A MYSTERY I CAN NOT SOLVE by Rolynn Anderson

You'd think after writing fifteen suspense novels I'd be able to solve a simple domestic mystery, but I have to admit that I'm baffled.  Who or what is eating the oranges in my fruit orchard?

Every morning when I sit down to write at my computer, first cup of coffee steaming in my mug, I look out the window at the gravel around my orange tree and see a newly ravaged orange, skins clean of fruit, scattered a few feet from the tree.  Mind you, these are sweet, delicious oranges, perfectly ripe, which are the envy of my friends and neighbors and well-loved by my husband and me.  I don't mind sharing, but these thieves aren't asking.  More than anything, I'm curious.

Some animal, nocturnal, is coming into my fenced fruit orchard each night, removing a couple oranges from my tree, and chomping down on their prizes.

Google suggests monkeys. Not possible.  The internet is sure raccoons crave ripe citrus.  But we don't see raccoons around here.  Possums?  Do they like oranges enough to pick them and eat them?  I've seen a rat eat a downed orange, but how in the world would a rat remove an orange from a tree, shove it four to six feet from the tree and eat it?  Google says roof rats, in particular, like oranges.  I'm guessing a roof rat can hop on the top of my house, but climb a branch and snatch an orange...sounds far-fetched.

I'd welcome your theory and/or a way to solve the mystery.

Maybe I'm better at unsolved murders.  I've got two of them in LIE CATCHERS, set in Petersburg, Alaska, where cold cases get downright frosty.

Check out LIE CATCHERS on http://amzn.com/B00HJDS1LG

My Web: http://www.rolynnanderson.com