A string of protests by animal-rights activists appear to have culminated in a double murder at a wolf lab, which releases into the wild a rare animal: a blue wolf. To the Ojibwa a blue wolf means luck; but if captured or killed, Armageddon. Grady Service is in a race against time as an elusive poachers' ring chooses its final target: the blue wolf. For more on Joseph Heywood and the Woods Cop Mysteries, visit www.josephheywood.com
A serial killer is knocking off America’s best conservation officers—and Service learns he is next on the list. The FBI brings him on the case, but Service is also out for blood. The killer has murdered his girlfriend, Maridly Nantz, and his son, Walter. Service must navigate the terrain of his own grief as well as the killer’s twisted mind. The fifth book in the Woods Cop Mystery series. For more on Joseph Heywood and the Woods Cop Mysteries, visit the author's website.
Every fall in northern Michigan brings a spate of dogman sightings. A radio DJ’s invention, the dogman was created as an attention-getting joke. But millions of Michiganders believe in angels and vampires, werewolves, Bigfoot . . . and the dogman. Late summer, the horribly mutilated bodies of two Native American girls are found in a tent in a remote campground in the Huron Mountains. Grady Service, who wants nothing more than to return to patrolling his beloved Mosquito Wilderness, is called into the case. Strange animal tracks are found, mayhem ensues, a bloody trail of victims begins to accumulate, and the governor, in a political panic, and on her way out of office, orders Grady to hunt down and eliminate the killer--on her office’s dime. Grady Service does not believe in Easter bunnies, Santa Claus, or dogmen, and the "monster" hunt that unfolds in Killing a Cold One builds to a violent finish in some of the Upper Peninsula’s harshest and deadliest terrain. Joseph Heywood's legendary woods cop is called upon to use all of his investigative skills to sort fantasy from reality in order to do what the governor wants.
Late spring, 2007. Michigan in economic freefall, state budgets being slashed, politics reduced to nastiness, state jobs being erased, and personnel furloughed without pay. Grady Service, detective for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in the Upper Peninsula,watches as his colleagues leave the department one by one. Upon being asked by an old friend to look into unspecified problems his son is facing on the shores of Lake Superior, Service has no idea how complicated his life is about to become. All he knows is that the situation involves something his friend calls “bleeding sand”—and that his new partner, Conservation Officer Donna “Jingo” Sedge, is the oddest young officer he’s ever met. The story moves at breakneck speed as Service, nearing three decades as a Woods Cop, finds that expectations seem to be changing on all fronts, personal and professional, and he is not certain he can live up to them.
In a brilliant debut to a thrilling series, Grady Service gets news that his nemesis, the head of an incestuous clan of poachers, is to be released from prison. But something even more sinister is afoot in the Mosquito Wilderness. Service must call upon his every reserve to track, stalk, and capture the “ice hunter.” MEET GRADY SERVICE: former Marine, renowned tracker, conservation officer, and the last person any errant hunter wants to cross. In Ice Hunter—the first of a series of mysteries set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and celebrated for its intricate plots and outrageously unforgettable characters—Service defends his turf with the tenacity of a bear and the wisdom of an ancient. He shuns all creature comforts and consumerism and is most at home stalking the Mosquito Tract, his self-designated wilderness. Times are not easy for Service. As the summer season opens, he gets news that his nemesis, the despicable leader of an incestuous clan of poachers, is to be released from prison. But something even more sinister is afoot—something that inspires untold greed, involves giants of industry and politics, and renders human life dispensable. Service must call upon his every reserve to track, stalk, and capture the “ice hunter.” Full of grit and wilderness lore, Ice Hunter pulls you in and won’t let you go.
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.
Hard Ground is a treasure chest of stories for lovers of the outdoors, fans of smart crime fiction, and, of course, the legions of Joseph Heywood fans. Featuring the game-warden colleagues of Woods Cop star Grady Service, the tales in this collection follow the men and women patrolling Michigan’s wilds as they encounter everything from poachers determined to defend their kills with deadly resistance to drug pushers selling their wares at an Elvis Convention camping retreat. There are search-and-rescue operations, a rookie game warden's first day on the job, and much, much more. With Heywood’s trademark ability to capture the eccentric characters of the Upper Peninsula, his wonderful ear for dialogue, and his vivid descriptions of hunting, fishing, and outdoorsmanship, these twenty-plus stories will delight Heywood fans and entice any reader who loves stories about the great outdoors or law-and-order. As an added bonus, one story features Woods Cop protagonist Grady Service early in his career, while another story stars Heywood's new series protagonist Lute Bapcat.
'Undercover, you're never just acting; you're only ever a different version of yourself.' Neil Woods spent fourteen years (1993-2007) infiltrating drug gangs as an undercover policeman, befriending and gaining the trust of some of the most violent, unpredictable criminals in Britain. But Neil was never your stereotypical gung-ho, tough-guy copper. This is the story of how a thoughtful, idealistic character learned to use his empathetic nature to master some of the roughest, most dangerous work in law enforcement. There was no training, no manual and no plan for when things went wrong; he was just dropped at a corner and told to make connections. But, inevitably, having swords thrust against his jugular, witnessing beatings, stabbings, and gangsters burning suspected rats with acid took its toll. Drawing on Neil’s experiences, with the insight that can only come from having fought on the front lines, GOOD COP, BAD WAR is at once a narrative-driven true crime read and a fascinating story of a character under pressure.
We go back in time twenty-five years to meet Service as a young conservation officer. Still fresh from Vietnam, but on home turf, Service has been tapped for an unusual assignment that threatens to be his last. Full of outrageous characters and the verisimilitude the series is known for, Running Dark is a wild and riveting ride. For more on Joseph Heywood and the Woods Cop Mysteries, visit www.josephheywood.com
In the sixth title in the successful Woods Cop Mystery series, another suspenseful who-done-it finds Grady Service with an unexpectedly complex, truly rotten, and important case on his hands. This time tainted eggs are showing up in caviar and Service must expose a ring of corruption in state government and perhaps within his own beloved DNR, one that could lead him all the way to the top. Making enemies at every level of the state, Service rousts out the people on the take. Can he get to the source of the contaminated eggs and prove it? Pitting corporate greed against the health of the general public isn't something Service takes lightly. He doesn't rest until there has been full exposure in a case that takes him from the wilds of the Upper Peninsula to the jungles of the state capital, into the maw of the Ukrainian mafia in New York City and onto distant beaches of Central America. For more on Joseph Heywood and the Woods Cop Mysteries, visit the author's website, www.josephheywood.com.
