Chasing A Blond Moon: A Woods Cop Mystery [Hardcover]

Joseph Heywood (Author)

Book Description

Series: Woods Cop Mysteries | Publication Date: August 24, 2003

Once again, Grady Service, the hard-boiled Conservation Officer of this superb series set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, has a weird case on his hands. Strange things are happening to the black bear population. Grady Service can't pin this phenomenon to anyone or anything until a Korea-born professor from Michigan Tech is murdered by cyanide-laced figs and two freeze-dried bear gall bladders are found among the figs. Service is certain that bear poachers are at work, killing U.P. bears to fuel the Asian market for traditional medicines. The animal parts market is second only to drugs in global profitability: it's highly organized and the practitioners are ruthless and dangerous. Grady's nemesis, Michigan's governor, is ending his final term as governor, but has cut budgets so severely, that there are not enough conservation officers to cover the state. Service finds himself filling in for colleagues, chasing illusive poachers who leave little evidence, and wrestling with the usual cast of eccentric and entertaining characters. And in this novel, there is a new twist in Grady's personal life: He meets a sixteen-year-old son he never knew he had.

Sexy, suspenseful, and full of action, perfect dialog, and unforgettable characters, Chasing a Blond Moon will confirm Heywood as one of the finest of his day.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Heywood's third Woods Cop mystery (after 2002's Blue Wolf in Green Fire) is another invigorating trek through Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the company of the dedicated conservation officers who protect it. Having spent nearly 20 years patrolling in the U.P. (pronounced Yoop), Grady Service cares fiercely about the land, the animals, justice and a small handful of people, including Maridly Nantz, his extremely smart and sexy girlfriend. The story starts with a bang: the long-divorced Service discovers he has a son, Arthur, now almost 16. At first they don't know what to do with each other, but slowly they move to respect and then affection, adding a new note of sweetness to Service's life. The main plot, centered on a rare species of bear being illegally hunted, has more twists than a mountain switchback trail. Other problems pile up and often sidetrack Service's investigation. These incidents are all in a day's work for COs, and Heywood vividly describes the skills, courage and humor they use to defuse potentially deadly confrontations. Those readers daunted by the overly complex plot and operatic-sized cast should relax and just go with the flow. Top-notch action scenes, engaging characters both major and minor, masterful dialogue and a passionate sense of place make this a fine series.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Top-notch action scenes, engaging character both major and minor, masterful dialogue and a passionate sense of place make this a fine series."--Publishers Weekly

"Mr. Heywood has crafted an entertaining bunch of characters. An absorbing narrative twists and turns in a setting ripe for corruption that inevitably occurs when obscene profits encourter a simpler way of life."--Dallas Morning News

"The books just keep getting bigger and better. Heywood combines just enough fact with his fiction to make it seem real, blends vibrant action images with great dialog (sic), creates characters so eccentric no actor can probably ever capture them successfully and with each release layers on more intriguing details about the complicated Grady."-- Saginaw News's

"Joseph Heywood is one of the most versatile authors around."-- Wichita Falls Times Record News

"This is a tightly written mystery/crime novel...Which offers a nice balance between belly laughs, head-scratching plot lines and the real grit of modern police work." --Petersen's Hunting

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; 1st edition (August 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159228051X
• ISBN-13: 978-1592280513
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #730,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Rhinebeck, New York. Grew up as Air Force brat. 1961 graduate of Rudyard High School in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Michigan State graduate, BA-Journalism, 1965. USAF, 1965-1970. Graduate studies in English Literature at Western Michigan University in mid-1970s. Former adjunct professor of professional writing at Western Michigan University. Author, cartoonist, painter, poet, photographer, fisherman, hiker, Heywood spends up to a month a year in trucks on patrol with Michigan conservation officers to gather information for the Woods Cop mystery series. The experience helps make the stories authentic. Almost everything in the series has happened to a CO somewhere in the state. His blog, rich in colorful and interesting photographs, is "Joe-Roads," on his web-site, www.josephheywood.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing third Woods Cop entry, September 22, 2003

By 

A reader from Stevens Point, Wisconsin (Stevens Point, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chasing A Blond Moon: A Woods Cop Mystery (Hardcover)

Having greatly enjoyed Heywood's first two Wood Cop mysteries, I looked forward to reading this next one. But I was disappointed by the quality of the writing and the story. The book is thicker and the story is longer and more confusing than in his first two books. What Heywood really, really needed for this book was a ruthless editor.

The story line is terribly convoluted, with many happenings that simply didn't make sense to me, and various strands which were not brought together at the end. Through much of the story I really didn't know where we were in the mystery; I couldn't keep track of all that was going on. And there were too many other happenings in a warden's life that were distracting from the main story. I never could figure out what Trapper Jet had to do with the story. And there wasn't much writing about being in the woods, about woods skills and real natural resources information as he did in the first two books. One part I liked was chapter 37 about Service's visit to the Ojibway elder Santinaw; that took us back into the brush.

Nor could I understand why, if Siquin Soong's White Moon Trading Co. was subject to a federal investigation for drug trafficking and smuggling, Grady Service or Maridly Nantz wouldn't have warned the Michigan Governor candidate Lorelei Timms, who counted Soong as a major supporter. My God, if a major supporter were the center of a federal investigation, wouldn't I want to know that?

And finally, the book seemed somewhat more coarse with respect to sexual exploits, with people hopping in and out of bed with each other. This wasn't integral to the story, but it appeared to be more prominent than in the first two books. Overall, his latest work just plain needed some ruthless editing.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Much weaker than usual effort, October 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Chasing A Blond Moon: A Woods Cop Mystery (Hardcover)

I am a huge Heywood fan and was excited about the latest Woods Cop mystery. However, I was very disappointed with this novel. As others have mentioned there was a lot in the book that simply did not make sense. Also, it was hard to follow the plot since Heywood insisted in bringing in a cast of thousands who added very little to the story. Also, the ending was not satisfactory. It was as if the plot was not moving along but the page count was too high so Heywood used a Deus ex machina to end the story, still with little conclusion.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bear poachers, March 3, 2007

By 

Fred Camfield (Vicksburg, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chasing a Blond Moon: A Woods Cop Mystery (Woods Cop Mysteries) (Paperback)

The main plot in the novel is about bear hunting in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but the novel digresses into a multitude of side plots and relationships including some descriptive sex. Grady Service also discovers that he has a 16 year old son whom he had been unaware of.

The novel develops a case of people killing bears to obtain their gall bladders for sale in Asia (a real problem in parts of the US). Various spear carriers are killed or captured along the way, but the case is not really resolved as the person behind it (the buyer) is never positively identified, and their is no final resolution, even thouth there have been several murders, and a large amount of money is unaccounted for.

While the action in the side cases is interesting, it perhaps is a little too much in a short time period, and it does not really offset the failure to completely resolve the main case. It is somewhat like Perils of Pauline, with unresolved issues to carry into the next episode.

The novel has sex, violence, and language. I would rate it somewhere between PG-13 and R. Besides the criminal activity, there are people sleeping around. Side issues range from date rape to murder, and Service sticks his nose into a lot of things outside his jurisdiction.