Description
This is a first novel by the author. It revolves around a murder of a college president on the Firehole River. A local fly shop owner (who is an ex-college president) is a suspect but also the one who searches out clues and ultimately solves the mystery. Some of the dialogue in the early part of the book seems a bit forced --the murder victim is a particularly unlikeable character but his dialogues seems to over-sell this point as does how other describe him. With that said, the book quickly sweeps up the reader in the mystery. The hero takes up with an assistant superintendent of parks (who also is a love interest). Other interesting characters include a former college professor who is a suspect and a librarian. Other characters like those who work in the fly shop are never fully developed. A bit of academic politics is also thrown into the mix.
The fishing scenes are good and accurate. There are two mistakes (for Yellowstone purists). First, the murder occurs at Ojo Caliente bend on the Firehole. This stretch of river has been closed to vehicles for at least two decades but in the book, people drive right up to the bridge that crosses the river. Secondly, the author refers to Mammoth as "Mammouth." In addition, if you really want to quibble, the fisherman in the book use caddis flies and other dries on the Firehole on opening day -while there are some hatches this early, normally opening day is a time for nymphs and soft hackles as the water is normally high and a bit off color and not real conducive to hatches.
I won't give away the ending but it seems to come quickly. That is, things get wrapped up to easily without any twists, etc. Yet, I enjoyed this book and look forward to more fly fishing mysteries by this author.
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