Lately I’ve been hooked on the CJ Box series set in Wyoming, which reads like a modern western. I’m up to the fourth book Trophy hunting, and I still find myself enjoying not only the mystery as it is plotted, but also Box’s ability to describe the West as it really is with rapidly changing weather patterns, streams, canyons, and animals. It does so through its main character, Joe Pickett, who is a ranger in a state with more antelope than people. Joe is a family man with children, something that is not seen too often in hard mysteries. Some of the murders are gruesome, but it reminds us that man is also an animal. The series began in 2001 with Open Season.
Nevada Barr is another author who I consider to be a Western writer. Its main character, Anna Pigeon, works as a kind of police officer for the National Park Service. Travel from park to park from the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas to Mesa Verde in Colorado and Glacier National Park in Montana. She includes other parks east of the Mississippi River and her latest book, Limit, actually takes place in the great city of New Orleans. She is mostly a loner, who lost a husband early in life and remarries later in the series. Her mysteries involve the landscapes of the parks, where she is assigned, and often give her insight into the world of the national park system. His first book in the series is Cat head published in 1993.
If you enjoy a lighter perspective on western city life, I highly recommend William Bernhardt with his legal thrillers set in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bernhardt expresses concern about legal issues by introducing Ben Kincaid, a lost causes attorney. He seems like a bungler, but he overcomes many legal hurdles and wins his cases, which involve everything from capital punishment to hate crimes and from child abuse to environmental concerns. There are many books in the series, which began in 1991 with Primary justice.
Diane Mott Davidson sets her amateur detective Goldy Schulz in a small mountain town near Denver, Colorado, beginning with Catering for nobody (1990). Goldy is starting a new catering business after divorcing an abusive husband. She has an awkward but charming eleven-year-old son, Arch, who often steals the show. It doesn’t hurt your detective if you later marry the local sheriff. Although I’m not a huge fan of cozies, these are better than most and include catering recipes. Time passes slowly in this series. Arch needs eight books to turn four.
For those of you who like psychological mysteries, you might want to try Stephen White’s series set in Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is a college town near Denver and White’s character, Alan Gregory, has a practice there. My husband likes this series (more than I do), because Gregory is a fallible man, firm and loyal to his loved ones. He is a boiled hero who comes fairly awkwardly to the answers through his skill with people and his training as a clinical psychologist. This series also begins in 1991 with Inside information.
There are numerous mystery series set in California, and JA Jance has two series set in Arizona, both of which call for more disclosure in future articles. But these five should keep you busy for a while.
