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Ice Hunter: A Woods Cop Mystery (Woods Cop Mysteries) | 
| Author: Joseph Heywood
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $4.84
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 565905
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 1592286542
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781592286546
ASIN: 1592286542
Publication Date: May 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Penzler Pick, November 2001: Grady Service is a Conservation Officer in the farthest reaches of Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula, a harshly demanding terrain with its own codes and rituals, all linked to the survival of both humans and the vast wilderness surrounding them. Like his father before him, he's entered the Conservation Service and sworn to police an environment where rules seem made to be broken. It's a tough, taxing job, and of 5,000 candidates annually, "only four or five made it all the way through probation to full duty." In much the same manner as another recent series debut (C.J. Box's topnotch Open Season), Heywood, who has written other novels but has now started the "Woods Cop" mysteries with Grady Service, takes us into the world of men at home in the wilderness. That means both good guys and bad. A big problem for the good guys, however, is that the demanding life is tough on those who love them. As Grady tells it, one night his now ex-wife said to him at dinner, "I'd like another helping of cauliflower and a divorce.... You have a death wish and I don't wish to be a young widow." When he meets Maridly Nantz, one of the rare female COs, he's found someone tough enough to take him on. But, first, the two of them must figure out what's behind the deliberate fires, flights of mysterious helicopters, and other unexplained but definitely illegal goings-on in the Mosquito Tract, Grady's own special piece of Upper Peninsula turf. Ice Hunter (the title gives away more than is immediately obvious) is full of enough atmosphere that you'll definitely want to be in a warm, dry room while reading it. --Otto Penzler
Product Description
Meet Grady Service: a former Marine, renowned tracker, Conservation Officer, and the
last person any errant hunter wants to cross. In Ice Hunter, the first of a series of
mysteries set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Service defends his turf with the tenacity of a
bear and the wisdom of an ancient. He shuns all creature comforts and consumerism and is
most at home stalking the Mosquito Tract, his self-designated wilderness and the land protected by his CO father before him. Times are not easy for Service. As this summer season
opens, he gets news that his nemesis, the despicable leader of an incestuous clan of poachers,
is about to be released from prison. But something even more sinister is afoot in the Mosquito
Wilderness--something that inspires greed far beyond the hunter going over his limit, something that involves giants of industry and politics (including the governor of the State of
Michigan)--something that too easily renders human life dispensable. Service must call
upon his every reserve to track, stalk, and hunt the “ice hunter.” Full of grit and wilderness
lore, Ice Hunter show off Heywood’s extraordinary talents. The first in a thrilling series
that has gained him cult status for his intricate plots and outrageously unforgettable characters, Ice Hunter pulls you in and won’t let you go.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Tough Guy November 13, 2007
I just read my first Joseph Heywood "Woods Cop" mystery; it may not be my last. Conservation Officer Grady Service is indeed dedicated to public service, protecting the resources, especially wildlife, of still rural Upper Peninsula (Yooper) Michigan, from various scumbags--and copping a fish or two for himself. I thought this might be like one of those Nevada Barr stories of Ranger Anna Pigeon, but it's not at all. The evocation of nature and atmosphere is close to nil, the prose and furnishments as bare as Service's camp room, he's a serious pretty humorless SOB, and his problems with a string of women is obviously his cold and inarticulate lack of commitment to all but passionately protecting a particular wild tract down by Escanaba. Grady (as in grating personality) is set up as not at all a sensitive hunk, but he is betrayed by author Heywood as Service develops a fondness, or rather, lust, for one of his new colleagues.
The title of the book rather gives away a major plot line...especially when you realize the story is set entirely in the early summer tourist season, far from November's deer season. The story is thus reduced to a "dogged" police procedural, or interest in which lady will get this man. I've rarely seen a heroine who is such an adolescent male's fantasy. At least the chase after the baddies takes you all over the central and western UP, with its colorful mishmash of nationalities and names, everyone bent on an independent life. Is the way to Grady's heart to buy off the governor?! Meanwhile, he has all the daily concerns of a cop on solo patrol, from ticketing poachers, detecting murders, assisting accident victims, dealing with a crazy-smart prison stoolie, to backing up domestic cases, all in a days work, eh. I'm afraid the prose is nothing special, and the proofreading missed a lot. It's the quirky characters and the budding love interest that might get me back to read the next book in the growing series.
 A good book Eh? October 2, 2007
A fine novel with a great plot and penty of explanation on the Upper (Yooper Land) of Michigan. The Fish Cop fits the profile just right for a CO up there. He loves his job,his land and his few Women. All in all it was a great mystery and a lot of information on the land and people of our upper peninsular.
Great start November 17, 2006
It's not the plot so much as the characters that make this a keeper. Off to a great start, this series is a winner.
For lovers of nature and mystery August 26, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Reviewed by Kathleen Dowdell for Reader Views (8/06)
Joseph Heywood, author of the Woods Cop Mystery Series, sets the venue of this thriller in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in an area known as the Mosquito Wilderness Tract. Grady Service, a self proclaimed guardian and appointed conservation officer of this rugged country, is the main character in Heywood's fourth book in this series. Grady's father, also a conservation officer in the UP, died years ago when Grady was only 16.
Grady Service is a man of action who requires little comfort and even less sleep. He prowls the wilderness territory to make sure it is protected from poachers, as his father did years before him. Because of his perseverance and diligence, he gets caught up in a mystery that uses all his expertise and physical stamina. When he does have a little time to relax he spends the time with a newly found lover who adds additional demands agreeing to live together, splitting time between her place and his. When her dog finds rocks in the river which turn out to be diamonds, Service realizes his beloved territory could become a modern "gold rush mecca" that would attract people from all over the country.
This novel moves along at a pace that keeps the reader interested while subtly drawing the reader in to find out what happens next. Heywood throws in sub plots and uses a variety of characters to help tell the story. The ending was a surprise in a pleasant way and I was not disappointed after reading nearly 300 pages. This is an easy read that I would recommend to lovers of nature and conservation as well as mystery and suspense.
Ice Hunter Outshines them all! September 30, 2005
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've been a Bill Tapply fan for years and have probably read most everything he's written being 60. Ice Huner is up among the best.
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