Cold Wind

Starred review from January 31, 2011
Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett must try to prove that his despised mother-in-law, Missy Alden, isn't guilty of murdering Earl Alden, her fifth husband, in Box's searing 11th Joe Pickett novel (after Nowhere to Run). Pickett's gruesome discovery of Alden's body is followed almost immediately by the stage-managed arrest of Missy by Sheriff Kyle McLanahan. Both Missy and Earl have done plenty to earn the enmity of their neighbors, so Missy's arrest benefits McLanahan's bid for re-election, but Pickett is surprised to find county attorney Lisa Rich already convinced the case is solid. Pickett could use the help of his friend Nate Romanowski, but they are on the outs. Meanwhile, Romanowski, hunted by the widow of a man he killed, finds his withdrawal from the world has endangered others. Box parlays a heady mix of Wyoming politics and the advent of wind power into a deadly brew. This engaging series just keeps getting better with each new entry. Author tour.

Welcome to Wyoming--where wind power is changing both the political and the actual landscapes. In this installment in the Joe Pickett series, the game warden/detective is the reluctant defender of his unpleasant mother-in-law, who is accused of shooting her multimillionaire fifth husband and hanging him from a wind turbine. David Chandler's lean narration is a wide-open corral gate to the series. He deftly portrays Joe and excels at depicting his complicated friend, Nate Romanowski, with his burned voice and cowboy silences. Listeners will delight in twists that continue into the last chapter--and the epilogue. M.C.T. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine