Disappearance Creek

Conducting wildlife surveys in a remote mountain wilderness east of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, wildlife biologist Whip Sawtell uncovers a series of mysterious disappearances. A pack of northern gray wolves vanished, then a small plane sent out by the government to look for the pack crashed without a trace. An elk hunter disappeared in the same area.

Sawtell follows the hunter s trail looking for his body, but instead finds a dead wolf, one shot from an airplane.

Before Sawtell can leave the area a sniper pins him down behind a tree miles from a road. His ex-girlfriend, wolf biologist Cat Bonner, tracks Sawtell into the wilderness before he connects the dots.

R.J. Luce s outdoor experience parallels that of his main character, Whip Sawtell. He worked as a wildlife biologist in Wyoming for three decades; conducted radio-telemetry studies on deer; counted elk, pronghorn, and moose from small planes and helicopters, and traversed miles of caves and abandoned mines counting bats.

He has traveled the backcountry extensively while big game hunting, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and caving; often accompanied by his Labrador retriever. He has authored a number of technical wildlife publications and written wildlife-related articles for outdoor magazines. Disappearance Creek is his first outdoor mystery novel.

Mr. Luce divides his time between Lander, Wyoming and Sierra Vista, Arizona.