buena vista, colorado

Pairs well with The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

I know this doesn’t seem like a natural pairing. Choo’s The Night Tiger takes place in Malaya in the 1930s, and Buena Vista is unexotic and close to home. However, both the novel and our time at Buena Vista were steeped in mystery akin to an episode of Scooby-Doo. When we arrived at our cabin, which was situated on hundreds of acres of private land, a curmudgeonly groundskeeper pulled into the driveway and issued a warning straight out of episode 6, “You kids stay away from those abandoned mine-shafts, and keep your dog away too!” Turns out, like Scooby, our Labrador Retriever was an excellent sleuth, heading straight for the mines and investigating every pond on the property. The groundkeeper drove by regularly to give us the eye and warn us repeatedly. I wished he were friendlier. I wanted to ply him to my will, to make him say, “I could have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”. The only problem was, there was no mystery to investigate, just a stunning view of the collegiate peaks. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough for the mystery because The Night Tiger was full of intrigue and safer than dragging my family down the abandoned mine shafts. Choo's literary novel has a strong plot, and I was propelled forward seeking answers to the questions she created. Who does the severed finger belong to? Who is causing all of the unexplained deaths? Will Ji Lin fall in love with her step-brother? Are there really men that turn into tigers, or is that a superstition? Grab your Scooby snacks and settle in, this one is a page-turner!