Hi, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host Dean L. Hovey and his new book, “Western Justice,” here on FAB!! For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $20 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Dean and to increase your chances of winning!!
Thanks for stopping by!! Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!
Western Justice
Doug Fletcher Book Series
Book 14
by Dean L. Hovey
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GENRE: Mystery
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BOOK BLURB:
When human remains are found at the Vore Buffalo Jump, the short-staffed local sheriff’s department requests assistance from Park Service Investigators Doug and Jill Fletcher.
ATV tracks lead the investigators to the victim’s boots and a hunting blind constructed on the edge of the Black Hills National Forest. With more questions than answers the Fletchers find themselves pulled into the community dynamics of tiny Aladdin (population 15) where the café and general store are the hub of information for the county.
The surprising identification of the victim only opens more questions about him, and his connection to the location of his murder. When the Fletchers follow up on the few leads provided by John Doe’s identification, they unwittingly open a can of worms.
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EXCERPT TWO:
“I don’t know if you remember me, but this is Hank Stoddard. I’m the Crook County sheriff, in Wyoming.”
“I remember you, Sheriff. Have you had any shootouts lately?”
After a chuckle, Stoddard replied, “Well, we haven’t had to shoot anyone, but a body was found on a National Park Service site. I was wondering if you happened to be in the neighborhood and would be willing to take a look at it.”
“I’m in Texas right now. But you’ve intrigued me. Did you have another person fall at Devils Tower?”
“A volunteer found a body in Vore Buffalo Jump when they were cleaning up for the tourist season opening.”
I searched the recesses of my mind and vaguely remembered seeing a sign for the historic site but couldn’t recall the location. “Where is the buffalo jump?”
“It’s just west of Beulah, within sight of I-90.”
“That’s just across the border from South Dakota, right?”
“That would be the spot. I was hoping you were visiting your South Dakota in-laws and might be willing to take a peek at the mess that was once a person.”
“Let me make a couple of calls, Sheriff. We may need to make an unexpected trip to Spearfish.”
“I’d be mighty appreciative if you could make that happen. This death is strange. The coroner and I have stewed over this a lot. It appears the victim was dragged across the prairie like a horse thief, then dumped at the buffalo jump site at some point over the winter.”
“Dragged like a horse thief?”
“Dragging a horse thief across the prairie was called western justice.”
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GUEST POST:
The Craziest Things I've Done
for Research
Wow! You've given me so many possible topics, and I'd like to respond to each of them.
Let's talk about the craziest things I've done for research:
First of all, let me say that I'm a science geek. I love doing research and including tidbits of scientific detail in my books.
The most unusual research is probably my visit with the FBI tape expert. Yes, the FBI has a person whose entire job is understanding and analyzing the adhesive tape found at crime scenes. It was a fabulous afternoon and I learned that criminals prefer duct tape to almost any other variety of tape. Because of that, the expert, who is a Ph.D. chemist, had samples of duct tape mounted on Plexiglass sheets. She explained that each manufacturer has their own proprietary design, fiber pattern, and adhesive formula, which makes them identifiable. With that knowledge, she can analyze a piece of tape from a crime scene and tell the investigators which company manufactured that piece of tape. Beyond that, most manufacturers use natural rubber to make the adhesive. Being an agricultural product, natural rubber takes on the characteristics of the area where the rubber trees grow, the soil composition, the weather while it grows, and particulate contamination unique to the places it was processed, stored, and manufactured. Because of those things, the adhesive on a roll of tape is as unique as a fingerprint, and often allows the analyst to differentiate rolls of tape from different manufacturing runs.
During my discussion, I saw a "stadium" blanket mounted in a frame. The expert explained that an entire murder case had been proven based on the evidence collected from that blanket. They'd found DNA from the murderer and victim, fibers from the trunk of the murderer's car, fibers from the murderer's and victim's clothing, mud unique to the site of the murder, and other trace evidence linking the murderer to site and victim.
I've used bits of learning from that tour in at least half a dozen books.
In "Western Justice", the most recent of my Park Service mysteries, I used trace evidence recovered from the victim's body to help the investigators identify the victim, whose body had been dumped months before its discovery, at the Vore Buffalo Jump. My visit with Jackie Wyatt, the president of the Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation, provided additional details about the site, a potential location for the discovery, and additional background information about the history of the buffalo jump archaeology. I had discussions with the local coroner, a man who'd hunted in the Black Hills National Forest, a rancher who lives nearby, and the people working in the nearby Aladdin (Wyoming) General Store. Each of those discussions provided details that were salted into the book to give the story reality and "texture". My readers enjoy learning detailed tidbits about the Park Service locations I chose, and the scientific details behind the investigation.
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AUTHOR BIO:
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Dean Hovey is a Minnesota-based author with three mystery series. He lives with his wife south of Duluth.
Dean’s award-winning* Pine County series follows sheriff’s deputies Floyd Swenson and Pam Ryan through this police procedural series.
Dean’s Whistling Pines books are humorous cozy mysteries centered on the residents of the Whistling Pines senior residence. The protagonist is Peter Rogers, the Whistling Pines recreation director.
In Dean’s latest series his protagonist, a retired Minnesota policeman, is drafted into service as a National Park Service Investigator after a murder at a National Monument.
* “Family Trees: A Pine County Mystery” won the 2018 NEMBA award for best fiction.
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CONNECT WITH DEAN:
Website:
BWL Publishing Author Page:
https://bookswelove.net/hovey-dean
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1127828.Dean_L_Hovey
Goodreads Book Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203754892-western-justice
Amazon Author Page:
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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon US Kindle eBook:
Amazon CA Kindle eBook:
https://www.amazon.ca/Western-Justice-Doug-Fletcher-Book-ebook/dp/B0CQ6GLV6D
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Dean will be awarding a $20
Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner's Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn
winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those fabulous community outreach projects and awesome giveaways on here**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Thank you so much for featuring Dean Hovey and his book, Western Justice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting this stop on my virtual book tour. I enjoyed sharing the science behind my stories. Feel free to leave a question.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great read.
ReplyDeleteThis should be a great novel. Thanks for hosting.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're staying warm this weekend.
ReplyDeleteDo you prefer cold or warmer temperatures?
ReplyDeleteI prefer the cooler climate. I couldn't handle Arizona summers. Although -30 is tough.
ReplyDelete