Morning Mist of Blood

Pacific Book Review, November 8, 2010

When a grotesquely mutilated murder victim turns up dead on the back ranch lands of Oklahoma, Buck McDivit finds himself employed by the local law enforcement to help solve the murder. As he catches his footing researching the crime, he finds himself sucked into a vortex of deepening odd occurrences in the mystery novel, "Morning Mist of Blood" by Eric Wilder.

The first impression of the murder, albeit odd in its mutilation aspect, seemed solvable for Buck with his cowboy ways of poking and prodding around; questioning the locals that he knew so well had an unraveling way of finding out what people knew. However, the simultaneous circumstances involving some cattle rustling by unknown ranch hands seemed to add a possible new dimension to the crime as Buck, having a local's knowledge of the town folk, was hired to solve both mysteries. Buck "knowing the town folk well" would be an understatement, as Eric Wilder plays a heavy sub-plot articulating Buck's past carnal scorecard in quite a bit of detail. From the waitresses he slept with to lady land barons, Buck's past sexual relationships are discussed to a point of having this book become, in my opinion, inappropriate for young adult readers.

Needing all the work he could get, Buck took on a part-time employment offer from Clayton, a wealthy oil entrepreneur turned rancher to solve the case of his missing cattle. At first the details seemed as if an ordinary cowboy influenced "who-done-it" story was in the formation. Then, just like an Oklahoma tornado beginning, the winds of the storyline form a vortex of plot pressure that sweeps the reader into a world as strange as Oz, laced with Indian spirits and bizarre animalistic rituals. Eric Wilder goes further than just a cowboy mystery when Buck uncovers a virtually unknown town, set off on private property surrounded by electronic surveillance and patrolled by their own security detail. The village, called Lykaia, is inhabited solely by women, and run by Lana, an extremely attractive woman. Lana is a "corporate executive type" of person during the day managing the administration of this village, daunting her supermodel features, while occasionally at night she reveals her inherited powers from Indian forces rooted in the spirit world.

Eric Wilder does a skillful job brining to life his oddly unbelievable set of characters, events and circumstances, while keeping to a dusty, windblown cowboy theme within his story telling prose. I found his use of dialogue, descriptions and narrations being well balanced, perfectly "spiced" so to speak, bringing suspense to his terse and fast moving plot. Lacing the story with the sensuality of the feminine prowl of women participating in a ritual influenced by drugs and Indian spirits, prancing around half naked with only feathers and body paint, gave this book a machismo which may have lopsided his audience acceptance to mostly males.

The book also had a cameo appearance of a Border collie puppy, named Pard, being drawn into the story. To me this indicated the love and joy Eric Wilder gets from his dog, as witnessed by the photo of the author with "his pal" on the back cover.

This genuinely original story is nicely set into the modern day cowboy setting of ranchers and oil men. Flaunting wealth and power, with the twist of the Indian spirits of the occult and the sensual...

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good book

Some things needed further detail like the ten missed calls only revealing one caller and not the others but it was really good story. There was plent of room for more story line but i enjoyed it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Fast-paced Modern Western

Morning Mist of Blood takes place in the Oklahoma City area and revolves around Buck McDivit, an ex-cop who seems to be a little bit down on his luck and barely making ends meet. He's a handsome cowboy-type who works part-time on a horse farm and sometimes, because of his police background, helps in the investigation of local unsolved crimes. In the beginning of the book, a cowboy's mutilated body has been found on the ranch of his former employer, a wealthy rancher named Clayton O'Meara. Along with this there also seem to be some cattle missing, from this ranch and others as well. Investigators are unable to solve the crime, and Buck is called in to help. Under some suspicion is a nearby secretive community called Lykaia. The story becomes very interesting as Buck investigates this all-female pagan community. Being from Oklahoma, I enjoyed how the author wove the story around real businesses, restaurants, and clubs in the Oklahoma City area. Some of these I knew about and had been to, but some were new to me. I didn't know anything about the Historic Paseo Art District and plan on visiting this area in the future. The story is a fast-paced read and spiced up considerably by Buck's many female acquaintances. Buck is apparently irresistibly handsome. There is also some supernatural thrown in surrounding some of the residents of Lykaia and with the appearance of a mysterious panther. Several mini-stories were going on within the book, but it was not so complex as to be difficult to keep up with the main story. Without giving anything away, I can say that the ending had some surprises that I could not have predicted. The only thing I didn't like about the book was that I would have liked for Buck to have a little more emotional attachment to his female "friends."

