things like animals and walks on the beach. When the daughter of her high school friend's brother dies in the same place as her high school friend did, Esmeralda gets caught up trying to figure out who did it.
The author did a good job with the mystery part, but I think she overdid it with the green references, vegan meals and environmental issues. Okay, I get it, Esmeralda is a vegan who likes tofu eggs and hybrids. I like hybrids too, but is this a mystery or a book about hybrids. I get that she is trying to promote being green, but I think that her attempt at doing so fell flat for me. I was more annoyed from it, than educated by it.
The author did a good job with the mystery part, but I think she overdid it with the green references, vegan meals and environmental issues. Okay, I get it, Esmeralda is a vegan who likes tofu eggs and hybrids. I like hybrids too, but is this a mystery or a book about hybrids. I get that she is trying to promote being green, but I think that her attempt at doing so fell flat for me. I was more annoyed from it, than educated by it.
December 26, 2014
Received a free ebook review copy.
In the beginning this book reminded me of the way Kathy Reichs writes.
The main character, Esmeralda, came across as being really obsessed with the environment, to the detriment of all else.
Felt it was a little implausible that a family would cover up their daughter/sister's brain tumour and it wouldn't come up in an inquest.
Didn't feel overly preachy about the environmental messages.
The ecopsychology stuff and fusing with plants was a bit weird.
In the beginning this book reminded me of the way Kathy Reichs writes.
The main character, Esmeralda, came across as being really obsessed with the environment, to the detriment of all else.
Felt it was a little implausible that a family would cover up their daughter/sister's brain tumour and it wouldn't come up in an inquest.
Didn't feel overly preachy about the environmental messages.
The ecopsychology stuff and fusing with plants was a bit weird.
June 19, 2012
I thought this book was very interesting. There was a lot of information on how to be eco friendly and environmentally conscious while playing out a really intriguing mystery. I very much enjoyed the message in this book as well as the story it told. At times I did feel that it was a little preachey but it was easy to get lost in the story and have that become part of the background. Eventually it all tied in together and I was glad I stuck it out...the conclusion was well worth it.
June 12, 2012
heavy handed, thomping with environmental preaching. Pretentious and just not a good story.
February 19, 2023
Excellent book!!!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews