Bowie Rhodes is a UPI reporter and a fly fisherman of extraordinary talent. He learns of the myth of the snowfly early in his childhood: The giant snowfly hatches every seven years, never on the same river twice. It brings to rise only trout that strain the imagination: trout so huge they would have to have lived forty years or more, so wily that they never allow themselves to be caught, or even seen, so hungry for this fly that they will risk exposure to rise for the hatch. The snowfly is the sacred quest of only the most obsessed trout hunters, and has been seen by no living person, existing only in myth and in a lost manuscript. Rhodes's hunt for the manuscript brings him to the extremes of humanity-the jungles of Vietnam, the subterfuges of Brezhnev's Soviet Union, a poisoned Canadian wasteland of uranium mines, and deep into his own heart of darkness. The world Heywood creates is broader, more wild, with more mystery lurking beneath the surface waters than our own. Or is it? The Snowfly makes it all seem gloriously possible. Richly imaginative and sexy, this is an irresistible novel for anyone who loves a good thriller and for fly fishermen everywhere.
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.
