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Sean Stranahan #1
The Royal Wulff Murders
A clever and fast-paced murder mystery full of wit, suspense, and fly fishing.
When a fishing guide reels in the body of a young man on the Madison, the Holy Grail of Montana trout rivers, Sheriff Martha Ettinger suspects foul play. It's not just the stick jammed into the man's eye that draws her attention; it's the Royal Wulff trout fly stuck in his bloated lower lip. Following her instincts, Ettinger soon finds herself crossing paths with Montana newcomer Sean Stranahan.
Fly fisher, painter, and has-been private detective, Stranahan left a failed marriage and lackluster career to drive to Montana, where he lives in an art studio decorated with fly-tying feathers and mouse droppings. With more luck catching fish than clients, Stranahan is completely captivated when Southern siren Velvet Lafayette walks into his life, intent on hiring his services to find her missing brother. The clues lead Stranahan and Ettinger back to Montana's Big Business: fly fishing. Where there's money, there's bound to be crime.
When a fishing guide reels in the body of a young man on the Madison, the Holy Grail of Montana trout rivers, Sheriff Martha Ettinger suspects foul play. It's not just the stick jammed into the man's eye that draws her attention; it's the Royal Wulff trout fly stuck in his bloated lower lip. Following her instincts, Ettinger soon finds herself crossing paths with Montana newcomer Sean Stranahan.
Fly fisher, painter, and has-been private detective, Stranahan left a failed marriage and lackluster career to drive to Montana, where he lives in an art studio decorated with fly-tying feathers and mouse droppings. With more luck catching fish than clients, Stranahan is completely captivated when Southern siren Velvet Lafayette walks into his life, intent on hiring his services to find her missing brother. The clues lead Stranahan and Ettinger back to Montana's Big Business: fly fishing. Where there's money, there's bound to be crime.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published February 16, 2012
325 people are currently reading
2128 people want to read
About the author
Keith McCafferty
23 books375 followersKeith McCafferty is the Survival and Outdoor Skills Editor of Field & Stream. He has written articles for publications as diverse as Fly Fisherman Magazine, Mother Earth News, Grays Sporting Journal and the Chicago Tribune, and on subjects ranging from mosquitoes to wolves to mercenaries and exorcism. Based in Montana and working on assignment around the globe he recently spent a month in India trekking the Himalayas, fishing for golden mahseer and studying tigers. Keith has won numerous awards, including the Robert Traver Award for angling literature. He has twice been a finalist for a National Magazine Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 358 reviews
June 27, 2019
I read this book way back April/May, but never really got to write a review for it. I was looking for a new series to read and this one seemed like a good choice since I got Longmire vibes when it came to the story. Well, it got a sheriff and it takes place in Montana. Also, I was hoping to get approved for the latest book in the series so I bought this one so I had some back story to the latest one if I got approved, which I did.
The body of a young man is reeled in by a fishing guide and Sheriff Martha Ettinger suspects that it's murder. Ettinger then crosses paths with a newcomer to the state; fly fisher, painter, and an ex-privet detective Sean Stranahan. Stranahan is hired to find the brother of singer Velvet Lafayette even though Stranahan no longer works as a privet detective. Stranahan and Ettinger's soon find that their cases seemed to be linked together.
I must admit that the case it itself really didn't hook me that much, it took some time for me to get into the story. I mean I love the characters, both Ettinger and Stranahan are great and I love all the flirting between them, there is an attraction, but none of that nonsense instalove stupidity. But it was a hell of a lot of fly fishing and the case just felt so-so. Well until the ending, when everything started to come together. Then, the story really started to work for me.
So this book started to slow but got up to speed towards the end. It was well written, I loved the character and I know after reading the latest book that it will just keep on getting better. And, the best part? There are two unread books of which I own one. And, now after writing this review am I really excited to start reading it!
The body of a young man is reeled in by a fishing guide and Sheriff Martha Ettinger suspects that it's murder. Ettinger then crosses paths with a newcomer to the state; fly fisher, painter, and an ex-privet detective Sean Stranahan. Stranahan is hired to find the brother of singer Velvet Lafayette even though Stranahan no longer works as a privet detective. Stranahan and Ettinger's soon find that their cases seemed to be linked together.
I must admit that the case it itself really didn't hook me that much, it took some time for me to get into the story. I mean I love the characters, both Ettinger and Stranahan are great and I love all the flirting between them, there is an attraction, but none of that nonsense instalove stupidity. But it was a hell of a lot of fly fishing and the case just felt so-so. Well until the ending, when everything started to come together. Then, the story really started to work for me.
