Sam Rivers Mystery

In this outdoors thriller, the investigation of a bizarre wolf attack leads to evidence of murder, conspiracy, and shocking family secrets. A decades-old promise haunts Sam Rivers, but the wildlife biologist refuses to return home-not with his abusive and estranged father still there. Rivers left the family farm some 20-years ago. He found solace in nature and built a respected career as a special agent for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. His experiences have given him a penchant for understanding predators-a skill he'll need, now, more than ever. After his father's mysterious death, Rivers is lured back to his hometown of Defiance, in northern Minnesota, to fulfill his mother's dying wish. But, all is not as it seems. Rivers breaks into his childhood home during a howling winter storm and discovers something sinister. His suspicions are heightened after a bizarre wolf attack on local livestock. The events lead the special agent to a series of clues that could change everything he knows, or thinks he knows-about the town, his family, and himself. With the help of alluring reporter Diane Talbott, Rivers must unravel the wolf kill and learn what really happened to his father, a man Rivers has hated for most of his life. It is a case unlike any he's worked before. His knowledge of frigid winters, wolves, and wilderness will be put to the test, as he tries to solve the case-and stay alive. In Wolf Kill, natural history writer Cary J. Griffith introduces readers to Sam Rivers, the predator's predator, and weaves a masterful tale of danger and suspense in the far north.

Two dead bodies and too many coincidences to ignore-in this outdoors mystery, special agent Sam Rivers must stop a murderous conspiracy. As a special agent for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Sam Rivers has researched and studied a variety of animals. He's visiting sixth graders at Hopkins Elementary to share photographs of the Monarch butterfly-and he's brought along his drug-sniffing wolfdog, Gray, to give students a demonstration of his partner's remarkable skills. Gray finds a sample drug packet, hidden by Sam, but that's not all. The wolfdog keeps following his nose, leading Sam to a utility room where they discover the school's janitor, dead. Local police write it off as a drug overdose, but Sam is no stranger to crime scenes. He suspects foul play. When Sam and Gray come upon a second victim, the coincidences are too great to ignore. Sam starts turning over rocks-and what slithers out is more insidious than anyone could have foretold. Sam's instincts tell him there'll be more deaths, but those instincts put him at odds with conventional law enforcement. Armed with his knowledge of the natural world and his wolfdog companion, Sam must uncover answers to questions that few others believe exist. The Denver Post calls Sam Rivers the "predator's predator." In Killing Monarchs, natural history writer Cary J. Griffith brings back Sam for his third mystery-a thrilling novel filled with action and suspense.