Ice Hunter: A Woods Cop Mystery [Hardcover]

Joseph Heywood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001 | Series: Woods Cop Mysteries

Meet Grady Service: a former Marine, renowned tracker, Conservation Officer, and the last person any errant hunter wants to cross. In Ice Hunter, the first of a new series of mysteries set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Service defends his turf with the tenacity of a bear and the wisdom of an ancient. He shuns all creature comforts and consumerism and is most at home stalking the Mosquito Tract, his self-designated wilderness and the land protected by his C.O. father before him. Times are not easy for Service. As this summer season opens, he gets news that his nemesis, the despicable leader of an incestuous clan of poachers, is about to be released from prison. But something even more sinister is afoot in the Mosquito Tract - something that inspires greed far beyond the hunter going over his limit, something that involves giants of industry and politics (including the governor of the State of Michigan) - something that too easily renders human life dispensable. !

Service must call upon his every reserve to track, stalk, and hunt the "ice" hunter.

Full of grit and wilderness lore, Ice Hunter show off Heywood's extraordinary talents Like his four earlier novels, which have gained him cult status for his intricate plots and outrageously unforgettable characters, Ice Hunter delivers and entices with the promise of more novels in the series to come. (6 1/4 X 9 1/4, 308 pages, map)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Penzler Pick, November 2001: Grady Service is a Conservation Officer in the farthest reaches of Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula, a harshly demanding terrain with its own codes and rituals, all linked to the survival of both humans and the vast wilderness surrounding them.

Like his father before him, he's entered the Conservation Service and sworn to police an environment where rules seem made to be broken. It's a tough, taxing job, and of 5,000 candidates annually, "only four or five made it all the way through probation to full duty."

In much the same manner as another recent series debut (C.J. Box's topnotch Open Season), Heywood, who has written other novels but has now started the "Woods Cop" mysteries with Grady Service, takes us into the world of men at home in the wilderness. That means both good guys and bad.

A big problem for the good guys, however, is that the demanding life is tough on those who love them. As Grady tells it, one night his now ex-wife said to him at dinner, "I'd like another helping of cauliflower and a divorce.... You have a death wish and I don't wish to be a young widow."

When he meets Maridly Nantz, one of the rare female COs, he's found someone tough enough to take him on. But, first, the two of them must figure out what's behind the deliberate fires, flights of mysterious helicopters, and other unexplained but definitely illegal goings-on in the Mosquito Tract, Grady's own special piece of Upper Peninsula turf.

Ice Hunter (the title gives away more than is immediately obvious) is full of enough atmosphere that you'll definitely want to be in a warm, dry room while reading it. --Otto Penzler

From Publishers Weekly

The intensity with which Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Grady Service pursues his job makes this first entry in Heywood's (The Snowfly) new series a standout. The book shares some traits with an urban police procedural, but the milieu Michigan's Upper Peninsula and focus on the environment differentiate this investigation. A 47-year-old native of the region and divorced Vietnam vet, Service is fiercely independent and passionate about the land. The section of the U.P. that Service cares most about is the Mosquito Wilderness Tract. That's where he was, patrolling along the river, when he encountered an odd, wary older man with a camera, a hammer and a notebook. Soon that very spot is the site of two suspicious fires, after which a local poacher is found shot dead in the back. County detectives look into the murder, but Service can't shake his suspicion that the tract is facing some sort of threat. When a handful of rocks he picks out of the ashes turn out to contain diamonds, Service must race against time to find out what's really behind the murder and arson. Under Michigan's pro-development governor, just a whisper that diamonds may lie in the bedrock could threaten the pristine wilderness area. A strong sense of place, a protagonist with a moral commitment to his job and a fleshed-out community of hard-working conservation officers and their colleagues in law enforcement make this a promising beginning to the series.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; 1st edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585742252
• ISBN-13: 978-1585742257
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #510,739 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

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fast paced mystery in the tradition of Tony Hillerman, August 13, 2001

By 

John L. Nuss (Farmington Hills, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ice Hunter: A Woods Cop Mystery (Hardcover)

Ice Hunter - by Joseph Heywood

Both Joseph Heywood and Steve Hamilton ("A Cold Day in Paradise", "Winter of the Wolf Moon") are striving to do for Michigan's remote upper peninsula what Tony Hillerman did for the Navajo Nation. And if their initial efforts are valid harbingers, each is on course to succeed in bringing this colorful region to life for many readers who will never actually set foot there.

