Running Dark: A Woods Cop Mystery (Woods Cop Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Joseph Heywood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2005 | Series: Woods Cop Mysteries

The fourth in the fabulous Grady Service Woods Cop series.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For a change of pace, Heywood sets his fourth Woods Cop mystery (after 2003's Chasing a Blond Moon) in the mid '70s, to show the formative early experiences of his series hero, dedicated conservation officer Grady Service. Recently returned from fighting an unwinnable war against insurgents in Southeast Asia, Service finds himself in a depressingly similar situation stateside. The portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula known as the Garden is the setting for another type of guerrilla war—one that sets Service and his comrades against lawless, violent natives who flaunt fish and game regulations that seek to balance the needs of those who make their living from the abundant wildlife with the needs of the environment. To break the impasse, Service participates in a clandestine counterinsurgency campaign (its particulars are kept a closely guarded secret because of a suspected mole), which supplants the mystery solving for long stretches. As a result, the eventual identification of the assailant who stabbed a simpleminded local comes as an anticlimax. Outdoors types will especially appreciate the involved battles over commercial fishing limits and poaching.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Michigan's Upper Peninsula (UP) is one of the more remote wilderness areas in the U.S. In the mid-1970s, as environmental concerns grew, and fish and game harvests were more regulated than ever before, some of the UP's permanent residents (known as "Yoopers") chafed. Those in the Garden Peninsula, a particularly isolated region of the UP, actually fought back. This fictionalized account dramatizes the events of the Garden Revolt, in which defiant residents rebelled against the outmanned conservation officers of the Department of Natural Resources. Grady Service, a rookie on the conservation force, is chosen to go undercover and work with a resident informant who is frustrated by the Garden's lawless culture. Heywood sticks close to fact--shots were fired, but no one was killed in the revolt--but adds a strong human element by emphasizing the interpersonal relations of Garden residents, both for and against the rebels. This fourth entry in the Woods Cop series is suspenseful, atmospheric, and populated by a genuinely believable cast, particularly the thoroughly ingratiating Service. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592286178
• ISBN-13: 978-1592286171
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,617 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

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tautly written and plotted, December 14, 2005

By 

Naangiwane (Stevens Point, Wisconsin United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running Dark: A Woods Cop Mystery (Woods Cop Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This fourth book in the Woods Cops series is an enjoyable read. Heywood is back on top of his game here (by contrast to his third book). The plot elements all belong to and contribute to the story; we don't see diverting digressions from the story. Heywood has a gift for descriptive writing: his evocations of the outdoors settings are realistic and his account of Grady's dive into the lake waters is indeed chilling. Nice touch bringing in scenes from the present to offset the story which was set 30 years ago. I did choke on one page where Grady's ability to maintain a pace through the woods was described as "ten minute miles almost indefinitely"?? And "because of 15 inches of snow and higher drifts, unfamiliar and rolling terrain," he decides to allow 30 minutes per mile? The man's a regular beast!

It was a particularly nice touch to bring in the point that the Conservation Officers were working to carry out a state policy which really didn't make much sense other than to favor certain economic interests over older, declining interests. It really was not about maintaining fish populations or justice or fairness. Simply the politics of vested interests; the wardens were simply to carry out the policies without asking why.

As usual, Joe brought in the unique Yooper culture and language, which I was have always enjoyed in his books. His characters are believable and have feet of clay, even Grady Service. A really enjoyable story. I pull out all the Woods Cops stories once a year and read the whole series through, and enjoy them fully with each reading.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grady serves them all, February 18, 2009

By 

tertius3 (MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running Dark: A Woods Cop Mystery (Woods Cop Mysteries) (Paperback)

This volume of Grady Service, Yooper Michigan Conservation Officer, is almost episodic, like a collection of novellas, linked across the 30 years since his very first case. Although it is not at all in flashback form, Heywood has cleverly taken us back to the beginning of Grady's career, long ago before Vol. 1 of his series, three books ago. If you wished, you could read this novel first of all, but then you will want to hold off on reading Part 5, Cold Vengeance, because it is set in 2004, after Grady's intimate relationships have been developed in books 1-3. Grady is a cool, laconic number from the get-go, dedicated to the animals he protects for the Dept. of Natural Resources, one of the most highly politicized parts of state government (and therefore dangerous in its own right).

In this novel, the title term refers not only to boating, but to cars, based on an interesting theory that one's night vision is better if you have never ever used a flashlight. Heywood focuses tightly on one, peculiar, peninsula, with a fascinatingly distinct history of militant independence. He explores the conflict between sport and commercial fishing industries in the perpetually troubled local economy. Grady and his colleagues of various departments are put right in the middle of the fracus, in a battle for survival, let alone actually accomplishing anything lawful. While not making a point of it, there are no winners here.

Note that here is a mystery story, or rather suspense story, without a murder, without a body to be explained! --Perhaps because it is based on real history.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another great wood cop novel......, April 8, 2006

By 

Mike C. (Niles, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running Dark: A Woods Cop Mystery (Woods Cop Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This is the fourth woods cop novel I have read and as usual, completely enjoyed it. If you enjoy the great outdoors or northern michigan, and then throw in a mystery with it,then this is the series for you.... I sure hope MR. Heywood continues a long and many volume involvement in this series.....