Wildcat Play

February 6, 2012
Knode’s ponderous second mystery featuring L.A. movie critic Ann Whitehead (after 2003’s The Ticket Out) takes Ann to oil country. Ann’s family’s business was oil, and her father’s friend Joe Balch is happy to hire her on his wildcat gas drilling operation in the San Joaquin Valley. Despite pressure from her grandmother and Joe’s estranged wife to do something more genteel, Ann is soon enmeshed in the dangerous world of the drilling rig. When a hand is murdered on the rig, Ann investigates, putting herself at risk in a life-and-death situation with big money at stake. Even her LAPD love, Det. Doug Lockwood, eventually becomes involved in the race to find the killer. Conspiracy, murder, and family secrets eventually explode in an exciting conclusion, though some readers may feel they’ve learned more about the down-and-dirty world of the oil fields than they need to along the way. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Associates.

March 1, 2012
A film reviewer leaves Hollywood for the rough-and-tumble world of the San Joaquin Valley. A bloody murder took its toll on Ann Whitefield in body and in spirit (The Ticket Out, 2003). So she holes up in the tiny desert town of Wilson with her grandfather's friend Joe Balch, who saved Wilson from near extinction when his wildcat oil well came in, bringing good jobs with Balch Oil to the isolated region northeast of Los Angeles. Now in his 70s, Joe is wildcatting for gas on a lease just north of his spacious home. When Ann begs him for a job on his rig, Joe agrees to let her "roughneck," cleaning the "doghouse," a steel-sided room next to the rig floor, where Emmet, the "toolpusher," directs the drilling operation. Emmet has two rules for Ann: work hard, and "no vamping my boys." Most of the boys take to the rookie rig hand, teasing her and calling her "Pup." Like Emmet, they're transplanted Okies, and they share their boss' strict work ethic. But Kenny Mills, a local, is a different story. A loner strung out on meth, he's an accident waiting to happen. And sure enough, one night when the rig is socked in by tule fog, someone drops a hammer from the tower, stopping Kenny's clock for good. Ann suspects the accident was really murder. But was Wade the intended target, or was the killer aiming for Richie, Emmet's protege? And was the purpose to kill, or to stop Balch from realizing his wildcat dream? Knode's second entry is complex both in plot and setting, equal parts mystery and primer in the art of drilling for oil.

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April 1, 2012

Hard-edged film critic Ann Whitehead (The Ticket Out) has left Hollywood for California's oil country, where she is welcomed by close family friend Joe Balch and given an opportunity to recover from her recent calamitous experiences. Ann is eager to work with Joe's oil-drilling team, but she knows that the guys aren't thrilled to have a woman on board. When a hammer falls and kills one of the crew, Ann phones her lover, LAPD Det. Doug Lockwood. Local authorities want to label the death an industrial accident, but Doug convinces them it is murder. Subsequently, Ann is brutally attacked, Joe's home is ransacked, and suspicious activities related to drugs, corporate greed, and jealousy escalate. Plenty of combustible action follows. VERDICT Knode's sophomore outing for her protagonist overflows with motives. However, it suffers from information overload and too many characters. That said, it would appeal to Nevada Barr readers who enjoy an independent female lead fighting against the odds. [Knode is author James Ellroy's ex-wife.--Ed.]

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