LITMIR.BIZ

With world-class scenery, a brand-new National Monument and the rosy prospect of fat tourist dollars, you’d think the citizens of Southern Utah would be happy. But they’re mad! Damn mad. To them the Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument is nothing more than the political equivalent to a football end run—a blatant land grab. Then when the Bureau of Land Management appoints a dedicated conservationist as the rookie Monument manager, things quickly shift from simmer to boil. Coal miner Angus Macdonald and fur trapper Bucky Lee Eakins will be put out of business but if the environmentalists have their way, and it appears they will, it is also quite probable cattle ranchers Roper Rehnquist and girlfriend, Ruby Nez, will soon follow. Before the BLM can buy back his Monument coal leases, Macdonald is brutally murdered, then Roper’s line cabin is burned to the ground and Assistant Monument Manager Ron Sparks is shot in the head and killed. This is a crime spree unprecedented in the history of U.S. National Monuments. Some think it’s eco-terrorists, but the ranchers are convinced it is a rogue BLM ranger and Monument management strongly suspects a newly formed, covert coalition of disgruntled ranchers. Even though battle lines are quickly drawn, an uneasy unspoken truce settles over the vast new Monument. This fragile peace, however, is instantly shattered when the BLM suddenly revokes Roper and Ruby’s grazing leases. Roper realizes if he doesn’t do something fast, this little local imbroglio could quickly fan into a raging wildfire. It has all the makings of a 20th century range war, the likes of which have not been seen in the West since New Mexico’s Lincoln County war of the late 1800s. Growing up in a farming/ranching family in southern Utah, WARREN STUCKI is familiar with the ranching lifestyle and the ongoing feud between ranchers and the BLM, land stewards of a large portion of the American west. After leaving southern Utah, Dr. Stucki graduated from the University of Utah Medical School, eventually specializing in urology. He still practices medicine and lives on a small horse ranch just outside of St. George, Utah. Stucki writes in two distinct genres: historical fiction and medical mysteries. His two previous books, “Boy’s Pond” and “Hunting for Hippocrates,” were also published by Sunstone Press.

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Maybe it was an innocent mistake, or could it have been sabotage? Either way, Dr. Moe Mathis is in a mess. After obtaining a positive biopsy and performing radical prostate cancer surgery on his lover’s father, pathology now finds no evidence of cancer in the surgical specimen. To make matter’s worse, Howard died of complications from that surgery, straining his relationship with Connie to the point of breaking. But that’s not the only arcane incident; recently Dr. Mathis has had a run of bad luck. The same day he operated on Howard, he also implanted a penile prosthesis in Mr. Calley for impotence. Now the surgical wound is infected with a mouth-dwelling bacterium, Streptococcus Viridans, leading Moe to conclude someone deliberately spit on his surgical instruments. Also Moe’s colt inexplicably starts to hemorrhage and quickly bleeds to death. In his garage, Moe performs an autopsy—the stomach contents reveal tiny pieces of the drug, Coumadin. This is no accident! Horses do not run down to the pharmacy and purchase a blood-thinner. Moe can only think of three people with grudges, who also had opportunity: his partner, Dr. Russell Wright; his office nurse, Diane Henrie and the reporting pathologist, Dr. Catherine Connelly. Moe’s attempts to identify the perpetrator has yielded nothing and now he suddenly finds himself in jail charged with fraud, conspiracy and murder-one. though it seems virtually impossible, his life, his career and his relationship with Connie all depend on his finding a way. From his cell, Moe fights off despair and tries to figure out how to get out of jail, solve these crimes, save his practice, restore his reputation and get Connie back. WARREN STUCKI is a graduate of the University of Utah School of Medicine and a board certified urologist. For the last twenty-three years, he has practiced medicine at Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George, Utah. He has served as Chief of Surgery, Chief of Staff and been a member of the Hospital Governing Board. A classical medical thriller, “Hunting for Hippocrates” is an intriguing change of pace from his first book, “Boy’s Pond.”

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