Open Season is the first book in author C.J. Box's mystery series featuring game warden Joe Pickett. The setting is Twelve Sheep County in Wyoming and Joe is the new game warden following the retirement of his mentor, the legendary and widely respected Vern Dunnegan. Joe is struggling to gain this same respect from the residents of the county but as the new warden he makes mistakes that have made this task more difficult such as ticketing the governor of the state for fishing without a license and letting a poacher grab his gun from him while issuing a ticket. He has thus gotten the reputation as being somewhat of a "bonehead." In actuality he is a very hard working man with scrupulous morals who loves nature and the environment that he has been hired to protect.
The mystery takes off when Ote, the local hunter who took Joe's gun as he was being ticketed, is found murdered in Joe's backyard and the action continues with the murders of two other local hunters. Joe cannot understand why the authorities want to sweep these murders under the rug and end the investigation without thoroughly analyzing the evidence. He feels that for some strange and unknown reason they have come to the wrong conclusion as to what is really going on. As events unravel, Joe begins to feel increasingly suspicious that those he trusts and considers friends are involved in this cover-up. There are scattered rumors of some local sightings of a previously thought extinct miller weasel which Joe becomes curious about.
Joe is a happily married man with a supportive and pregnant wife and two young daughters who he is struggling to support on his meager warden salary. They too become embroiled in both the events surrounding these murders and the weasel rumor.
This is the first in a series of Joe Pickett mysteries which have received wide acclaim. Open Season was named one of the 10 best mysteries of 2001 by the Chicago Tribune and was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery. It also was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller.
The author's depiction of the ruggedness, grandeur, and the beauty of Wyoming are an integral part of the appeal of this story. It is a mystery that I think readers who appreciate nature and good characterizations would enjoy. It is not for the mystery reader who likes a lot of violence. I enjoyed it and would like to try the next in the series but from this first read C.J. Box is not my first choice among mystery writers.