Mystery Fanfare: ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME FICTION, ECOLOGICAL MYSTERIES, & DROWNED TOWNS

Mystery Fanfare: ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME FICTION, ECOLOGICAL MYSTERIES,...: Earth Day: Climate change, environmental issues, and how we can save our planet. So important, now more than ever. Commit yourself to sa...

SleuthSayers: Crimes Against Nature: Round Robin

SleuthSayers: Crimes Against Nature: Round Robin: As I said two weeks ago , I edited Crimes Against Nature: New Stories of Environmental Villainy, which Down and Out Books recently publish...

Old Fish Hatchery Nature Preserve at White Rock Lake is Bulldozed by Oncor

 This was really something. I had not been there since the mid 90s as life just got too busy. The fact that Oncor and TXU destroyed what was just flat out incredible wetlands and home to a lot of birds among other things--at the same time the Mayor wants us all to turn off our outdoor lights for migratory birds while the crime problem is massive---is just ironic as hell. 

Old Fish Hatchery Nature Preserve at White Rock Lake is Bulldozed by Oncor

Mystery Fanfare: EARTH DAY 2019: Environmental & Ecological Mysteri...

Mystery Fanfare: EARTH DAY 2019: Environmental & Ecological Mysteri...: Earth Day 2019 Earth Day! Today the world considers climate change, environmental issues, and how we can save our planet. At least I ...

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 13 Outdoor and Environmental Magazines that Pay Wr...

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 13 Outdoor and Environmental Magazines that Pay Wr...: If you love the great outdoors and are passionate about conservation, you can get paid for writing about it! Hiking and climbing enthusias...

TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Review: THE SWIMMING HOLES OF TEXAS

TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Review: THE SWIMMING HOLES OF TEXAS: I reviewed The Swimming Holes of Texas (University of Texas Press) by Julie Wernersbach and Carolyn Tracy for Lone Star Literary Life . T...

Need To Dump A Body?

Includes some cool drone footage....

Mysterious 2-mile-long crack found in Arizona desert

TEXAS BOOK LOVER REVIEW: BITTER WATERS: THE STRUGGLES OF THE PECOS ...

TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Review: BITTER WATERS: THE STRUGGLES OF THE PECOS ...: Bitter Waters: The Struggles of the Pecos River  (University of Oklahoma Press) by Midland's Patrick Dearen has won the 2016 NEW MEXIC...

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: COOL STUFF TO MAKE YOU SMARTER!

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: COOL STUFF TO MAKE YOU SMARTER!: See how I tricked you into reading about one of my favorite animals, bats. No, don’t stop reading, please! You’ll be so glad you did if you...

Review: "Off The Grid: A Joe Pickett Novel" by C. J. Box

Nate Romanowski has been found despite his best efforts in staying off the grid. It is October in the Upper North Platte River Valley when the quiet is broken by armed new arrivals at the ranch owned by Dr.

Center Point Large Print Edition

Bucholz. The ranch is large and has provided sanctuary to Nate as he recovers from recent events and hiding from law enforcement. Brian Tyrell and Keith Volk lead a team of special operators that have arrived to make an offer Nate can’t refuse. In exchange for clearing his criminal record they want him to assist them in an operation.

They call themselves “The Wolverines” and are part of a shadowy government within the government. They claim to be in all areas of the government and at all levels. Supposedly they all are united to defend America from the ruling political elite that is only interested in gaining power. All Nate knows for sure is that they are Feds of some type and have him in a box. They want him to go to Wyoming’s legendary “Red Desert” and meet a man known as Muhammad  Ibraaheem who may have been radicalized before coming back to Wyoming. Known as “Ibby” he may be part of recent thefts in the area as well as increasing chatter out of the Middle East about a planned terror attack in the mountain west. Like Nate, Ibby is a falconer, so Tyrell and Volk figure Nate can use that as a cover to meet the man and check him out.

While they know a lot about Nate, Tyrell and Volk know nothing about falconry or being a falconer. They don’t care either. That is Nate’s problem. They insist Nate is going to meet Ibby and check him out. He will cooperate, investigate, and give them detailed information on the target and his activities. Otherwise, they will make sure he winds up in a federal correctional facility to end his days and will take action against anyone Nate cares about. Nate has no choices.

He isn’t the only one. Game Warden Joe Pickett has plenty going on before having a mandatory meeting with soon to be ex-governor Spencer Rulon. The governor, well known not to be a fan of the federal government or any of their representatives, recently got a call from Dr. Bucholz reporting the actions of federal agents on his land and how he and his family were treated. In addition to telling Warden Joe Pickett about what happened to his friend, Nate Romanowski, Rulon wants to know what in the heck is going on with the four federal agents who had the nerve to act like they owned to place and treated his constituents with contempt. Rulon wants Pickett to use a recent bear attack as his cover story and go to the Red Desert and find out what is going on.

Shifting in viewpoint between Nate, Joe Pickett, and several other characters, Off The Grid: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box eventually brings two primary storylines and a couple of secondary ones together in a very enjoyable read. No new character developments are at work here as the characters were fleshed out long ago. Instead, as expected in this series, characters continue to evolve and change as they gradually get older and are impacted by various events. Some of those events in recent books are mentioned here though the primary focus is on the current events.