So this book started to slow but got up to speed towards the end. It was well written, I loved the character and I know after reading the latest book that it will just keep on getting better. And, the best part? There are two unread books of which I own one. And, now after writing this review am I really excited to start reading it!
March 2, 2012
Fishing, fly or in any other variety, is not my thing at all. Heck, I hardly even eat fish, mostly only under duress. I am perfectly happy to let them keep doing their thing. Nor do I have any desire to ever go fishing myself. Mysteries aren't my preferred reading either. But I try to be somewhat open-minded about my reading choices, so when the lure of a fly fishing mystery was dropped in front of me, I bit.
Should I have? Maybe not. The opening parts were definitely hard on me. There was so much fishing, like back-to-back fishing. This probably would have been okay if there had been some interesting conversations accompanying the fishing, but a lot of it was just someone out fishing with lots of details of fish and lures and bait and whatever. So not my thing.
Thankfully, things picked up when the sheriff got more page time. I liked her; she's a sassy woman kicking butt in a traditionally masculine profession. Plus, she doesn't fish, which meant that that did not happen much when she was around.
On the contrary, I did not like Velvet at all. The stage name is ridiculous, but her real name, Vareda Beaudreux, is no better. Really though, that's not the issue, because that would be absurd and unfair. Velvet/Vareda is one of those women that men all of over the world seem to obsess over: beautiful, tortured, mysterious. A completely different writer, John Green, has written two books about girls like this. What is the fascination, guys? I'd like to know because I so do not get it. Throw the crazy ones back!
Basically, I'm not an ideal judge of this book. However, I do think that as mysteries go, it's a pretty good one. Anyone who loves to fish and to read mysteries should not miss this.
Should I have? Maybe not. The opening parts were definitely hard on me. There was so much fishing, like back-to-back fishing. This probably would have been okay if there had been some interesting conversations accompanying the fishing, but a lot of it was just someone out fishing with lots of details of fish and lures and bait and whatever. So not my thing.
Thankfully, things picked up when the sheriff got more page time. I liked her; she's a sassy woman kicking butt in a traditionally masculine profession. Plus, she doesn't fish, which meant that that did not happen much when she was around.
On the contrary, I did not like Velvet at all. The stage name is ridiculous, but her real name, Vareda Beaudreux, is no better. Really though, that's not the issue, because that would be absurd and unfair. Velvet/Vareda is one of those women that men all of over the world seem to obsess over: beautiful, tortured, mysterious. A completely different writer, John Green, has written two books about girls like this. What is the fascination, guys? I'd like to know because I so do not get it. Throw the crazy ones back!
Basically, I'm not an ideal judge of this book. However, I do think that as mysteries go, it's a pretty good one. Anyone who loves to fish and to read mysteries should not miss this.
July 23, 2012
I just loved the heck out of this book..there wasn't a page I didn't enjoy. Heck, Big Sky country, a mystery, a lady sheriff, fishing and love. What's not to like? And p.s., you don't have to know one end of a pole from the other to like this mystery.
November 5, 2015
First Sentence: The fishing guide known as Rainbow Sam found the body.
The body of a young man with a Royal Wulff trout fly through his lip is retrieved from a log jam, but that’s not what killed him. Sherriff Martha Ettinger, along with ex-PI, painter, fly-fisher Sean Stranahan, look to find the killer amid the very big-money fly-fishing business of Montana.
From the very beginning, we are made aware of McCafferty’s humour—“The client, whose largest trout to date had been the size of a breakfast sausage.”—and given a strong sense of place—“Twilight was an amber smear on the horizon; the river glitters in the slanted light. In a few minutes the polish would fade from the surface, the current’s mercurial song would slide into bass notes, and the wild night would claim it against further human intrusion.”
While most of the characters, particularly Sean and Martha—“She’d been brought up in the tradition of self-reliance, but had the misfortune of being pretty and had allowed herself to be subjected to the wills of alpha makes ever since high school, losing, most of her self-esteem in the process.”--are interesting and work. These are not ordinary characters. Each is multi-dimensional and realistic in the sense of them being intelligent people who would want to personally know.“
The exception to this is Sean’s “relationship” and interaction, which never quite works. Even the dialogue between them always seems off-balance. The character of “Velvet,” really never comes across as real or dimensional. It’s almost as if McCafferty needed the character for the plot, but never really liked her or knew what do to with her.
Although most people think of fishing simply as simply a sport, we don’t often think of just how big a business it is, and how much revenue it generates from the offshoot business that support it.
