Cold Wind

Starred review from January 31, 2011
Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett must try to prove that his despised mother-in-law, Missy Alden, isn't guilty of murdering Earl Alden, her fifth husband, in Box's searing 11th Joe Pickett novel (after Nowhere to Run). Pickett's gruesome discovery of Alden's body is followed almost immediately by the stage-managed arrest of Missy by Sheriff Kyle McLanahan. Both Missy and Earl have done plenty to earn the enmity of their neighbors, so Missy's arrest benefits McLanahan's bid for re-election, but Pickett is surprised to find county attorney Lisa Rich already convinced the case is solid. Pickett could use the help of his friend Nate Romanowski, but they are on the outs. Meanwhile, Romanowski, hunted by the widow of a man he killed, finds his withdrawal from the world has endangered others. Box parlays a heady mix of Wyoming politics and the advent of wind power into a deadly brew. This engaging series just keeps getting better with each new entry. Author tour.

March 15, 2011

Wyoming Fish and Game Warden Joe Pickett's fondest dream becomes his worst nightmare when his loathsome mother-in-law is arrested for murder.

Earl Alden, the sixth suitor to take Missy Vankueren Longbrake Alden to the nuptial bed, was proud of the 100 new wind turbines sprouting on his spread, the Thunderbird Ranch. But someone must have disliked both them and him, because Joe finds his corpse chained to the vane of one of them, rotating briskly. Joe's current nemesis, county sheriff Kyle McLanahan, and rookie county attorney Lisa Rich, announce that they've got an airtight case against Missy based on the testimony of an unnamed informant who maintains that she engaged him to kill the Earl of Lexington, who in a reversal of the customary order of things had been preparing to divorce her before she could tire of him. Joe, whose dislike of his overbearing, manipulative mother-in-law crystallized into something harder when she divorced rancher Bud Longbrake, confiscated his family's property and left him empty-handed, finds himself in the unwelcome position of hunting for exculpatory evidence. He'd love to have the help of outlaw falconer Nate Romanowski once more. But Nate, following a serious quarrel with Joe (Nowhere to Run, 2010), has gone to ground somewhere he hopes will be safe from the old Special Forces colleagues he suspects have been sent to find and kill him. It looks like both men will be on their own until they collide just in time for a stunning courtroom finale.

Joe, who insists that "I'm not on a side," spends more time than he'd like in rooms with ceilings, but the mystery is strong enough to compensate, and the revelations about wind farms will curl your hair no matter which side you're on.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2011

Wind turbines might be touted as a clean alternative to Wyoming's abundant fossil fuels, but the siren call of easy money leads to murder on the sprawling Alden wind farm one August morning. Missy, Joe Pickett's gold-digging, serial monogamist mother-in-law, is arrested for the bizarre murder of her latest catch, Earl Alden. Is she capable of cold-blooded murder? Simultaneously, an old enemy ambushes Joe's outlaw colleague, Nate Romanowski, and his lover. Nate's grief-driven hunt for revenge adds meaty action to this multistranded tale. Estranged for nearly a year (after the events of Nowhere To Run), Joe and Nate here reconcile, and readers will be riveted by the dilemmas Nate faces in a cliff-hanger plot device. VERDICT Joe's game warden responsibilities take a backseat in this 11th entry in an outstanding series. As Nate's fugitive life becomes more precarious, Joe will again be forced to make decisions that place him outside of his comfort zone as a government man.--Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2011
When Joe Picketts mother-in-law is accused of murdering her latest husband, theres a part of him that cant believe his good luck: the social-climbing harpy has had it in for him ever since he married his beloved Marybeth. Unfortunately, its hard for him to believe shes guilty. Could a petite woman in her midsixties really hoist a body to the top of a wind turbine and chain it to the spinning blade? Whats her motive, anyway? Reluctantly, the dogged Wyoming game warden begins his own investigation, one that seems to ruffle the feathers of just about everybody involved. The eleventh installment in Boxs superlative series returns Pickett to his old stomping grounds, Twelve Sleep County, and spins a complicated mystery that entangles familiar series characters in new and surprising ways. Despite Joes guess that things are going to get real Western, they end with a courtroom surprise (like fuckin Perry Mason! as one old-timer observes). But a closing scene promises plenty of action in the next book, featuring fan favorite Nate Romanowski. Boxs many fans wont be disappointed. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The 75,000-copy first printing may or may not cover all the devoted fans of Boxs long-running series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)