Chasing a Blond Moon: A Woods Cop Mystery

Strange things are happening to the black bears of the Upper Peninsula. Grady Service is stumped until a Korean-born professor is murdered by cyanide-laced figs that contain two freeze-dried bear gall bladders. Sexy and suspenseful, Chasing a Blond Moon also introduces a new twist in Grady’s personal life: he meets a son he never knew he had. Once again, Grady Service, the hard-boiled conservation officer of this superb series set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, has a weird case on his hands. Strange things are happening to the black bear population. Grady Service can’t pin the phenomenon on anyone or anything until a Korean-born professor from Michigan Tech is murdered by cyanide-laced figs—and two freeze-dried bear gall bladders are found among the figs. Service is certain that poachers are at work, killing bears to fuel the Asian market for traditional medicines. The animal-parts market is highly organized, and its practitioners are ruthless and dangerous. Grady’s nemesis, Michigan’s governor, has cut budgets so severely that there are not enough conservation officers to cover the state. Service finds himself filling in for colleagues, chasing illusive poachers who leave little evidence, and wrestling with the usual cast of eccentric and entertaining characters. And there is a new twist in Grady’s personal life: he meets a sixteen-year-old son he never knew he had. Sexy, suspenseful, and full of action, perfect dialogue, and unforgettable characters, Chasing a Blond Moon confirms Heywood as one of the finest of his day.

About the Author :
Joseph Heywood is the author of The Snowfly, Covered Waters, The Berkut, Taxi Dancer, The Domino Conspiracy, the ten previous Woods Cop Mysteries, Hard Ground: Woods Cop Stories, Harder Ground, and the Lute Bapcat Mysteries Red Jacket and Mountains of the Misbegotten. Featuring Grady Service, a contemporary detective in the Upper Peninsula for Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources, and Lute Bapcat, a Rough Rider turned Michigan game warden in the 1910s, Heywood’s mystery series have earned the author cult status among lovers of the outdoors, law enforcement officials, and mystery devotees. Heywood lives in Portage, Michigan.

Review :
“Top-notch action scenes, engaging characters both major and minor, masterful dialogue and a passionate sense of place make this a fine series.” —Publishers Weekly   "This is a tightly written mystery/crime novel...which offers a nice balance between belly laughs, head-scratching plot lines and the real grit of modern police work." --Petersen's Hunting "Heywood takes the reader right along through Michigan's Upper Peninsula. His love for the land, and its animals, shines through the book. And you have to love a story whose action slows when the hero is called to a moose-vehicle collision." --Gracie Gregg, Times Record News "Mr. Heywood has crafted an entertaining bunch of characters, highly eccentric and in some cases lovable, and set them in the Upper Peninsula wilderness [of Michigan], where independence is a byword and fast action is inevitable. An absorbing narrative twists and turns in a setting ripe for the corruption that inevitably occurs when obscene profits encounter a simpler way of life." --Laurie Trimble, The Dallas Morning News