“The Royal Wulff Murders” is very much a book for those who fish, but there is a decent mystery there and some very good, layered characters. I am happy to report that the next book shows marked improvement.
THE ROYAL WULFF MURDERS (PI – Sean Stranahan – Montana – Contemp) – Okay
McCafferty, Keith – 1st in series
Penguin Books - January 201
The body of a young man with a Royal Wulff trout fly through his lip is retrieved from a log jam, but that’s not what killed him. Sherriff Martha Ettinger, along with ex-PI, painter, fly-fisher Sean Stranahan, look to find the killer amid the very big-money fly-fishing business of Montana.
From the very beginning, we are made aware of McCafferty’s humour—“The client, whose largest trout to date had been the size of a breakfast sausage.”—and given a strong sense of place—“Twilight was an amber smear on the horizon; the river glitters in the slanted light. In a few minutes the polish would fade from the surface, the current’s mercurial song would slide into bass notes, and the wild night would claim it against further human intrusion.”
While most of the characters, particularly Sean and Martha—“She’d been brought up in the tradition of self-reliance, but had the misfortune of being pretty and had allowed herself to be subjected to the wills of alpha makes ever since high school, losing, most of her self-esteem in the process.”--are interesting and work. These are not ordinary characters. Each is multi-dimensional and realistic in the sense of them being intelligent people who would want to personally know.“
The exception to this is Sean’s “relationship” and interaction, which never quite works. Even the dialogue between them always seems off-balance. The character of “Velvet,” really never comes across as real or dimensional. It’s almost as if McCafferty needed the character for the plot, but never really liked her or knew what do to with her.
Although most people think of fishing simply as simply a sport, we don’t often think of just how big a business it is, and how much revenue it generates from the offshoot business that support it.
“The Royal Wulff Murders” is very much a book for those who fish, but there is a decent mystery there and some very good, layered characters. I am happy to report that the next book shows marked improvement.
THE ROYAL WULFF MURDERS (PI – Sean Stranahan – Montana – Contemp) – Okay
McCafferty, Keith – 1st in series
Penguin Books - January 201
July 13, 2017
I started and finished this today, my last day of vacation before heading back to work. I liked it, maybe more so because it's set in Montana with all it's natural beauty and part of my vacation was spent in nature. It's nothing flashy or spectacular but it makes for a good comfortable read with pleasant characters, told in third person from the alternating viewpoints of Sean Stanahan, a transplanted Vermontian (Vermoner?), and Martha Ettinger, the homegrown local Sheriff. The one character I could do without is Velvet/Vareda, the love interest. Clearly her mysterious ways were an attraction for Sean, the male lead, but there was no reason for her to be that way and, frankly, she drove me batty. I kept hoping Sean would tire of her mood shifts and avoidance of answering any questions and tell her to take a long walk off a short pier but, alas, that never happened.
The story does feature fly fishing quite heavily and the jargon went over my head, to be honest. I don't enjoy fishing (don't even like to eat fish) so I mostly skimmed those bits but it didn't detract from my overall experience too much. I already own the second book so I'll be moving on to it shortly.
The story does feature fly fishing quite heavily and the jargon went over my head, to be honest. I don't enjoy fishing (don't even like to eat fish) so I mostly skimmed those bits but it didn't detract from my overall experience too much. I already own the second book so I'll be moving on to it shortly.
June 21, 2012
I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Reads program (giveaway). The book was well written and the story was good but I really struggled to get through this one. The story centered around two subjects that are near the top of my "subjects that I know the least about" list. First, the main character is an artist. I can tell the difference between a painting and a sculpture, barely. I certainly don't know anything about badger hair brushes or why they are important to art or anything else for that matter. Second, the main character is a fisherman. Not just any fisherman, but a fly fisherman. My knowledge of fly fishing is they use a pole and an artificial bait called a fly. As I read, I had to FREQUENTLY stop to figure out what a particular fly was or why it was (or might be) relevant to the story. I got so distracted by art and fly fishing, I forgot that this was a fairly decent murder mystery.
April 8, 2021
The mystery kept me guessing until the end, and joining the online author talk boosted up this review a star. Mr. McCafferty is a very interesting man!
April 17, 2012
When I received a copy of The Royal Wulff Murders as a first-reads giveaway through Goodreads, I was delighted to be chosen for a thriller. Once I read it, I was even more thrilled! Keith McCafferty did an incredible job in the writing of the book, and I thank him for sharing his dream with us bibliophiles!
