Sierra Nevada Mystery

Thanks Paul for the update.

Back in the mid 1970s, I knew two people older than I was who left the backcountry ranger career track because it was clear than that rangers for the USFS (or the National Park Service or the California State Park) would have to become sworn officers and armed because of increased criminal activity in our wildernesses and open spaces.

Hi Bruce

That’s a great point.  In these books, Dan is a wilderness ranger–never involved directly in criminal investigations, but he knows the wilderness.  And his good friend Cal is the local Sheriff, who does do most of the criminal investigations.  They make a successful, and at times amusing, team!

I’m reading Bones of the Earth right now. I’ll have to check the new one out soon.

Vertical Exposure, the latest in my series of mysteries set in the High Sierra, is now out! You can find it at the usual places, including bookstores like Napa Bookmine and the Mountain Bookstore in Sonora, Amazon, and even in the ranger stations in the Stanislaus National Forest.

When a legendary alpine climber leads a professional workshop on high-exposure Search and Rescue techniques, the last thing you would expect is that someone would die. And yet…
It’s up to Ranger Dan Courtwright and his friend Sheriff Cal Healey to uncover the truth. And the secrets that come to light threaten to expose more than one suspect.

Here’s a link to the Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Vertical-Exposure-Dan-Courtwright-Mystery/dp/B0CJ5YBSBX

I’ve enjoyed all of them so far and will get this one tonight.

Thanks, Mark!

Working by the lookout tower around Zephyr Cove(Tahoe), it was a ranger that approached us with pictures looking for an arson suspect. It wasn’t a sheriff. They have investigators . Not just rangers. They do their own investigating.

Depends on the crime and the situation, Terran.  Most murder investigations get turned over to the local LEOs, or sometimes the FBI. But the rangers certainly help out with investigations.