Author duo Jeff Ayers and Jon Lindstrom, writing as Landau, bring back Investigative Services Branch Special Agent Michael Walker for his third investigation in the national parks system. Walker is pulled from scene to scene as the book opens. He’s called to Hawai‘i’s Volcanoes National Park when a fugitive from previous books shows up there, only to be pulled out when a body is found in another park. It’s not one of the two options he suspects—a current day murder or the body of an ancient Indigenous resident of the area—but something very unexpected: the suspected remains of John Muir, the father of the national parks. After the reader finds themselves gripping the outside of a flying helicopter with Walker, it’s clear that none of these cases will be a smooth ride, and that’s putting it mildly. This tale takes a breakneck ride through Yosemite and other beloved locales while Walker and his also-lovable agency sidekicks trounce the bad guys, which vary from environmental disaster to capitalism run amok, and did I mention volcanoes? Educational details about the parks are imparted throughout the text and in each short chapter’s header, informing readers, for example, that Yosemite bid to host the 1932 Olympics. Muir’s legacy, and that of his steely-sounding wife, Louie Strentzel Muir, is the spine of this story, which gives readers an insight into the man for whom “Yosemite was not just a landscape—it was a sacred text.” Chase down Agent Walker on his adventures, you’ll be happy you did.
Pressure Point co-author Jeff Ayers is a Contributing Editor to firstCLUE.