I only gave this one 4 stars because 4.5 was not an option, and I couldn't bring myself to give it 5. For someone who is an avid angler and loves a great thriller/mystery - this is THE book for you! I enjoy fishing, but need my husband along to put the worm on my hook and remove any fish I'm fortunate enough to catch. I know enough about fishing that some of the lengthy descriptions of flies and fly fishing in general didn't go TOO far over my head, but there were parts where my eyes glazed over.
I enjoyed the chemistry between the majority of the characters. However, with Vareda/Velvet - I felt she was thrown in to give Sean a reason to get involved - her part seemed so disjointed and overall false.
In a nutshell, I highly recommend it - just be prepared for some technical jargon involving fly fishing and the fishing industry in general.
I only gave this one 4 stars because 4.5 was not an option, and I couldn't bring myself to give it 5. For someone who is an avid angler and loves a great thriller/mystery - this is THE book for you! I enjoy fishing, but need my husband along to put the worm on my hook and remove any fish I'm fortunate enough to catch. I know enough about fishing that some of the lengthy descriptions of flies and fly fishing in general didn't go TOO far over my head, but there were parts where my eyes glazed over.
I enjoyed the chemistry between the majority of the characters. However, with Vareda/Velvet - I felt she was thrown in to give Sean a reason to get involved - her part seemed so disjointed and overall false.
In a nutshell, I highly recommend it - just be prepared for some technical jargon involving fly fishing and the fishing industry in general.
April 23, 2012
I'm not sure what I think of this book. The "how to fish" info was very interesting, and I would have liked more data on fly-tying. The mystery was interesting but not viscerally engaging, partially because of the characters involved. Everybody seemed as though I were watching them behind a scrim, that no matter what they said or what was said about them, their essences were at a remove. This is especially true of Vareda, the main character's love interest, whom the author seems to have worked especially hard on making elusive and "mysterious." I kept thinking of Chandler. As to the protagonist, he seemed very much a ghostly character, meshing with the others to a point but never fully alive in the moment (except when fishing).
Things the author got right: reading the water, handling the rod, sniffing the air, looking at mountains.
Things the author got right: reading the water, handling the rod, sniffing the air, looking at mountains.
February 2, 2014
The Royal Wulff Murders by Keith McCafferty
I can answer the question if a non-flyfishing read would enjoy “The Royal Wulff Muders” by Keith McCafferty.
The answer is a resounding YES!
But, it may help if you also enjoy a thrilling murder mystery, the Yellowstone area, the Rocky Mountain life, and the intrigue of several interesting women chasing the former private eye who now lives the artsy life near Ennis, Montana.
This is a well-written page turner set in one of hte greatest places in North American. So, even if you cannot tie a fly and do not know a dry fly from a wet one, set your hook in the Royal Wulff Murders and enjoy!
I can answer the question if a non-flyfishing read would enjoy “The Royal Wulff Muders” by Keith McCafferty.
The answer is a resounding YES!
But, it may help if you also enjoy a thrilling murder mystery, the Yellowstone area, the Rocky Mountain life, and the intrigue of several interesting women chasing the former private eye who now lives the artsy life near Ennis, Montana.
This is a well-written page turner set in one of hte greatest places in North American. So, even if you cannot tie a fly and do not know a dry fly from a wet one, set your hook in the Royal Wulff Murders and enjoy!
October 20, 2015
I initially picked up the book because I love mysteries and the book takes place where I grew up. Some of the locations were fictionalized versions of places that I remember from childhood. The author is a fly fisherman and he writes very detailed passages about fly fishing, which would appeal to other fly fisherpeople. Unfortunately, the story and characters failed to grip me and I quit half-way through.
March 19, 2021
Three stars for plot. This was an engaging read, and I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen.
Three stars for setting. Living in Bozeman, it was fun to read a story set in this fictional version of the city, "Bridger," and fun to travel with Stranahan around the county, figuring out where he was and the businesses he was visiting. McCafferty also did an excellent job of describing the fly-fishing in a way that I could follow and find interesting.
This was our "One Book Belgrade" read for this year, and a book club read, and it seemed that purpose very well. We had a good discussion, and I look forward to hearing more from the author.
