Treasure State by C. J. Box

 

First Line: Private investigator J.D. Spengler of Tampa Bay, Florida, was taking the highway exit from I-90 West onto Montana State Highway 1 when he was blinded by the setting sun and he ran over something big enough on the road that he nearly lost control of his rental car.

 

When private investigator Cassie Dewell gets a phone call from a woman in Florida, she's really not interested in taking the case... until she gets a few more details. The woman was conned out of millions of dollars, and the trail of the man who did it leads right to Anaconda, Montana-- an old mining town not far from Cassie's office. It's not going to hurt to take a preliminary look, is it?

In the meantime, Cassie has a very odd case. A poem left in the bar of a Montana town purports to be a treasure map leading to millions of dollars. The poet reassures Cassie that the treasure is real; all he wants her to do is to check his anonymity. He doesn't want anyone to be able to find him through any clues he might have left in his poem.

 

As Cassie works on both cases, she realizes that both clients have been selective with the facts they've chosen to give her. This may make her work more difficult, but she's beginning to find the information she needs to solve them both. She can't quit now, even though she's walking straight into danger.

~

Whether reading about game warden Joe Pickett or private investigator Cassie Dewell, C.J. Box knows how to spin a tale that makes readers keep turning the pages. Although I like Joe, I have to admit that I have a special fondness for Cassie, and watching her solve the two cases in Treasure State was a real treat.

Cassie shines in Treasure State, but so do the secondary characters: her new intern, April Pickett; her annoying mother Isabel; the young Kyle Westergaard who's determined to find the treasure no matter how hard Cassie tries to stop him; even the Lothario who roams the country stealing as much money from women as he can-- all these characters keep readers fully engaged in the story.

Both cases Cassie is investigating are gems, and I love watching her mind work as she pieces things together. She always works hard to be one step ahead of the bad guys in order to keep herself and all those she cares about safe. It's refreshing to have the main character go out of her way not to do anything stupid.

Having spent many happy hours out in the middle of nowhere (and closer afield) locating old mining towns in the mountains and deserts of Arizona and learning their fascinating histories, I soaked up everything Box had to say about Montana's mining past, in particular, the town of Anaconda, a town long considered to be the heart of the American labor movement. 

Characters, mysteries, history-- Treasure State was downright fun to read, and I can't wait to see what Cassie Dewell gets up to next.

 

Treasure State by C. J. Box

eISBN: 9781250768032

Minotaur Books © 2022

eBook, 320 pages

 

Private Investigator, #6 Cassie Dewell mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

The Bitterroots by C.J. Box

 

First Line: The Crazy Mountains were on fire and Cassie Dewell sat alone in her car at night on McLeod Street across from the Grand Hotel in Big Timber, Montana, looking for a twenty-four-year-old reprobate known as Antlerhead.

 

Cassie Dewell may be a private investigator now, but she's still a cop at heart, so when a friend calls in a favor and asks Cassie to help exonerate a man accused of raping a young girl from an influential family, she really wants no part of it. That old friend finally gets her on board by telling her that Cassie would really be going over all the evidence to prove that the prosecution's case was airtight.

 

But when she gets to the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana, she finds that the Kleinsassers have ruled the area for decades, and they want Blake Kleinsasser, the black sheep of the family, put away in prison for good. As Cassie begins going over each piece of the evidence against Blake, she unleashes the deadly power of a twisted family. When it comes to what the Kleinsassers of the Iron Cross Ranch want, Cassie is going to find out that her life means absolutely nothing.

 

~

 

Taking place during Montana's "Summer of Fire," C.J. Box's The Bitterroots is a story that has the sudden, ferocious power of a sledgehammer. When Cassie Dewell tells someone where she's going, she's told "You have no idea what kind of... snake pit you're going to fall into," and that's the honest truth. The smoke of countless forest fires may obscure the Kleinsassers' sinister grip on the county in which they reside, but the acrid stench of the smoke gives them away. Even the name of their property-- the Iron Cross Ranch-- has an ominous ring to it.

Cassie Dewell faces one challenge of escalating intensity after another, but, folks, she's put down her Denise Mina novel, and she's determined to get to the bottom of things simply because the other side is overplaying their hand. These challenges are humiliating, shocking, infuriating... and I would have done exactly what she did. (Some folks don't react well to intimidation.) The only qualm I had was that, for the single mother of a teenage boy, Cassie went much farther out on a limb than she should have. 

The Kleinsassers are a family of vipers, and I wanted to see Cassie bring them down. One person remarks, "We seem to be witnessing the Olympics of family dysfunction right here in Montana." Some of the Kleinsasser revelations didn't surprise me one bit, and I cheered Cassie on to the very last page.

As always, the setting has an important role in Box's novels. Readers will experience the Summer of Fire in the steep mountains and deep valleys of northwestern Montana close to the Idaho border, but they will also learn a bit of history. This is the land of the Big Hole Battlefield, where Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce fought for their freedom, and Box's story does justice to the landscape and history of the area.

Now begins the wait for Cassie Dewell's next investigation.

The Bitterroots by C.J. Box

eISBN: 9781466852006

Minotaur Books © 2019

eBook, 352 pages

 

Private Investigator, #5 Cassie Dewell mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Paradise Valley by C.J. Box

First Line: "The trap is set and he's on his way," Cassie Dewell said to Sheriff Jon Kirkbride.

It's been three long years, and Cassie Dewell is still on the trail of a serial killer known as the Lizard King whose hunting grounds are highways and truckstops frequented by runaways and prostitutes. Now Cassie is working for the Bakken County, North Dakota Sheriff's Office, and she believes she's set the perfect trap for the Lizard King... but she hasn't. Her trap is a total disaster, she's disgraced and loses her job.

But a missing boy's grandmother insists that Cassie take on her investigation. Her grandson, Kyle, disappeared on the same day that Cassie's trap blew up-- and no one seems to care about what happened to him. With nothing else to do, Cassie reluctantly says yes to the grandmother, all the while knowing that she's going to keep on searching for the Lizard King. But it's a whole new world for the investigator everyone calls "relentless." Is Cassie going to be able to go solo successfully?

The feminist side in me must be getting stronger the older I get. C.J. Box's Joe Pickett series is one that I've read in the past and enjoyed, but for some reason, I'm just not passionate about keeping current with it. It's as though I know it can wait patiently until I'm ready to read it again. However, when I found out that Box was starting a new series with a female lead, I perked right up. When I did a little research, I discovered that Cassie Dewell isn't a new character but one that's been in Box's Highway Quartet books. Lo and behold, the last book in that quartet went on sale, and I snapped it up so I could see whether or not Cassie is my type of character. She most certainly is.

I didn't feel at a disadvantage beginning with the last book in the Highway Quartet. On the contrary, Box's fantastic opening scenes and pedal-to-the-metal pacing grabbed me right at the start and kept me reading. Several characters made me sit up and take notice. Yes, Cassie is relentless and just the type of person that I want to read more about. The Lizard King is appropriately creepy, young Kyle can break your heart while impressing you all at the same time, and that crusty old guy known as Bull reminded me of my grandfather.

When you put this high-octane story in a setting that stretches from the oil fields of North Dakota to Yellowstone National Park, you've got a winner. Now that I've been formally introduced to Cassie Dewell, I'm ready for The Bitterroots. Bring it on!

Paradise Valley by C.J. Box

eISBN: 9781466851993

Minotaur Books © 2017

eBook, 352 pages

Police Procedural, #3 Cassie Dewell mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.