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Murder at the Blue Ox Inn: A Mike Stier Mystery
MURDER at THE BLUE OX INN
Mike Stier, a ranger in the Olympic National Park, expected his upcoming weekend to be uneventful. He'd have plenty of time for chores and time enough to take an extended hike in the backwoods with his friend, ex-lumberjack Paul Anderson.
Instead, a brutal axe-murder interrupts his plans for a quiet weekend.
Mike's ranger station is located, by some quirk of local history, deep in the Olympic Peninsula rainforest but next to an upscale hotel, the Blue Ox Inn. The Inn's conference coordinator, recently transplanted from New York and unaware of local issues, booked simultaneous conferences in each wing of the 'International Timber Initiatives' and 'Strategies for Preserving Old-Growth Forests.'
Archetypical personal conflicts -- man versus woman, parent versus child, employer versus employee -- intersect with the contemporary opposition between lumber entrepreneurs and ecologists. Mike Stier works with the local county sheriff to investigate which of multiple interwoven tensions is the motive for this murder.
Mike Stier, a ranger in the Olympic National Park, expected his upcoming weekend to be uneventful. He'd have plenty of time for chores and time enough to take an extended hike in the backwoods with his friend, ex-lumberjack Paul Anderson.
Instead, a brutal axe-murder interrupts his plans for a quiet weekend.
Mike's ranger station is located, by some quirk of local history, deep in the Olympic Peninsula rainforest but next to an upscale hotel, the Blue Ox Inn. The Inn's conference coordinator, recently transplanted from New York and unaware of local issues, booked simultaneous conferences in each wing of the 'International Timber Initiatives' and 'Strategies for Preserving Old-Growth Forests.'
Archetypical personal conflicts -- man versus woman, parent versus child, employer versus employee -- intersect with the contemporary opposition between lumber entrepreneurs and ecologists. Mike Stier works with the local county sheriff to investigate which of multiple interwoven tensions is the motive for this murder.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 15, 2022
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8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 12, 2025
Humans and Nature at odds
This novel is well written and both complex and simplistic. All characters are well defined, each with their own trajectory and purpose. Nature, trees specifically, is also a character in this novel.
A surprise ending found through careful listening is in store for the reader.
This novel is well written and both complex and simplistic. All characters are well defined, each with their own trajectory and purpose. Nature, trees specifically, is also a character in this novel.
A surprise ending found through careful listening is in store for the reader.
Displaying 1 of 1 review