But the way that women were portrayed in this book disturbed me. Martha Ettinger is the sheriff of "Hyalite" County, and is almost as important a character to this book as Stranahan. We have chapters that are written from her point of view, but they are so obviously written by a man. I have walked into a lot of cold water in my lifetime, and have never once given a thought to the state of my nipples, but that is Ettinger's thought when getting into a cold river to investigate a crime scene. We also get her thoughts on a possible relationship with every single man in the book. For the first two-thirds of the book, the sheriff takes care to leave her thoughts and discoveries unsaid, just joined at enough to let the man she is with actually be the one to say them. At the end of the book, Stranahan gives her badge as a reason to not try a relationship, and this is just accepted by characters and author as explanation enough. Every other woman exists only as a love interest, or to try to set Stranahan up with someone and make snide comments about the other pretty women. And while it makes sense in context, the sentence "You men have things to talk about, so I'll go back in the kitchen," is actually uttered. This line suggests to me, not that McCafferty believes women belong in the kitchen, but that there was not a woman involved at any point in the editing process to point out that "go back inside" would serve the same purpose without triggering ridiculous stereotypes.
Three stars for setting. Living in Bozeman, it was fun to read a story set in this fictional version of the city, "Bridger," and fun to travel with Stranahan around the county, figuring out where he was and the businesses he was visiting. McCafferty also did an excellent job of describing the fly-fishing in a way that I could follow and find interesting.
This was our "One Book Belgrade" read for this year, and a book club read, and it seemed that purpose very well. We had a good discussion, and I look forward to hearing more from the author.
But the way that women were portrayed in this book disturbed me. Martha Ettinger is the sheriff of "Hyalite" County, and is almost as important a character to this book as Stranahan. We have chapters that are written from her point of view, but they are so obviously written by a man. I have walked into a lot of cold water in my lifetime, and have never once given a thought to the state of my nipples, but that is Ettinger's thought when getting into a cold river to investigate a crime scene. We also get her thoughts on a possible relationship with every single man in the book. For the first two-thirds of the book, the sheriff takes care to leave her thoughts and discoveries unsaid, just joined at enough to let the man she is with actually be the one to say them. At the end of the book, Stranahan gives her badge as a reason to not try a relationship, and this is just accepted by characters and author as explanation enough. Every other woman exists only as a love interest, or to try to set Stranahan up with someone and make snide comments about the other pretty women. And while it makes sense in context, the sentence "You men have things to talk about, so I'll go back in the kitchen," is actually uttered. This line suggests to me, not that McCafferty believes women belong in the kitchen, but that there was not a woman involved at any point in the editing process to point out that "go back inside" would serve the same purpose without triggering ridiculous stereotypes.
March 2, 2023
Write what you know. Writers make choices. First time writers are wont to overdo details and description. Authors and aspiring authors know these three precepts, but readers may not yet have read a book that exemplifies all three...well, 'The Royal Wulff Murders' is that book. Its main character Sean Stranahan is a New England painter and fly fisherman with some (murkily explained) experience in private investigation who relocates to Montana, and through a series of interactions with a female sheriff and a local fishing guide, Sean becomes the linchpin figure in solving a vicious spate of murders in Big Sky Country, as well as rooting out an invasive disease killing the state's fish, a phenomenon that may have sinister origins. A major side plot has him working a case for, and romancing, a Mississippi songstress (stage name Velvet Lafayette, birth name Vareda Beaudreux - readers can decide which is the more ludicrous of the two); this part of the story is sloppily constructed, is never fully believable, and is not satisfactorily concluded. A better diversion is focused on Martha Ettinger, the sheriff; the author curiously devotes a lot of text to Martha, uncommon in crime fiction given her decidedly second-tier character status, but as Martha is significantly more fleshed-out and relatable than main character Sean, her story adds a much-needed boost to the novel. Author McCafferty, known primarily as a writer for Field and Stream magazine, certainly writes what he knows, and how...the book is full, and we do mean full, of lengthy passages on fly fishing - how fly lure models differ, how they are made, how to stand when fly fishing; there is so much of this, in fact, that anyone who is not an avid fly fisherman will find it all too much. The mystery elements are present and they work well - subsequent entries in the Stranahan series are said to be much better than this one - so McCafferty is certainly capable of writing good crime fiction. This book, sadly, does not demonstrate that to its full potential, and one cannot help but wonder what C.J. Box, Joseph Heywood, or Craig Johnson would have done with this story. Give the other series entries a try, and let's hope the author decides to give Martha her own spinoff series...
March 5, 2021
If this Goodread reviews were an Olympic event, most of the judges would score The Royal Wulff Murders at around a 4. But the Romanian judge, oh that Romanian judge, would drop it to a 2. Hence the 3-star rating for Keith McCafferty's first novel in a promising series based in Montana.
The writing is well done and the Montana descriptions evoke writings of C.J. Box and even James Lee Burke at times. However, the pacing of this is somewhat bipolar. It starts slow, picks up, bogs down again then rushes to the finish only to bog down yet again at the last 10 pages of wrap up.
