Title: Morning Mist of Blood
Author: Eric Wilder
Publisher: Gondwana Press
ISBN: 9780979116537
Pages: 241, Paperback & Kindle
Genre: Fiction/Western/Mystery
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
When a grotesquely mutilated murder victim turns up dead on the back ranch lands of Oklahoma, Buck McDivit finds himself employed by the local law enforcement to help solve the murder. As he catches his footing researching the crime, he finds himself sucked into a vortex of deepening odd occurrences in the mystery novel, Morning Mist of Blood by Eric Wilder.The first impression of the murder, albeit odd in its mutilation aspect, seemed solvable for Buck with his cowboy ways of poking and prodding around; questioning the locals that he knew so well had an unraveling way of finding out what people knew. However, the simultaneous circumstances involving some cattle rustling by unknown ranch hands seemed to add a possible new dimension to the crime as Buck, having a local’s knowledge of the town folk, was hired to solve both mysteries. Buck “knowing the town folk well” would be an understatement, as Eric Wilder plays a heavy sub-plot articulating Buck’s past carnal scorecard in quite a bit of detail. From the waitresses he slept with to lady land barons, Buck’s past sexual relationships are discussed to a point of having this book become, in my opinion, inappropriate for young adult readers.
Needing all the work he could get, Buck took on a part-time employment offer from Clayton, a wealthy oil entrepreneur turned rancher to solve the case of his missing cattle. At first the details seemed as if an ordinary cowboy influenced “who-done-it” story was in the formation. Then, just like an Oklahoma tornado beginning, the winds of the storyline form a vortex of plot pressure that sweeps the reader into a world as strange as Oz, laced with Indian spirits and bizarre animalistic rituals. Eric Wilder goes further than just a cowboy mystery when Buck uncovers a virtually unknown town, set off on private property surrounded by electronic surveillance and patrolled by their own security detail. The village, called Lykaia, is inhabited solely by women, and run by Lana, an extremely attractive woman. Lana is a “corporate executive type” of person during the day managing the administration of this village, daunting her supermodel features, while occasionally at night she reveals her inherited powers from Indian forces rooted in the spirit world.
Eric Wilder does a skillful job brining to life his oddly unbelievable set of characters, events and circumstances, while keeping to a dusty, windblown cowboy theme within his story telling prose. I found his use of dialogue, descriptions and narrations being well balanced, perfectly “spiced” so to speak, bringing suspense to his terse and fast moving plot. Lacing the story with the sensuality of the feminine prowl of women participating in a ritual influenced by drugs and Indian spirits, prancing around half naked with only feathers and body paint, gave this book a machismo which may have lopsided his audience acceptance to mostly males.
The book also had a cameo appearance of a Border collie puppy, named Pard, being drawn into the story. To me this indicated the love and joy Eric Wilder gets from his dog, as witnessed by the photo of the author with “his pal” on the back cover.
This genuinely original story is nicely set into the modern day cowboy setting of ranchers and oil men. Flaunting wealth and power, with the twist of the Indian spirits of the occult and the sensual practices of a group of women followers add a vein of sensuality that differentiates Wilder’s work in a unique way, ideally entertaining for primarily a mature male audience.
