These stories are set in the woods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Most were quite short and feature protagonists who are conservation enforcement officers.The tone of most was very ironic. The protagonists are often flawed in some way but open to bending the rules somewhat if the circumstances seem to warrant that. Many of the offenders are quirky, even a little dumb. The dangers of this job were highlighted as were the harsh conditions under which these officers work. Heywood is great with dialogue, although some of the police slang was a bit hard to follow.
I particularly liked the humor in "Airzilla", a story about a daredevil pilot and his rookie spotter. "Funnest Man Ever" was also quite funny, about a group of retarded people who may or may not have plotted the death of another retarded adult. Several of the protagonists were female: "Cuffed to a Truck, Left to Die" was an excellent example of how competent and plucky many of these female characters are. My favorite in the collection was the last story, "Dancing for the Dead", which consisted of two seemingly unrelated stories, one about the shooting death of an officer who trained a lot of others and a shootout where another officer kills a person. These two narratives link up in a surprising way at the end. ( )

I was given a copy of this book by a friend who knows the author. I found it an interesting account of short tales of Conservation Officer experiences, laced with law enforcement and local upper peninsula jargon of which I was not familiar. Heywood knows his territory and writes well. I will put him on my short list to explore his more familiar genre of mystery work. ( )