The protagonist, Sean Stranahan, is an interesting character. A former Bostonian who paints and loves to fly fish moves to Montana for a major change of scenery. He becomes involved in a murder mystery and away we go. For sports fans, the fishing descriptions are great. For those who don't fly fish, it can get weary, especially with his extreme details of using lures and tippets and leaders and all.
The singer character is very strange and unpredictable. And the sheriff pops up and then disappears for a long while.
Still, this isn't a bad offering and it looks promising for future novels. I won't quit reading them; our library has several in the shelves and I plan to continue on reading them if only for the quality writing style.
The writing is well done and the Montana descriptions evoke writings of C.J. Box and even James Lee Burke at times. However, the pacing of this is somewhat bipolar. It starts slow, picks up, bogs down again then rushes to the finish only to bog down yet again at the last 10 pages of wrap up.
The protagonist, Sean Stranahan, is an interesting character. A former Bostonian who paints and loves to fly fish moves to Montana for a major change of scenery. He becomes involved in a murder mystery and away we go. For sports fans, the fishing descriptions are great. For those who don't fly fish, it can get weary, especially with his extreme details of using lures and tippets and leaders and all.
The singer character is very strange and unpredictable. And the sheriff pops up and then disappears for a long while.
Still, this isn't a bad offering and it looks promising for future novels. I won't quit reading them; our library has several in the shelves and I plan to continue on reading them if only for the quality writing style.
June 12, 2023
3 1/2 stars for me. How is it that I never knew about this Montana-based mystery series? I found his books at my local bookstore and couldn't wait to try it out. It was really fun recognizing most of the places that he was mentioning. I also think he did pretty well getting the feeling right, the struggle between "true" Montanans and the rich outsiders that move here. The only downside for me is I thought it was a tad bit long and got a bit "fishy" in parts. Looking through the ratings this first book seems to be the lowest-rated so I am definitely going to work my way through the series.
January 3, 2019
This was not your typical detective protagonist in that Sean is a artist, former PI, and very avid fisherman. To be clear I am not a huge fan of fishing though I have done it before, but I seem to really enjoy books about fly fishing for some reason. I adored The River Why and found this book to be quite interesting as well. Anyway, back to the book. Sean has moved to Montana and is no longer a practicing PI. Martha is the sheriff in the town. When a dead body is pulled from the river and accidental drowning is ruled out, Sean and Martha find their paths crossing as they are both drawn into the case for different reasons. Liked the setting and the characters quite a bit with the exception of the rather cliched femme fatale.
March 26, 2023
This was my first McCafferty book. I went into it thinking it would be like Longmire but the only similarities are that there is a sheriff in a small town of Montana. I did enjoy this read and understood most of the content as it spoke in detail of fly fishing, tracking and wildlife. The only thing that I did not like and that was only a personal thing is that it was definitely written by a man for a man. But I could look at this as a lesson into the minds of men. Lol I will definitely read more in the series.
September 22, 2019
Could have been a good series
I love series and getting to know the characters. And while I wanted to begin reading this series I wanted even more to finish the first boring book. It did have potential but it was hard to figure out who the main character was. It was fishing and how to fish with certain flys and correct ways to throw your line in the water. I wanted to read a mystery not learn to fish.
I love series and getting to know the characters. And while I wanted to begin reading this series I wanted even more to finish the first boring book. It did have potential but it was hard to figure out who the main character was. It was fishing and how to fish with certain flys and correct ways to throw your line in the water. I wanted to read a mystery not learn to fish.
August 8, 2022
I like the setting—the rivers in Montana. The area is beautiful, and McCafferty captures that raw, natural beauty. I don’t know anything about fly fishing, so the VERY detailed descriptions of tying the flies and how to make them attractive to trout made me glaze over. I liked most of the characters, but the mysterious singer from Louisiana who is in Montana to find her brother was more of a caricature (think: Jessica Rabbit) than a person to take seriously. I will read the next book in the series, but I’m hoping for less fly-tying details.
January 11, 2020
Very good. New author that reminds me of CJ Box.
February 14, 2019
A mystery for fishermen. Lots of talk about fish, lures, raceways, flies, etc. And a murdered man found in a river logjam, with a Royal Wulff lure in his lip.
November 24, 2019
At times there is some extraordinarily good writing here. Overall, I liked this enough to continue the series.
March 29, 2020
Good first book with this author. Good outdoor settinig.
March 7, 2021
Policier agréablement divertissant.
Quoique certains rebondissements m'aient paru assez invraisemblables, mon intérêt s'est maintenu jusqu'au bout.
Ca m'a fait une excellente lecture de vacances.
