Reading Local Portland Review: "The Butterflies of Grand Canyon" by Margaret Erhart

[ The Butterflies of Grand Canyon | Margaret Erhart | Plume | $15.00 ]

Set in the 1950’s Southwest The Butterflies of Grand Canyon tells two intertwined stories. The first story is of Jane Merkle, a young woman married to a much older man, who comes to visit her in-laws who live near the Grand Canyon. The second story focuses on Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, botanists turned sleuths, who arrive in town on the same day as Jane to explore a 13-year-old unsolved mystery revolving around a skeleton which has recently materialized in the garage of a local resident.

Jane begins to undergo a transformation almost at once. Arriving in Flagstaff on a June day along with her husband, she symbolically sheds her past upon discovering that all of the luggage she has brought with her, save for an inexpensive turquoise ring she has purchased en route, has been lost. She soon dons blue jeans, and introduced to the hobby of butterfly collecting by her brother-in-law, falls not only under the spell of the Grand Canyon, but also under the spell of a park ranger who is much closer to her in age than her husband.

Meanwhile, the Misses Clover and Jotter apply their scientific minds to trying to solve the apparent murder mystery in order to exonerate an old colleague of theirs who is now under suspicion. Like the butterflies of the title, the novel flits back and forth between the two stories, while propelling the action towards its resolution. The ending in which the mystery is solved seemed a bit rushed to me, given the meandering and leisurely pace of the rest of the novel. The mystery is solved, but as in real life, the resolution to the romantic entanglements is less clear cut. This novel seems to be as much an exploration of the themes of marriage and fidelity (or infidelity, as the case may be) as it is a love story.

Peopled with a cast of eccentric but all-too-human characters, all in all, I found The Butterflies of Grand Canyon to be an engaging and often quite humorous read. Part mystery, part romance, part historical fiction, author Margaret Erhart, a hiking guide in the Grand Canyon draws from her own experience in writing this novel, and her obvious admiration for the canyon shines through. Taking for her inspiration actual historical figures of the time, she imagines a compelling and fanciful story around them.

For further info, check out RLP’s interview with Ms. Erhart.

Image credit IndieBound.