Publishers Weekly
★ 07/25/2022
Edgar winner Box’s excellent fifth Cassie Dewell novel (after 2019’s The Bitterroots) sets the former police officer, now a PI in Bozeman, Mont., on the trail of a con man who bilked wealthy widow Candyce Fly out of $5 million and vanished. Fly earlier employed another PI—the marvelously noxious J.D. Spengler—to track the man down, but both Spengler and his quarry disappeared into the old mining town of Anaconda, Mont. Cassie travels there to investigate, and soon realizes that she has stumbled on a lethal conspiracy that goes far beyond the victimization of her client. A second case involving a buried treasure adds to the intrigue. Box has rarely been better in his plotting, with shifting timelines revealing the scope of the crimes. The criminal conspirators are both inventively corrupt and chilling, and the cleverly constructed mystery is leavened with generous doses of Montana history, along with the welcome appearances of characters from earlier Cassie novels. The story culminates with one of Box’s most satisfying payoffs. Hopefully, fans won’t have to wait another three years for the intrepid Cassie’s next adventure. Agent: Ann Rittenberg, Ann Rittenberg Literary. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Treasure State
“[Box] does a fine job of developing his characters.” —Associated Press
“A complex and compelling double mystery that treats readers to a thrilling read.” —Durango Herald
"A nifty puzzler with an engrossing, briskly unfolding plot and potential consequences all around." —St. Louis Post Dispatch
“Treasure State is an action-packed page turner . . . a highly satisfying conclusion wraps up this rattling good read.” —New York Journal of Books
“Talk about an embarrassment of riches. . . a fast-paced, one-sitting read. The perfect book to crown your summer reading list.” —Providence Sunday Journal
“All this and Montana, too. Talk about treasure." —Kirkus Reviews
“The best [Cassie Dewell novel] yet.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Excellent. . . Box has rarely been better in his plotting. . . The story culminates with one of Box’s most satisfying payoffs.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[A] fast-paced mystery that pits betrayal, anger, and hate against hope and longing as it examines the lasting effect of a community used and abandoned after making a fortune for the titans of the copper mining industry.” —Library Journal
Praise for C. J. Box
“If Box isn’t already on your list, put him there.”—USA Today
“Box seems to get better with every book.” —Associated Press
“Box is a master.” —The Denver Post
“[Box has] crafted fascinating characters and put them in riveting, challenging circumstances that test their mettle and threaten their worlds.” — The Durango Herald
“Box is the crime fiction bard of America’s northern plain states.” — Toronto Star
“One of America’s finest mystery authors.” —The Globe and Mail
Library Journal
07/01/2022
The 30th novel by Box, the sixth in the Cody Hoyt/Cassie Dewell series (following The Bitterroots), has Cassie working as a private investigator in Montana hired by a wealthy Florida widow whose previous PI went missing in Anaconda, MT, after promising he was closing in on the man who defrauded her of $7 million. Also afoot, the state is filled with treasure hunters after clues left in an anonymously-posted poem promising a chest of gold worth millions was hidden somewhere on a mountainside. Cassie is hired not to find the treasure but the man who hid it. Her skills as an investigator are apparent as she simultaneously works her cases. Her calm, confident approach infuriates her adversaries, but can she stop them before more bodies are added to the list of casualties of both the fraud and the treasure hunt? VERDICT Readers needn't be familiar with the series to appreciate this fast-paced mystery that pits betrayal, anger, and hate against hope and longing as it examines the lasting effect of a community used and abandoned after making a fortune for the titans of the copper mining industry. Will appeal to fans of Bryan Gruley, Lisa Sandlin, and Tim Johnston.—George Lichman
DECEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
Christina Delaine returns to narrate Box’s popular series featuring Montana P.I. Cassie Dewell. Delaine portrays Cassie’s no-nonsense feistiness as she investigates two cases. An entitled Florida widow hires Cassie to pursue the handsome man who fleeced her of millions; Delaine’s characterization of the wealthy woman warms as Cassie grudgingly finds her story compelling. Meanwhile, Cassie takes a phone call from an anonymous man who has published a strange poem promising that anyone can find the treasure chest of gold he has hidden in the wilderness. His voice sounds grandfatherly but shifty as he hires the P.I. to learn his secret identity, hoping she can’t succeed. As Cassie chases down the two scoundrels, she and her team encounter new danger all around. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-06-22
Private eye Cassie Dewell pursues two very different cases that take her far from Bozeman.
The morning after someone breaks into her office, Cassie gets a call from Candyce Fly, a widow in Boca Grande, Florida, who wants her to track down J.D. Spengler, the PI she’d hired to find Marc Daly, the charmer who’d charmed her out of her life’s savings. After following Daly’s trail all over the country and linking him to three other women similarly swindled, Spengler had sent Candyce encouraging words from Montana a day before going AWOL himself. Though Cassie agrees to look for him, she’s more teased by her other case, which also hinges on a phone call. Ever since someone inscribed a poem oracularly hinting at the location of “Sir Scott’s Treasure” on the whiteboard at a local bar, everyone around has wondered who hid the treasure and where it can be found, and several intrepid hunters have died in the course of their search. Cassie’s caller, who tells her that he’s the one who’s hidden the treasure and written the poem, offers her $2,000 to test his security by attempting to find him; if, against all odds, she does track him down, he’ll pay her a bonus of $25,000. Box’s early revelation of who’s behind Spengler’s disappearance turns that mystery into a duel of wits between Cassie and the bad guys. But Kyle Westergaard, a teenager she once rescued from a dangerous kidnapper, keeps sparking her interest in Sir Scott’s Treasure, whose location and mastermind provide a nifty pair of final surprises.
All this and Montana, too. Talk about treasure.