Quoique certains rebondissements m'aient paru assez invraisemblables, mon intérêt s'est maintenu jusqu'au bout.
Ca m'a fait une excellente lecture de vacances.
September 29, 2025
3.5 stars
The shingle outside Sean Stranahan's studio in Bridger, Montana reads 'Blue Ribbon Watercolors (and Private Investigations)'. Stranahan's been in town for three months, transplanted from his native New England. After a sad divorce, Sean needed a change of scenery, and a cross-country drive landed him in Montana.
The Montana locale fills two needs for Sean: it has excellent fly-fishing, and it provides beautiful fishing landscapes for his paintings.
Stranahan was a licensed private investigator back East, but has no credentials in Montana, so his sleuthing work is informal. One day, like in a noir movie, a beautiful sexy chanteuse called Velvet Lafayette (nee Vareda Beaudreux) strolls into Sean's studio.
Southern Belle Velvet travels around the country singing in clubs, and she came to Montana for a specific purpose.
Velvet tells Stranahan a far-fetched story about finding a spot to scatter her father's ashes, but she really wants Sean to locate her missing brother, Jeffrey Beaudreux.
When Sean sees Velvet again, he mentions a newspaper story about a fishing guide called Rainbow Sam Meslik finding a body in the Madison River. The deceased is described as "an early-twenties white male, clean shaven, shoulder-length blond hair." Velvet says Jeffrey doesn't have blonde hair, so this can't be him, but of course it is.
Tragically, Jeffrey - who did grunt work in a trout hatchery - was murdered, and Velvet hires Stranahan to find out what happened. In the midst of this Sean and Velvet, both of whom have movie star good looks - become romantically involved. 💘
Jeffrey Beaudreux's homicide is investigated by Sheriff Martha Ettinger and her team.
This includes Martha's rough-around-the edges deputy Walt Hess;
and Native American tracker Harold Little Feather.
At first Ettinger resents Stranahan butting in, but Sean demonstrates his gumshoe skills, and Ettinger lets him help.
The plot of Royal Wulff Murders revolves around the real-life issue of whirling disease, which is defined as "a disease of juvenile trout and salmon caused by a parasitic protozoan, affecting the balance of the fish and causing it to swim with a whirling motion."
Juvenile trout with whirling disease
I'm going to include an aside here, which you can skip if you like.
In an interview, author Keith McCafferty - who's the Survival and Outdoor Skills Editor of Field & Stream - observes: 'When I moved to Montana, the upper Madison River was one of the world’s greatest trout streams.
Then whirling disease struck and the roof collapsed on the fishery, the trout population plunging from 3,300 per mile in the late 1980s to 300 per mile only a few years later, a decline of ninety percent.
I remember thinking then that this could be an interesting plot line in a novel, for trout fishing in Montana is a $500 million industry, and by some estimates as much as half of that was generated in the Madison Valley. By the time I got around to writing the book, the rainbow trout population had rebounded to about sixty percent of its former population. Leading experts on whirling disease believe that the trout population has been artificially boosted by the introduction of trout from nearby Willow Creek and Willow Creek Reservoir.'
Getting back to the novel:
Sheriff Ettinger and her squad learn that the victim, Jeffrey Beaudreux, saw some shady activity at his hatchery job, which may have led to his death. The homicide investigation gets dangerous, as evidenced by shootings, an abduction, and an attempted murder.
In the end, the killer and the motive are uncovered, and the outcome is satisfying and believable. Moreover, Sean has been commissioned to paint twelve watercolors, for $2,000 each, so he's riding high.
In the course of the story, Sean and his friend Rainbow Sam - the fishing guide with a locker room mouth - do a lot of fly-fishing, and the novel has many of depictions of the sport.
There are also descriptions of fishing flies and how to make them.
Making a fishing fly
Fishing Flies
Box of fishing flies
My only experience with fly-fishing is a few scenes in movies, but I found the fly-fishing chitchat interesting, and I didn't mind it at all.
This is the debut novel in the 'Sean Stranahan' series, which contains eight books (so far). I liked the book, and plan to read more. I'd recommend the novel to fans of thrillers.
You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
March 3, 2021
Better than the #2 Stranahan book I think. I am a lifelong Wyoming & Colorado fisherman and there's a lot of fly tying that goes on in our house, so I enjoyed those parts of the story. Also, lovely descriptions of the Montana country. Some well-presented scientific bio-history related to rainbow trout populations.
