Local author, Ted Haynes, has written two previous books in his "Northwest Murder Mystery" series. How could I live in Bend and not read this, right? So I will start with my conclusion: the writing is less than elegant--even felt very pedestrian at times--but most interesting plot! Not strong on character development but adequate....maybe reading the two previous books would help since several of the same characters are involved. Local setting makes it interesting though wouldn't compel me if I didn't live here.
A highly skilled skier, Erik Peterson, takes his daughter (Lisbeth) and her friend ( Sally Paulsen) to Mt. Bachelor for Lisbeth's 16th birthday. The girls ski together while Erik goes off to ski alone. When the weather deteriorates, the girls wait and wait for Erik but he never turns up. A search finds him buried in a tree well--a situation that Erik would never have let himself get into. The investigating sheriff's detective, after consulting with local ski experts, concludes it was murder and not an accident. The girls had seen Erik getting on the lift with another man and that was the last time anyone saw him. Efforts to locate the other skier fail and the murder goes cold for 50 years. But detective Forest Connor does collect enough clues about the man to get a good forensic artist's sketch and some telling physical anomalies that would identify the man if he was ever found. There is only one other clue found at the scene--ski wax with a warning carved into it.
In 2018, a chance encounter leads Leon Martinez, who is married to Lisbeth Peterson, to believe the man has come back to Oregon. He contacts Sally (now Sarah) who is an attorney and the hunt is on. The entire back story about Peterson's personal history and how he crossed paths with his murderer is not revealed until fairly late in the book, but it changes your perception of Peterson and an intriguing bit of history about the Norwegian resistance movement during WWII.
I only found one review and that was in the local Bend Magazine.
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