Some people are dog people, some are cat people. I like
both, depending on the individual, but if anything I am really a wild animal
person. One of the benefits of my New Mexico home office is that I can look out
the window at the wild world wandering by – lizards, quail and many other
birds, a fox family that lives in the neighborhood, occasionally even a coyote.
A couple of years ago, I met a local falconer. I tagged
along on hunts, as he released a falcon after homing pigeons on a cold winter
morning or let a hawk chase rabbits on a spring afternoon. (For those of you
who are squeamish, the birds of prey don’t succeed as often as you might
expect, but they get exercise.) I visited the falconer’s home to see newly
hatched hawks and falcons. I even wrote
an article about him and
his birds for a local publication.
Raising falcons is an intense, time-consuming, and expensive
hobby, so I don’t plan to get into falconry myself. But as an author, I could
do the next best thing – I could write about it.
In
What We
Found, set in a small town in central New Mexico, a young woman
stumbles on a dead body in the woods. Audra gets drawn into the investigation,
but more than one person isn’t happy about her bringing a murder to light.
Fortunately, she has some allies, including her brainy 12-year-old brother and
self-appointed sidekick, Ricky; a sophisticated Navajo coworker, Nascha; and
her goofy but loyal boss, Eslinda. And because this is suspense with a dose of
romance, she has a love interest – Kyle, a mysterious young man who happens to
be the brother of the murder victim.
Kyle is recovering from physical and psychological wounds he
received during military service. He finds some peace helping his grandmother,
Nancy, work with the falcons and hawks she keeps. Audra goes with him one
morning when he's taking his falcon to hunt. This scene is closely based on one
of my experiences with the falconer.
We strode across the desert, angling to pass by bushy
patches where rabbits might be hiding. The hawk flew ahead again, soaring about
twenty feet above the ground before landing on a small tree. She waited until
we passed by, then made another hop, farther that time. Kyle raised his left
arm to shoulder height. The hawk flew back and landed. Watching her come in
sent a strange breathless thrill through my chest. I’d seen owls and eagles
fairly close in the zoo, but there they were sitting quietly on perches. This
was a glimpse of something wild and beautiful.
After fifteen
minutes my feet were hurting even though I was sure Kyle was going slower than
usual for him. I tried to hide my limp and wondered how long this usually took.
A jackrabbit
bolted out of a bush twenty paces ahead. The hawk took off after it.
Seconds later, she
swooped down behind some bushes several hundred feet away. She rose up, made a
small loop, and dropped down again. Something shrieked.
Kyle was already
running toward the action. I hurried after, though the distance between us
quickly stretched. By the time I got there, he had the hawk on his arm again.
She had a feather sticking out awkwardly from her wing. I didn’t see the rabbit
and wondered if Kyle had hidden it to make it easier on me.
“She got beat up,”
Kyle said. “That rabbit had some moves.”
“It got away?”
He nodded and
plucked a small tuft of gray fur from the bush. “She made contact. But this
time, it looks like the rabbit won.” He opened his fingers and the small tuft
of fur drifted away on the breeze.
I was smiling.
“The rabbit won!”
“It happens
sometimes. Fortunately for our girl, she won’t starve.” He looked into her
black eyes. “It’s frozen quail for you tonight, my dear.”
The falcons are realistically portrayed in What We
Found, so they don’t help solve the crime or anything like that. But the
falconry aspect helped me develop thematic elements of the story, added some
unusual action, and provided readers with insight into an usual pastime. One
reader wrote, “The falconry aspect was almost as intriguing as the unveiling of
the murderer!”
A romantic mystery: When Audra finds a murdered woman,
she’ll have to stand up for herself to help the victim. It’s a risk, as is
trusting the mysterious man who works with deadly birds of prey. But with
danger all around, some risks are worth taking.
“Another action-packed suspense novel by Kris Bock, perhaps
her best to-date. The author weaves an intriguing tale with appealing
characters. Watching Audra, the main character, evolve into an emotionally-mature
and independent young woman is gratifying.” Reader Ellen Rippel
Sample or buy
What We
Found on
Amazon
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