What bothered me: seems as if every single time a man and woman had any interaction at all there had to be a "romantic tingle". Buying coffee, listening to music in a bar, elk hunting, tracking a murderer/victim, you name it - romantic tingle. Apparently in the author's world it is impossible for folks of the opposite sex to just be friends or work peers without an extra romantic dimension. I have lived and worked (and fished) in the world for a long long time and did not sense a potential romantic partner with every individual I met whether only briefly or long-term. I found this to be a tiresome part of both books 1 and 2.
This book was first published in 2012 and the last 9 years have brought great changes to the ways men and women appropriately relate to each other; and how members of the BIPOC population are recognized and respectfully treated. While the book may have been "correct" at the time it was first released, I have to confess that I was made uncomfortable by some of the ways in which individuals spoke to each other with what would be considered disrespect and possibly legally actionable dialog now (2021). And for heaven's sake, how about a confident and smart lead female character instead of one who is all jelly with insecurity? Oh yeah, she's got plenty of those "romantic tingles", too.
What bothered me: seems as if every single time a man and woman had any interaction at all there had to be a "romantic tingle". Buying coffee, listening to music in a bar, elk hunting, tracking a murderer/victim, you name it - romantic tingle. Apparently in the author's world it is impossible for folks of the opposite sex to just be friends or work peers without an extra romantic dimension. I have lived and worked (and fished) in the world for a long long time and did not sense a potential romantic partner with every individual I met whether only briefly or long-term. I found this to be a tiresome part of both books 1 and 2.
This book was first published in 2012 and the last 9 years have brought great changes to the ways men and women appropriately relate to each other; and how members of the BIPOC population are recognized and respectfully treated. While the book may have been "correct" at the time it was first released, I have to confess that I was made uncomfortable by some of the ways in which individuals spoke to each other with what would be considered disrespect and possibly legally actionable dialog now (2021). And for heaven's sake, how about a confident and smart lead female character instead of one who is all jelly with insecurity? Oh yeah, she's got plenty of those "romantic tingles", too.
March 1, 2012
At first it was really hard to get into this book because of fishing lingo, but once I got past page thirty, I was totally emerged in the Royal Wulff Murders. I like to fish, but I am by no means a fisherwoman. I just enjoyed the mystery of the people dying and the odd details that accompany the murders. I was engaged and curious throughout the book. It was also really exciting that the setting is placed in real cities in Montana, and I felt that I got a country/rural perspective for this city girl. The only thing I need to comment on is the ending. I just feel that the scene was a little inconspicuous, and it was hard to tell what was going in in the most major scene in the book; however, I got the gist when they were talking about in the next few pages, but I felt somewhat robbed. Overall, it was a fabulous book. It made me look forward to curling up with a blanket and seeing what adventures Stranahan would go on during my next reading adventure!
June 18, 2013
Keith McCafferty was my college roommate and still is a good friend, so it was with great joy that I read his first novel. Some of the characters have names and personalities like some of the folks that we went to school with, but Keith has a great way with words. His development of his characters his superb, even if his plot development seemed a bit sluggish. Keith is an avid fly fisherman, and this book will appeal to those who share his passion. There were many references to fly fishing that went right by me. The story begins with a dead body floating in the Madison River with a a Royal Wulff fly in his lip. The plot involves love, a bit of biology (a virus is dumped in the Madison and intrigue. I look forward to reading more, and may be learning something about fishing on the way.
December 13, 2017
A very unpleasant read. Like walking through a dark swamp.
Too much unnecessary extreme language, overly graphic descriptions, and even an unnecessary racist passage. Montana and its residents do not need to be represented by such writing.
The author seemed to want to tell us everything he knows about fly fishing, to impress us with his knowledge of it. It was too much, even for a fly fisherman.
I had to keep pushing myself to continue reading, and to finish it.
I might eventually try another of this author's books, but will do so very reservedly. This one left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Too much unnecessary extreme language, overly graphic descriptions, and even an unnecessary racist passage. Montana and its residents do not need to be represented by such writing.
The author seemed to want to tell us everything he knows about fly fishing, to impress us with his knowledge of it. It was too much, even for a fly fisherman.
I had to keep pushing myself to continue reading, and to finish it.
I might eventually try another of this author's books, but will do so very reservedly. This one left a very bad taste in my mouth.
August 5, 2016
I love this book. I love the characters, especially the fishing guide Rainbow Sam, and I love the setting. When it's at its best, The Royal Wulff Murders is a page-turning thrill to read, and luckily for the reader that holds true pretty much the wohle book. I've been lucky enough to fish in Montana many times in my life, and this book brings that beautiful state and its fantastic rivers vividly to life--well, and to death. It is a heck of a murder mystery, after all.
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