-Henry Winkler
"What fun it is to visit my favorite fishing spots , not in a guide- boat but in a wonderful murder mystery."
Field & Stream
Sportsmen will find the one-of-a-kind novel captivating, intelligent, and at times uproarious."
Mark Kingwell
"The last time I fished the Madison River it was high, fast, and dirty—words that come to mind for parts of McCafferty’s tangy debut mystery. But there are also episodes of angling wonder and Montana beauty, rendered in prose so gorgeous they make this book a truly rare catch, the page-turner that doubles as a poetic meditation. (Now how about taking me out on the river, dude?)"—Mark Kingwell, author of Catch and Release: Trout Fishing and the Meaning of Life
Paul Doiron
"Keith McCafferty's The Royal Wulff Murders is the mystery fly anglers have been waiting for. Finally, an author who knows the crucial difference between 2X and 4X tippet! But it's not just the fishing details that make this novel so enjoyable: it's the rich characters, the robust sense of humor, a sadly topical plot, and a writing style that is as gin-clear as a Montana trout stream."
William Kent Krueger
"What a fine and thoroughly satisfying debut novel! There’s so much to enjoy here—a fresh sense of place, a cast of compelling characters, and a plot line with as many twists and turns as a Montana trout stream. Even if you know nothing about fly fishing, you’re going to love this book. Mark my words: From this day forward, you’ll be buying everything Keith McCafferty writes."
ShelfAwareness.com
Keith McCafferty hits a bull's eye with Sean's story in his debut novel, The Royal Wulff Murders… like bacon and brownies—Stranahan's odd mix of painter, P.I. and fly fisher works...The mystery is a good fit for enthusiasts of Nevada Barr who have read through all the Anna Pigeon novels. Packed with wilderness action and starring a band of stalwart individualists, The Royal Wulff Murders will have readers begging McCafferty for more.
-Nick Lyons
"The dead man whose eye is skewered with a stick and who has a trout fly hooked into his lip sets the tone for this muscular, original first novel. McCafferty is one of the country's most convincing writers on survival and life in the wilderness, and this mystery is an impressive foray into fiction—-taut, often highly amusing, filled with memorable characters like the lady sheriff and the former private eye who paints and fly fishes—-and it's a real page turner."
-Craig Johnson
"Blue Ribbon is what they call a trout stream of extremely high quality and that's what I call Keith McCafferty's The Royal Wulff Murders- the debut of a frighteningly knowledgeable and wonderfully entertaining series."
Patrick F. McManus
"The Royal Wulff Murders hit all my buttons: mystery, flyfishing, Montana, the Madison River, beautiful women, and whole pickup loads of authentic Montana characters, many of them wonderfully quirky. Keith McCafferty is one terrific writer."—-Patrick F. McManus, author of The Bear In the Attic and The Huckleberry Murders
C. J. Box
"Keith McCafferty has pulled off a small miracle with The Royal Wulff Murders - a compelling Montana-based novel that will please both mystery readers and discerning fly-fishers. A terrific debut that rings with authenticity and style."—-C. J. Box, New York Times bestselling author of Back of Beyond and Force of Nature
Henry Winkler
"What fun it is to visit my favorite fishing spots , not in a guide- boat but in a wonderful murder mystery."
Nick Lyons
"The dead man whose eye is skewered with a stick and who has a trout fly hooked into his lip sets the tone for this muscular, original first novel. McCafferty is one of the country's most convincing writers on survival and life in the wilderness, and this mystery is an impressive foray into fiction—-taut, often highly amusing, filled with memorable characters like the lady sheriff and the former private eye who paints and fly fishes—-and it's a real page turner."
Craig Johnson
"Blue Ribbon is what they call a trout stream of extremely high quality and that's what I call Keith McCafferty's The Royal Wulff Murders- the debut of a frighteningly knowledgeable and wonderfully entertaining series."
Kirkus Reviews
Field & Stream editor McCafferty's first novel is a fish story with a homicidal hook. Fresh from a wracking divorce, Sean Stranahan arrives in Bridger, Mont., unsettled and unhappy, a man without much purpose. He has only two serious interests: painting and fly-fishing. True, he once earned a living as a licensed private eye, but he never really took that seriously. Then along comes a southern songbird and natural heartbreaker calling herself Velvet Lafayette, and suddenly a susceptible Stranahan finds himself taking sleuthing very seriously indeed. Fetched out of Montana's trout-laden Madison River is a dead young man who proves to be the songbird's missing brother. A tragic accident? Hardly. Not with that Royal Wulff lure hooked so grotesquely in his mouth. Who put it there and why? That's what Vareda, her real name, hires Stranahan to discover. Since it's an election year, Sheriff Martha Ettinger takes a more than passing interest in these questions as well. But when murder follows murder, it becomes all too clear that someone ruthless is intent on keeping the answers secret. Having begun at cross-purposes, Martha and Sean now find themselves flirting with disaster. But their flirting with each other turns out to be beneficial for the investigation and fun for the reader. An entertaining debut, though less of the fishing stuff probably would have been more.