Both Hamilton and Heywood have selected the UP as the backdrop for their respective mystery series. Hamilton has just released the third volume of his series, titled "The Hunting Wind", while "Ice Hunter" is the first of a promised series from Heywood. Hamilton's protagonist, Alec McKnight, is a retired Detroit cop turned tourist camp operator and private investigator, while Grady Service, the star of Heywood's new "Woods Cop" series, is a second generation Michigan State Conservation Officer or CO - what was known as a game warden when I was growing up. But Grady Service is a game warden you definitely don't want to cross. He forsakes prospects of a professional hockey career, after nearly killing a highly touted rival in a college match, then sharpens his considerable capabilities serving a tour in Vietnam as a recon Marine, before following his venerated CO father's footsteps into Michigan's elite arboreal law enforcement corps.

When we join Grady twenty years on the job have already elapsed and, now middle aged, he is known not only for his uncanny tracking skills, but also for levels of dedication and tenacity that place him in the middle of whatever trouble Michigan's north woods have to offer. He has a reputation for doing things his way rather than that of the big-business-aligned state governor (possibly a just little too similar to Michigan's current real world governor, Republican John Engler).

Like Hillerman, both Hamilton and Heywood use the quasi-exotic settings of their stories to full advantage as a source of both specific real world locations and a cornucopia of colorful characters - of the eccentric individualist variety. In Heywood's case these supporting roles run the gamut from an incestuous backwoods "ridgerunner" poacher, to a retired mafia capo turned ecologist, a hockey obsessed university geology professor, and a highly resourceful female fire warden who sets her personal sights on Service while helping him unravel a murderous conspiracy bent on despoiling a pristine wilderness tract that both have sworn to protect.

Heywood does a nice job of recreating the distinct dialect of the UP (Think of the motion picture "Fargo" for a not too dissimilar parallel patois.) While Heywood is routinely more explicit with profanity and sexual innuendo than Tony Hillerman ever was, this adds some authentic grittiness to the story, and I believe most fans of Hillerman (and certainly those of Hamilton) would be very pleased with this novel.

Along the way, during this fast moving and extremely readable narrative, CO Service handles all manner of more mundane, but no less entertaining, law enforcement challenges. Like Hillerman, Heywood has apparently spent a great deal of time researching his subject, as the characters and events ring true at every turn. Having some familiarity with the UP myself, I did notice a couple of minor geographic and chronological glitches that probably should have been caught and corrected during the editing process, but which did not detract significantly from this highly entertaining mystery.

I will be eagerly awaiting further volumes in this series. Who knows, perhaps at some point Heywood and Hamilton can do a collaborative novel and turn both of their "Yooper" heroes loose on the same caper.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good plot, great character, September 1, 2001

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ice Hunter: A Woods Cop Mystery (Hardcover)

Grady Service doesn't do well with people and he can't play political games. What he does is hunt down violators of fishing, hunting, dumping, and other regulations protecting the environment. His special love is the Mosquito Wilderness Tract, an unspoiled piece of land in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. When strange things start to happen in the Tract, Service launches into action.

The strange things include arson, and murder. While murder is normally reserved for the county police, Service won't back down. Something strange is happening in his wilderness and the murder is only a symptom. But who would possibly have anything to gain? Service intends to find out.

What makes ICE HUNTER work is Service. Author Joseph Heywood has created a complex character with enough flaws to make him approachable, and enough weaknesses to make him endearing despite his pathological fear of women, commitment, dogs, and taking it easy.

What makes ICE HUNTER work is watching Service. While the plot is well constructed and interesting, it is simply the stage across wich Service acts. It will be interesting to see if Service can keep his edge in future novels as he overcomes his fear of both women and dogs. I'll look forward to finding out.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book, eh?, February 7, 2004

By 

Judith Lindenau "dulcie22" (Traverse City, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ice Hunter: A Woods Cop Mystery (Hardcover)

I can't add much to Mr. Nuss' review: I started to read this series as a fan of Steve Hamilton and really became facinated with the nature settings and the characterization. I do think Heywood is better at the capsulized characters than the more extended ones: I found the women in the book particularly elusive as believable characters--but I loved Limpy and Honeypat and Scaffidi, and all the exotic backwoods populace captured in this novel. And as a long-time watcher of Michigan's political and economic climate as well as the various iterations of the Department of Natural Resources, I felt very at home with the various political struggles which are so much a part of this book.

The Woods Cop series is a discovery I'm glad I made: I have the next installment ready and waiting to begin this afternoon.