Synopses & Reviews
Funny, sharp, gritty Dahlgren Wallace is a Montana fly-fishing guide caught in the middle of a nasty war over land and history.
Dahlgren is a former college football star, a veteran of the first Gulf War and a former member of the Marine Corps elite Force Recon. He thought he had put the world of intrigue and special forces behind him by becoming a fly-fishing guide. He's the river keeper and guide on an expansive, private Montana river owned by a media mogul. When the novel opens, Dahlgren is guiding when his boss's latest guest is bludgeoned to death, practically under Dahlgren's nose. Dahlgren is immediately suspected of the crime.
In an effort to defend himself, Dahlgren must resort to the skills he learned in Special Ops-skills he had hoped he'd never need again. As he delves further into the case, he finds himself embroiled with a band of Neo-Nazi-type militia; a radical environmental movement; a colony of peaceful Hutterites; a kilt-wearing clandestine cattleman's organization; and the FBI. All the while, he is led down a twisted path of discovery and into the deepest recesses of Mormon history.
Full of action, laugh-out-loud humor, and tremendous suspense and peopled with wonderfully surprising characters-from a Jewish deli-owner/scholar to a former Miss Utah - Blood Atonement is a winner. Tenuto's agile style and lightning-fast pace will make the world impatient for the next Dahlgren Wallace mystery.
Review
"Hooking the reader as readily as his main character hooks a trout, the opening sentences of Tenuto's first mystery novel are a fluid and tempting lead into a book that is a unique blend of action, sport, suspense and place...The rich description invites readers to share the author's passion for fishing as well as a good mystery well-told. Hooked from the very first sentence, the reader is caught and held until the very end, and then carefully released - eager and ready to be hooked again for the next novel in the Dahlgren Wallace series."--
ForeWord magazineReview
"The opening sentences of Tenuto's first mystery novel are a fluid and tempting lead into a book that is a unique blend of action, sport, suspense, and place. Hooked from the very first sentence, the reader is caught and held until the very end, and then carefully released--eager and ready to be hooked again for the next novel in the Dahlgren Wallace series."--
Foreword Magazine"What a wonderful discovery: ex-Marine Force Recon turned fishing guide Dahlgren Wallace, characters you haven't seen before in a mystery but like or fear immediately, and a story as tight as light line with a lunker on. Throw in writing that flows as easily as the Montana rivers it is set against, and you have a keeper in Blood Atonement. But watch out for Jim Tenuto-he'll keep you up at night and laugh doing it."--Richard Barre, winner of the Shamus Award for Best First Novel, The Innocents
"Jim Tenuto, a bold, confident author, has given us a first novel told with passion and wit and created a Montana peopled with characters who are strange but uncannily true."--Ken Kuhlken, author of Tom Hickey mysteries
"Jim Tenuto deserves to hook a full string of fans with his debut novel, Blood Atonement. His novel is part mystery, part fishing guide, part commentary, and all fun. Nothing is more important to Montana river keeper Dahlgren Wallace than fly fishing, but he has to deal with such pesky things as a murder or two, a militia, a former Miss Utah, a billionaire boss, and the Feds. And did I forget to mention that Dahlgren manages to alienate not one, but two, religious communities? While Dahlgren only wants to fish, others want him to feed the fish. Don't let this one get away. Catch Blood Atonement and enjoy."--Alan Russell, winner of both The Critic's Choice and Lefty Awards, author of Multiple Wounds and Political Suicide
"Jim Tenuto is Montana's answer to Carl Hiaasen. Blood Atonement is suspenseful and satirical and scary and laugh-out-loud funny, with a lot of good fly fishing as a bonus. I hope Dahlgren Wallace will be rowing driftboats and getting into trouble for many more novels."--William G. Tapply, author of Bitch Creek and Nervous Water
"Jim Tenuto's novel is the first in what I hope will be a long series of Dahlgren Wallace mysteries. Tenuto has a clever, amusing style that entertains the reader even as he draws you deeper and deeper into the plot of the story . . . Tenuto shares his expertise in dry fly fishing and his extensive research in comparative religion and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints without preaching or talking down to his audience. In reading this book I learned a lot, I laughed a lot, and I enjoyed a pretty darn good mystery to boot. To quote his ranch owner Fred Lather, Tenuto gives his readers "The Royal $*#@ Treatment!"--Shipmate, alumni magazine for the United States Naval Academy
Synopsis
A thrilling new Montana mystery series.
Synopsis
Blood Atonement is the first in a brand new mystery by a bright new face on the mystery scene.
About the Author
Jim Tenuto, a 1975 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, lives in San Diego, California, with his wife, Lynn. His short fiction has appeared in
Grays Sporting Journal,
California Fly Fisher, and
Sporting Classics. He is currently at work on the second Dahlgren Wallace mystery,
Blood Knots.