As always in a tale by C. J. Box, the author’s love of the Wyoming landscape comes through loud and clear. Off The Grid: A Joe Pickett Novel is another very good read in a long series of very good reads. 

Off The Grid: A Joe Pickett Novel

C. J. Box

http://www.cjbox.net

Center Point Large Print

ISBN# 978-1628999211

April 2016

Large Print Hardback (also available in eBook, audio, and regular print hardback formats)

445 Pages

$36.95

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

Mystery Fanfare: Earth Day: Environmental/Ecological Crime Fiction

Mystery Fanfare: Earth Day: Environmental/Ecological Crime Fiction: Earth Day: April 22, 2016 This is an updated Earth Day/Environmental Mysteries List that is by no means complete. There are many more...

Review: "Endangered: A Joe Pickett Novel" by C. J. Box

Life can be fleeting in the mountains of Wyoming and Game Warden Joe Pickett knows that all too well. Humans also have an amazing ability to be incredibly cruel. The most recent example is scattered on the ground around him on an otherwise beautiful mid-March day. Everywhere he looks he sees feathers, blood, shells, and the bodies of at least 21 dead sage grouse. Nearby a few wounded survivors who will not last much longer move around. Known to many as “Prairie Chickens” these helpless birds were wiped out sometime very recently as they went about their springtime rituals.

While Joe Pickett is plenty angry about this senseless slaughter he is about to get much angrier when his friend and Sheriff of Twelve Sleep County, Mike Reed, calls him. One of his deputies has found a young woman in a ditch by the side of an isolated road. The woman has been severely beaten and is barely alive. She also might be Joe’s daughter, April, who left home to travel the rodeo circuit with a local professional rodeo cowboy by the name of Dallas Cates. Dallas was trouble and Joe knew it, but he couldn’t prevent his 18 year old daughter from running off with the dashing cowboy.

It soon becomes very clear that the badly beaten woman in the ditch is April. She has endured serious blunt force trauma and is barely alive. Even if she lives, which is in grave doubt, most likely she has suffered irreversible brain damage. As April fights for life, Joe Pickett works to figure out what happened to his daughter and deal with whomever is responsible. 

Paperback--October 2015

As one expect in the series, a significant portion of the book deals with a secondary storyline involving the ongoing situation with Nate Romanowski. Repercussions from events detailed in Stone Cold continue here and provide a significant backdrop to the main storyline.

Endangered: A Joe Pickett Novel is the fifteenth book in the Joe Pickett series by author C. J. Box and a mighty good one. Family and the complex relationship between humans and nature have always been a major element in these books and such is the case here. The same is true in the short story collection Shots Fired. At the same time those issues never get in the way of the complex mystery or mysteries contained in each book. If you are new to the series start at the beginning with Open Season and work your way forward as family history is a major part of this great series. 

Endangered: A Joe Pickett Novel

C. J. Box

http://www.cjbox.net

G. P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Group)

http://www.penguin.com

March 2015

ISBN# 978-0-399-16077-6

Hardback (also available in e-book and audio)

384 Pages

$26.95

Material was obtained for my use in an objective review from the good folks of the Plano Library System and specifically the Haggard Branch.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2015

Extinct Elephants-- The Deinotherium.

One of the fun things about my freelance gig writing for the Tapir and Friends Animal Store is getting to write about extinct animals. Not recently extinct stuff thanks to mankind's continuing stupidity, but creatures from long ago at the dawn of humanity and further back.

Such is the case here with the Deinotherium who lived from ten million to about two million years ago. If things had worked out just a little differently evolution wise......

Review: "Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens: 200 Drought Tolerant Choices for All Climates" by Lauren Springer Ogden and Scott Ogden

Water supplies and drought are increasingly serious issues across large sections of the country and especially here in Texas. As noted in the introduction, the 200 plants in this book are plants that can survive and thrive on one inch of water every two weeks during their peak growing times. Obviously, brand new plants will need more water to get going and during cooler weather these established plants will need much less.

As noted in the subtitle these are 200 plants that can work anywhere. Broken down into 11 chapters that cover trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, ground covers, and more here is a huge variety here in plant materials and appearances. There is certain to be several selections that will fit your particular situation. Each chapter features numerous specimens in large colorful pictures with their Latin names, explanation of shade and light needs, how fast or slow the plants grow, zone recommendations, and detailed notes on each plant. In each case there are also design idea recommendations and a listing of related plants to the one being covered.

A seven page index pulls the 249 page book together. Each section of plant types is color coded for ease of use. Another nice touch is the use of numerous symbols with each plant making it clear in a glance what you are looking for. Colorful and well done, Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens: 200 Drought Tolerant Choices for All Climates serves not only as a handy reference guide but a beautiful book to inspire you to transform your landscape into a sustainable one that will be an envy of all and environmentally aware.

Waterwise Plants for Sustainable Gardens: 200 Drought Tolerant Choices for All Climates

Lauren Springer Ogden and Scott Ogden

http://www.plantdrivendesign.com/

Timber Press

http://www.timberpress.com

Sept. 2011

ISBN# 978-1-60469-169-6

Paperback (also available in eBook format)

249 pages

$24.95

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012