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not What I Thought!

Morning Mist of Blood was not like I thought it was going to be, it was better. The story line was easy to follow and the characters believable. Buck McDivit became a real person to me. I'd like to read more stories about him. Maybe a whole Buck McDivit series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A riveting read that blends mystery, suspense & supernatural occurrences

Buck McDivit is a handsome but down-and-out ex-cop who can't even get a loan for a new truck. He works several odd jobs and lives on a horse farm where he works part time, but he doesn't make enough to pay for more than the bare essentials. Life is dull for Buck in his hometown of Edmond, Oklahoma, but all that is about to change with a single phone call. One of Buck's odd jobs is assisting the Logan County death investigator with investigations of suspicious deaths. A cowboy's body is discovered at the ranch of oil tycoon Clayton O'Meara, Buck is asked to help examine the murder scene. It is soon apparent that several cows are missing which leads Buck to wonder if they have been stolen, and if so, if that act somehow relates to the cowboy's death. Clayton takes Buck into his confidence, telling him that there have been other suspected cattle rustlings on his property. The sheriff thinks a big cat, perhaps a bobcat, is behind the missing cattle but Clayton suspects that Roy Dunlap, another local oilman, may be behind the disappearances. Clayton hires Buck as his own private investigator to see if he can discover who is behind the thefts, if somebody is also stealing crude from his storage tanks, and if either might be related to the murder. And, oh, while you're at it, Buck, look into the neighboring ".commune populated by a crazy bunch of women." (pg. 34) They own about 200 acres right in the middle of Clayton's ranch, and the oilman would really like to buy the land and see the women move out. Buck has his work cut out for him! Buck enlists the help of his best friend, Trey Calderham, an investigator for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Trey soon discovers some intriguing and unusual facts about cattle showing up at the local auction . As he digs deeper, Buck sets off to check out Lykaia, a commune inhabited and restricted to women, women who have done amazing things to make their 200-acre property energy efficient and self-sufficient. There are a lot of things happening in Morning Mist of Blood but it is easy to follow along. Buck has to solve a murder, track down the missing cattle, deal with a panther, participate in some rather unusual pagan rituals, survive a bar fight and avoid getting killed by someone who really wants him dead. Unlike some suspense novels that throw so many characters at the reader that it's hard to keep track of them all, the author introduces just enough characters to hold the reader's interest. They really come to life under the author's pen - I even got attached to Pard, Buck's dog, and Beauty, a wolf/dog cross owned by one of the women at the compound. They each had distinctive personalities. Morning Mist of Blood is a good, old-fashioned western frontier mystery updated to incorporate many contemporary issues. And the all-women commune that takes Buck in to participate in some of their rather, um, risqué rituals, might appear from the outside to be every man's dream come true. But there is a murderer on the loose, and with Buck being drawn into ceremonies where his judgment is impaired (is he in a dream state or are people/animals/events real?), his life, and those around him, are in danger. Quill says: A riveting read that blends mystery, suspense, and just the right amount of supernatural occurrences to keep pages turning.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Like Bonazza meets penthouse

This book contains every male fantasy I can think of..he is tall, good looking, everyone woman wants him. His friends would take a bullet for him...they are shorter and not as good looking...slept with all their women before them..and sometimes at the same time..lots of naked women. Three-ways, mind altering drugs, liquor, food, money. He has the perfect horse and dog and the perfect job. Not much of a believable plot though

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

not my cup of tea

If a book doesnt interest me in the first third of the book I put it down and go for something that does....I put this book down

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

An Erotic Thriller - you won't believe your eyes

This novel has sex and plenty of it. It almost overshadows the plot, but not quite. Cowboy gumshoe Buck McDivit finds himself involved in a gruesome murder, cattle theft and a gang of central Oklahoma skinheads. Along the way, he meets Esme and Christy, two lesbian lovers that take him under their wings. If all this sounds too weird, throw in a few hundred eco-friendly pagans, a handsome killer and a shape-shifting panther, and you have just discovered the wildest erotic thriller of the year.

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