The Weatherman's Daughters: A John Denson Mystery (John Denson Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Richard Hoyt (Author)

Book Description

Series: John Denson Mysteries | Publication Date: February 1, 2005

In The Weatherman's Daughters, Richard Hoyt returns to his highly acclaimed John Denson mystery series with a natty new twist.

Frustrated by his inability to trace a criminal monster, Denson sets down his skepticism and accepts, provisionally, the shamanistic ways of his Native partner, Willie Prettybird. Out-of-body flying? Entering the spirit of an animal? Can it be true? Can Denson solve murders by playing Carlos Castaneda to Willie's Don Juan?

Two daughters of a Portland weatherman have been killed for no apparent reason. Denson and Willie are called from their remote cabins on Whorehouse meadow in the Cascade Mountains to help. But for once Denson is stumped-this is a trail he can't seem to follow.

An exotic dancer wants to join the investigation, and Denson cannot resist her. But does she really intend to help? Or is she a spy or saboteur?

Willie offers Denson a challenge. Since your rational ways aren't working, open the door to shamanism. Leave your body and seek to join the spirit of an animal who might be a guide.

Fearing that he will never come back, Denson takes the risk.

The trail revealed smells of bear galls, ancient Chinese medicine, and right-wing malcontents. Denson, the tracker, is profoundly changed by his discoveries.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

While the world has evolved over the more than two decades since John Denson took on his first case (in Decoys), this randy pony-tailed PI seems to have gotten stuck somewhere back in the timestream. Forty-seven years old when we meet him again in Richard Hoyt's The Weatherman’s Daughters, Denson is still smoking pot, still referencing Carlos Castaneda, and driving a 30-year-old Volkswagen microbus. Yet his quirky perspective and "soft-boiled" style often work in his favor, as demonstrated in this lively, philosophical yarn involving flying seafood, right-wing militants, and ancient Chinese medicine.

Driving back to his cabin in northwest Oregon, Denson is caught in a freakish shower of live salmon, the fish being sucked from the adjacent Columbia River by a giant waterspout. Amid this deluge, he discovers a young woman with a bullet hole in her chest and one of his business cards in her wallet. Police identify her as Sharon Toogood, daughter of a legendary Portland TV weatherman and the part-owner of a chain of New Age health stores. Had she been on her way to hire Denson or his Cowlitz Indian partner, putative shaman Willie Sees the Night? Her sister, Mariah, says Sharon was investigating something that could hurt their father's reputation, but before our hippie-ish hero can learn more, Mariah turns up dead as well. Doubting the conclusion of suicide, Denson sets out to learn who murdered the Toogood siblings and whether their passings are linked to a gang of poachers who've been killing bears for their gall bladders. Solving these mysteries, though, will force the detective (with Willie's guidance) to make an out-of-body house call on his "demented" creator.

Hoyt's plot twists occasionally beggar belief, his dialogue can be pedantic, and most of his characters are insufficiently developed (the notable exception here being a double-jointed exotic dancer with computer smarts). Several of the previous seven Denson novels, including Siskiyou and Fish Story, were more ingeniously conceived and tightly constructed than The Weatherman's Daughters. However, the obvious delight Hoyt takes in dispatching his "aging dork" of a gumshoe to odd corners of the Pacific Northwest to talk with even odder locals rarely fails to entertain. If Hunter S. Thompson were to create a fictional detective, he might look very much like John Denson. --J. Kingston Pierce --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A disjointed plot full of absurdities irks more than it entertains in Hoyt's latest John Denson mystery (Whoo?, etc.), which opens with a torrential downpour of live salmon beating Denson and his VW bus to a pulp after he stops at an accident scene alongside an Oregon mountain roadway. A young woman, Sharon Toogood, lies dying of a bullet wound. The daughter of Portland TV weatherman Jerry Toogood, Sharon was carrying Denson's PI firm's card in her wallet. In trying to understand the salmon shower and the deepening mystery surrounding the Toogood family, Denson seeks the aid and counsel of his Native American cohort, Willie Sees the Night. Willie assures Denson that the salmon shower was the spirit world's means of embodying within him the appropriate animal spirit. So, at Denson's insistence, Willie supplies him with a concoction that sends Denson "flying" in an out-of-body experience that may help him find some of the answers to this and a second murder. Over-the-top characters include bear poachers, a health-food store owner who wears Dumbo ears and a sci-fi monster face, members of a militant militia group and a double-jointed girlie-club-dancing FBI agent. Smacking strongly of the 1960's cult film Candy, this will appeal to readers for whom humorous incidentals matter more than a plausible story line.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076534226X
• ISBN-13: 978-0765342263
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,546,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Hoyt has a B.S. and M.S. in journalism from the University of Oregon and a PhD in American studies from the University of Hawaii. He was a fellow in national and international editing and reporting at the Washington Journalism Center. He served as a counterintelligence agent for the U.S. Army before becoming a reporter for both the morning and afternoon daily newspapers in Honolulu; he was also the Honolulu correspondent for Newsweek magazine. He later taught journalism and writing courses at the University of Maryland and at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon.
Richard is private by nature but loves to travel. He has lived and worked for periods in Negril, Jamaica; Bray, Ireland; Torquay, southern England; Amsterdam; Seville; Lagos, Portugal; Sao Paulo; San Ignacio, Belize; Tangier; Hong Kong; and on the islands of Negros, Mindanao, and Cebu in the Philippines. He rode trains across the Soviet Union and riverboats from the headwaters of the Amazon to the Atlantic.
This photograph of Richard was taken by Tessie Artes Hoyt

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Thought-provoking than Humorous, August 4, 2003

By 

Miss Terry Reader (Westport, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Weatherman's Daughters: A John Denson Mystery (Hardcover)

I enjoyed the book very much, including the new age and mystical elements and the out-of-body visit to the creator. I had no problem with the plotting and am not clear on what others perceived to be the problem when they cited coincidences or a disjointed plot. There were a couple of loose ends that never were completely wrapped up, but I found the book very enjoyable. But as the plot unfolded, I did not find the book to be particularly humorous despite some rather vivid and unusual scenes and bantering between John, Willie, and others -- in fact the story was unusually poignant compared to other John Denson stories (and I have reaad them all). I think there is a lot here to reflect upon about relationships, family, and some serious matters. I liked it very much.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humorous private investigative tale, July 2, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Weatherman's Daughters: A John Denson Mystery (Hardcover)

While driving in the Oregon mountains, the heavy rain pours live salmon at private investigator John Denson?s vehicle. During the fishy torrent, he stops, camera in hand, to help an accident victim. However, as the young woman tries to talk through her dying gurgles, fish continue to pelt John and the victim. He realizes this was no accident as someone shot the female who he identifies as Sharon Toogood, daughter of Portland TV weatherman Jerry Toogood.

Unable to forget her murder, John investigates. After talking with the prime suspect, Sharon?s sister Mariah, the sibling is killed too. Needing special guidance to see through the haze of the seemingly too good world of the sisters, John enlists the help of his pal, Native American Willie Sees the Night. With Willie as a guide providing an elixir mixer, John has an out-of-body experience that may provide the clues to solving the homicides.

Though a humorous private investigative tale that feels like a ?Summer of Love? who-done-it, THE WEATHERMAN?S DAUGHTER is definitely not for everyone. The story line uses too much New Age (or is that old age) coincidence to move the plot forward, but the story remains amusing in spite of the murders. The cast is an eccentric delight as hippies, salmon, and poachers (oh my!) dominate the northwest.

Harriet Klausner