New release: For a change, the butler didn’t do it; a bear did. Or did it? In “Unbearably Deadly”, Roger and Suzanne head to Alaska to find out the circumstances surrounding their friends’ deaths. The vast expanse of Denali National Park creates a 6-million acre locked room murder case for our sleuths to solve. There are no suspects, no clues, and little help available. Can they solve their most difficult case to date? Can be read as a series entry or a standalone mystery novel. From the first review: “Good addition to the series. Interesting plot, excellent description of the locale and the usual good characterizations. I enjoy the descriptions and history of the area, which are always presented in a way that doesn’t intrude on the storyline and particularly like the ongoing characters who are mature, sensible and have no issues, which seems to not be case in many mysteries now.”
Targeted Age Group:: Adult
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
We recently took a vacation in Alaska, which included several days at Denali National Park and the train ride from Anchorage to Denali. It seemed worth sharing.
The series characters, especially Roger and Suzanne, wanted to go somewhere else than back to South America. They’d eaten all the beef they wanted for now. Alaska seemed as far away as we could get from Uruguay and Argentina if we wanted to stay in the same hemisphere.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
The book is part of a series (each book is written as a standalone, so you can start the series with any of the nine books and read them in any order), so I already had the main characters to work with. Some of the local characters sort of evolved as I wrote the novel—I didn’t start with all of them in mind. Having visited the Park, I knew who would be there and fictionalized the real people we had met when we were there.
Book Sample
As they started off on their bikes, the sun broke through the clouds, presaging a nice day after all. Roberta took it as an omen; today was going to be another perfect day here in paradise.
It was the perfect place to ambush the Roberts, a large clearing in the middle of a heavily forested area. The narrow dirt road continued onward from the clearing into the foothills, which were destined to become the highest mountains in the USA further to the north. An old, but still functional, fire pit was the most obvious man-made feature visible upon entering the clearing.
“The Bear” had perfect cover in its den, the old mine overlooking the clearing gouged out of the rocky foothills. The entrance to the mine itself was so overgrown with bushes and trees as to be invisible until you stood right in front of it. “The Bear” wore nylon gloves, a long coat that covered its entire body and clothing from neck to ankles, nylon shoe protectors like those worn by CSI personnel at a crime scene over the shoes to prevent contaminating the evidence, and a cap to protect its hair in case of blood spatter.
Laying on the floor of the old mine, completely concealed from the sight of anyone in the clearing, were several objects. The tranquilizer dart air rifle had an over-under barrel design, so could fire two darts loaded with anesthetic at two targets within a few seconds in the hands of someone who knew how to use it. A modern laser-type gun sight made hitting the animal you wanted to put to sleep as simple as planting the red dot on the target and pulling the trigger. Mining tools, an axe, two oddly shaped clubs, and rocks and stones from the ongoing mining activity here completed the clutter on the floor. Various articles of clothing including clean jeans, a shirt, and a down parka type jacket hung on hooks on the wall.
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Thud. The sound was a whisper in the sheltered area in the middle of the birch forest. Roberta wasn’t even sure she’d heard it. She looked up just in time to see Francis’ bike, just a few feet ahead of hers, swerve, barely missing a low tree branch as he fell off the bike. There wasn’t enough time to react before she heard another dull thud, just about the same time she felt something like an insect bite in her back near the shoulder blade, her bike tipping over as she fell to the ground. The last thing she remembered was crawling over to the now quiet body of Francis laying on the ground, putting her hand over his, and squeezing his hand gently.
About the Author:
The author is a Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of California’s Medical School at Davis, near Sacramento in Northern California. Jerry writes “tweener” mystery books (hard boiled stories that follow the cozy conventions of no graphic sex and no cussing) that are fast moving and entertain the reader, while introducing the readers to a region where he has lived and worked that is a long way from home for most English speakers. He and his wife lived previously in Salta, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay for several months each. Jerry selected the most interesting South American locations he found for Roger and Suzanne to visit while solving miscellaneous murders. Montevideo, Salta, Machu Picchu, the Galapagos Islands, and Iguazu Falls are also characters in these books, and the novels portray these places as vivid and real. Jerry and his wife Elaine breed prize-winning German Shorthaired Pointer dogs; Elaine also provides technical advice for Jerry’s novels like The Deadly Dog Show and editing for all of the books.
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