Force of Blood

A Woods Cop Mystery

By (author) Joseph Heywood

Not available to order

Publication date:

04 November 2012

Length of book:

432 pages

Publisher

Lyons Press

ISBN-13: 9780762781232

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.

Praise for Joseph Heywood and the Woods Cop Mystery series

 

“Heywood is a master of his form.” —Detroit Free Press

 

“Top-notch action scenes, engaging characters both major and minor, masterful dialogue, and a passionate sense of place make this a fine series.”

Publishers Weekly

 

“Heywood has crafted an entertaining bunch of characters. An absorbing narrative twists and turns in a setting ripe for corruption.”
Dallas Morning News

 

 “Crisp writing, great scenery, quirky characters, and an absorbing plot.”
Wall Street Journal

 

“Joseph Heywood writes with a voice as unique and rugged as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula itself.”
—Steve Hamilton, Edgar® Award–winning author of The Lock Artist