Out of Range (Joe Pickett) [Kindle Edition]

(Joe Pickett #5) Out of Range takes Joe away from Saddlestring to the larger Jackson, a centre for tourism in the region, with white-water rafting and other sporting activities, in contrast to the much more local beat with which Joe is familiar. Jackson's game warden has committed suicide, much to Joe's distress as the man was a friend, and Joe is asked to help out in the aftermath. Joe's supervisor, Trey, drives with him over the mountains to the secondment, but the two men are sidetracked by the need to hunt down a rogue bear. This prologue is rather a long and disconnected section of the novel and I'm not sure of its purpose, other than to re-emphasise Joe's reluctance to shoot anything.
Once in Jackson, Joe discovers that he's looked-down on as a country hick by most of his new colleagues and the people he has to deal with: law-enforcement officers, property developers, tourist guides, landowners and a representative of the "real meat" movement, in which people who were once vegetarians have now moved up or down (depending on your viewpoint!) to eating meat so long as they know the animal concerned and can ensure it has not been polluted by any modern farming treatments. There's big money in this, and Joe is plunged into being pressured to complete the permit application for a huge area of forest for these animals to live. Joe's concern is for the natural wildlife of the region, and whether elk, moose and other indigenous animals will be free to roam along their usual migration paths if the new "farm" is built.
Not only does Joe face this problem, but he's not popular with the local sheriff, either, who has been pre-alerted by Joe's previous nemesis, Sheriff Barnum of Saddlestring, that Joe is likely to want to investigate the warden's death. Despite being warned off, Joe isn't convinced that the death was a suicide, so begins to ask around.
In parallel with this plot, Marybeth, Joe's wife, is struggling back at the family's meagre home. She is resentful at Joe for leaving her to look after everything, and is soon embroiled in trying to deal with locals who need Joe's services (as Joe's temporary replacement has not shown up), and with a person who keeps calling the house and hanging up. Eventually, she calls on Nate, Joe's falconer friend, to help - with mixed results that move the series on.
I am pleased that the author is keeping the series fresh by trying out new themes, rather than repeating the successful formula of previous novels. Although I don't think Out of Range is the best Joe Pickett novel to date, it is nevertheless a diverting read - as usual, becoming darker than one might at first think as the pages turn.

Having really enjoyed the other books in this series I wasn't disappointed with this one, although it is about a game warden it is not preachy on environmental issues and often brings out points of view of both developers and nature lovers. In this book, warden Joe is taken out of his comfort zone and away from the family that grounds him so much in the other books. He takes over an unfamiliar area after a fellow game warden and friend of his apparently commits suicide, and starts to investigate the strange circumstances of his death along with the problems of a new and more 'big town' wealthy area where the inhabitants think they have a God given right to behave as they please. Although his wife has urged him to take the post in the hope of boosting his career, their communication with each other starts to break down as she struggles to deal with daddy's girl Sheridan who has become a very stroppy teenager who resents her mother flirting with Joe's dangerous and mysterious friend Nate.
Joe gets off to a bad start when he can't bring himself to shoot a rogue bear, but can he shoot a man before he is shot himself? Can he fight his attraction to the woman who was having an affair with his predecessor and wants Joe to take his place? What is making him feel and act so strangely when he is in town that disappears when he is out on the trail? And just how far will the developers go to get permission for their 'real meat' farm to be given the go ahead?
Meanwhile back 'home' ex sheriff Barnum is out for revenge on Nate and on Joe's family, can Nate protect them and who else will end up dead?
If you have read and enjoyed the other books in this series then you should enjoy this one too but if you haven't read any before then I would recommend reading them in chronological order.

After all the ghostly and other-worldly nonsense of Trophy Hunt, Joe Pickett returns to the real world of Game and Fish in the 5th of the JP series.

Joe's fellow Game Warden and friend, Will Jensen, commits suicide over in the metropolis of Jackson, Wyoming, surrounded by the Teton mountains. Joe is asked to step in and cover which takes him out of his comfort zone. Saddlestring is a 2 horse town in comparison to Jackson, and Joe feels uncomfortable stepping right into his friend's shoes. He also faces the same prejudices with the local sheriff, who has been forewarned by Bud Barnum (now-retired) as to Joe's penchant for 'sticking his damn nose in where it don't belong'.

Interesting characters come and go, and some have real depth - Smoke Van Horn doesn't get nearly enough page time, and Stella Ennis is to Joe what Irene Adler was to Holmes.

I found the strained relationship through distance between Joe and Marybeth a little forced at times, but I guess it could happen. Nate Romanowski engaged in his own little subplot was also not used half as much as he could have been.

So a return to form on the whole as Joe experiences something new in the Tetons (oo-er missus).