The Stones of Peril — James C. Work

★ 04/26/2021Set in the early 1920s, when U.S. park rangers were shifting their roles from herding tourists to preventing vandalism, Work’s agreeable fourth outing for Tim McIntyre (after 2020’s The Dunraven Hoard Murders) opens with the ranger trying to rescue a fatally injured climber who was shoved off a cliff in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. McIntyre suspects that this incident may be related to someone’s tampering with a Native American medicine circle at the scene of the crime. Meanwhile, he’s perplexed by the antics of the publicity-seeking nature lover known as Lady Eve—not to mention the worrisome traces a mystery camper is leaving in the forest. Gorgeous flapper Violet Coteau, a secretary in the FBI’s Denver office, is on hand to give McIntyre encouragement and share some chastely romantic banter, but he’s happiest out in the woods, standing by a trout stream and letting his mind sort through the puzzle pieces. The novel is a bit stiff and old-fashioned, like McIntyre himself, but it’s a good-natured and refreshing ramble off the beaten path. (May)