Running Dark: A Woods Cop Mystery

Running Dark: A Woods Cop Mystery by Heywood, Joseph. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781592286171.

In praise of previous books in the series: “A gripping plot, replete with memorable surrounds and spiky characters, makes this second in the series (after Ice Hunter) an excellent choice for most collections. A good pick also for readers who enjoy outdoor mysteries by such authors as Nevada Barr or Dana Stabenow.” --Library Journal (for Blue Wolf in Green Fire) “Crisp writing, great scenery, quirky characters and an absorbing plot add to the appeal of the memorable first entry in a promised series of ‘woods cop’ mysteries.” --The Wall Street Journal (for Ice Hunter) Grady Service is back. And this time the scene is dicier than ever. We go back in time twenty-five years to meet Service as a young conservation officer. He’s fresh from his transfer from the streets of Detroit, and he’s on his home turf now. Service is good at his new job, and he’s been tapped for an unusual assignment that threatens to be his last. It’s the height of the Garden Wars, the historical battle in the U.P.’s Garden Peninsula. The Garden has always been a lawless place. In the 1970s, commercial fishing was outlawed. Armed fishermen claimed their takes and to hell with law enforcement. The renegades far outgunned the COs who, understaffed and underfunded, risked their lives daily. Murders were committed, shoot-outs were common, and overfishing continued. A one-legged female informant emerges. Service goes undercover and when he resurfaces nothing is the same, least of all, Grady Service. He’s as good as dead. The ring he blows apart in the Garden makes Service a lifelong enemy who returns to haunt him decades later. Service came out on top the first time around. The question is whether he’ll be able to again.