The Wild Inside (Glacier Mysteries #1), by Christine Carbo

This series landed on my radar screen due to an email blast from Murder by the Book (an excellent small book store here in Houston that is really the authority on all things mystery-related). I love mysteries set in the National Parks, but there aren’t many of them out there. For years, I read Nevada Barr’s series about a park ranger who solved crimes, though lately I have found that series disappointing and I no longer keep up with it. So, I was excited to discover this series set in Glacier National Park, which is now on book #4. We visited Glacier two summers ago — it had long been on my bucket list — and it was an amazing experience. Glacier is now one of my favorite parks, so I couldn’t wait to dive into this series.

I started with the first book in the series, The Wild Inside, which introduces the character of Ted Systead, a detective for the Department of the Interior, charged with investigating crimes in the National Parks. Ted is sent from Denver up to Glacier National Park to solve an apparent homicide, where the victim was tied to a tree and left to be mauled by a grizzly bear. Complicating matters is the fact that Ted lost his father to a bear mauling when he was only fourteen. That experience haunts him and impacts his ability to rationally approach the murder case.

This book was a bit of a mixed bag. Carbo is a very skilled writer, and I felt like the writing in this novel was a cut above that of a typical genre mystery. Of course, I loved the setting and Carbo is clearly very familiar with the park and with that area of Montana. However, the pacing of the story was a bit off — there were parts of the book that dragged and really kept it from holding my interest. While I was interested enough in the story to hang in there to see how it would end, I never really felt like anyone was in any danger (so, no real suspense), and the stakes just didn’t seem to be very high for anyone. Ted’s personal demons were central to the story and gave it complexity but also seemed overdone. Overall, I think this book could have benefitted greatly from some editing.

I wasn’t blown away by this book but I am intrigued enough by the idea of the series to read book #2 at some point. You might give it a try if you are looking for a new mystery series and/or if you are drawn, as I am, to this setting.