Trailridge

Guy Hogan Mystery, #1

by

Kevin Wolf

Suspense, action, betrayal, and murder!

Trailridge, the first novel in Kevin Wolf's Guy Hogan Mystery series, is a suspenseful, action-filled tale of betrayal and murder. Guy Hogan, a recent widower, is living a quiet life in Colorado near Rocky Mountain National Park, occupying his time flyfishing, guiding the occasional tourist to optimal fishing spots, and teaching some the finer points of the sport. 

One day, while in pursuit of a prize catch, he is surprised by the appearance of a young woman on the opposite bank of the river, apparently in search of an emergency spot to relieve herself. As he starts to make himself known, she screams and points at something in the water out of Guy's line of sight: the body of a dead man floating face-first in the water. After notifying law enforcement, Guy finds that some of the details of Willa Stanford's story about her presence in Colorado don't add up, and he is surprised later when he sees her at a bar in town with another woman with strikingly similar physical features. 

In the meantime, there has been a spate of bull elk found butchered, their antlers removed, in the national park. Guy had discovered carcasses during his hikes, and while his ranger friends had a good idea who was behind the slaughter, the complexity and breadth of the current activities hinted at something much more organized than the usual suspects were capable of. On the day following his discovery of the dead man, Hogan finds himself the target of an unseen sniper, and he decides to dig deeper into both cases. 

Guy Hogan is an engaging older man with grown children, and he is a very sympathetic main character. Still grieving the recent loss of his wife, Jenny, to cancer a scant ten months earlier, he is slowly rebuilding his life without her. He most enjoys spending time in the national park, indulging his passion for fly fishing. He's kept himself active, which is helpful when the bad guys come after him. He's like a Timex watch, "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking."

 Willow Stanford, her latest alias, is shocked but not surprised when she discovers her mother is involved in the death of the man she found in the river or in the highly lucrative and illegal elk antler smuggling operation; there's a lot of money at stake. Not only that, but her mother's late husband, a candidate for political office and an environmental supporter, stood in the way of her latest caper. 

The action is fast-paced from the start, but even that kicks up a notch or more with an exciting and dangerous car chase sequence along Trailridge Road, the highest paved road in the U.S., and a breakneck flight on foot down the side of a mountain away from men with guns in the midst of a coming storm. While readers are clued in to the identities of the perpetrators, the suspense lies in whether Guy and Willow can escape and stop the men from doing more harm to the wildlife and beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park. 

This audiobook edition is narrated by Greg O'Donahue, who delivers a fluid, flawless performance with a distinctive range of voices for the different characters. I believed the vocal pattern and intonation he developed for Hogan to sound like those of an older man, whether in pain, on the run from his pursuers, or finally relaxing beside his favorite fishing hole. I noted no unusual pronunciations, and the audiobook's production quality was excellent. 

I recommend TRAILRIDGE to those who enjoy action-packed mysteries set in the great outdoors, flyfishing, and Colorado.