Out of Range by CJ Box

Paperback published 2005, 351 pages.  This is a new to me author but one I will be reading more of, especially his game warden Joe Pickett, featured in this novel.  Well written and good solid mystery with twists.   It opens as Joe Picket, game warden for the Saddlestring region is settled with his wife Marybeth and teenage daughter, Sheridan.  They are attending the wedding of Joe's mother in law, Missy a 69 year old who trades husbands periodically and who is marrying a big shot rancher, Bud Longbrake.  The wedding is attended by all politicos of who's who.  Joe learns that his friend, Will Jensen, warden of the Jackson/Tetons area is dead.  Reportedly by suicide.  Joe is tasked with leaving Saddlestring for Jackson to fill in.  He has a sense that this was no suicide and will track the killer and expose the ever crooked links in the agencies.  

The opening sentence, "Before going outside to his pickup for his gun, the Wyoming game warden cooked and ate four and a half pounds of meat."  Wow, who eats that much meat, I thought.  

From the author's website: "Jackson, Wyoming, is a far cry from Joe's hometown of Saddlestring—it's the epicenter for many environmental extremists and an elite playground for the rich and powerful—and Joe quickly finds himself in over his head. Yet despite the pressures of his new job, he can't get his friend's suicide out of his mind. By all accounts, Will had changed in the last few months, becoming violent and unpredictable. The closer Joe comes to the truth about Will's death, the more his own life spirals out of control-and he realizes that if he's not careful, he may end up as Jackson's next victim."

Page 5, "Forlorn was a word he had come to like, in recent months. It was a word that sounded like what it described." This is descriptive of some of Will's final thoughts.

Joe  has more than enough to do as elk season is about to begin and a busy time for the warden, checking hunters licenses, guides, etc.  But he has to leave for Jackson and give his duties over to another. 

A 4 **** read, good writing, moves along, lots of characters and many sub plots happening.,