Booksigning at Telluride's Between the Covers last day of Film Fest

04 Sep Booksigning at Telluride's Between the Covers last day of Film Fest

[click “Play” to hear Susan’s chat with author Mark Stevens]

Mark Stevens

Labor Day weekend, the action is mostly on the silver screen. Labor Day weekend, September 2 – September 5 is all about the Telluride Film Festival. However, one Telluride Film Festival regular, documentary director extraordinaire Ken Burns, always finds time on Monday, the last day of the epic film happening, to meet his public. For the third year in a row, Ken will take his traditional post at Telluride’s popular book emporium, Between the Covers Bookstore, on September 5, 10:30 – 1 p.m. (ish)  or just before he feels he needs to leave for the Closing Picnic.

This year Ken Burns signs copies of “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” “Jazz,” “Baseball,” and “The Civil War.” Joining Ken at Between the Covers is a newcomer to Telluride, author Mark Stevens, in town to to sign copies of his latest work, “Buried by the Roan,” an Allison Coil Mystery and the sequel to Stevens’ best-seller, “Antler Dust.”

The spark for “Buried by the Roan” is a dead hunter found on the shore of Oyster Lake, deep in the Flat Tops Wilderness. Josh Keating’s demise could be a case of a hunter drinking too much and stumbling late at night. Or it could be something much worse. Plenty of other strange things are going on to make hunting guide Allison Coil think the death is no accident. Someone is lurking around, leaving odd notes and maps. Hunters and guides are turning up violently ill from drinking the Flat Tops water. Four of the buffalo on Keating’s ranch are slaughtered. And there’s word that Keating and his neighbor were tangled up in a property dispute triggered by a centuries-old doctrine known as adverse possession. The future of the way of life in the rugged Colorado mountains is at stake. Allison finds the killer’s trail but doesn’t avoid being trapped in the simple but wicked device that murdered her client.

A great book like a great movie is meant to enthrall. To get warmed up, read the following reviews of “Buried By the Roan”

“Buried by the Roan is flat-out terrific. Everything you expect from a first-rate mystery is here: Savvy sleuth Allison Coil, hunting guide on-top-of-her-game, gorgeous Colorado mountain setting, gripping story where the pages practically turn themselves, and eloquent writing to boot. If you haven’t yet discovered Mark Stevens, this is your opportunity!,” said New York Times best-selling author Margaret Coel, of “The Perfect Suspect”

“As the story unfolds, the question arises: If it’s a crime when an individual commits an act that is clearly morally wrong, what does it mean when a corporation does the same thing on a larger scale? To its credit, Buried by the Roan refuses to avoid this uncomfortable question, even as it fulfills its promise as a page-turning summer mystery read,” wrote Erica Olsen of “High Country News”

“The writing is crisp, the plot is intricate, and the description of the scenery takes the reader into the beautiful mountains. Both the level of tension and the weather worsen as the stakes get higher. When Allison is struggling to survive, the reader will shiver even if he or she is sitting on the beach: it is that realistic. The characters are well-defined and three-dimensional…the subject matter couldn’t be more timely. If you’ve wondered what all this frenzy over natural gas and fracking is about, you’ll find your answer here. Mr. Stevens has written an excellent mystery, and I look forward to the next volume in the series,” Shirley Wetzel, “Over My Dead Body” website.

There’s more, including favorable comparisons to works by John Grisham and James Patterson. Hum… beguiling protagonist, fast-paced narrative, tense environmental drama, corporate villain breathtaking setting. Sounds like Mark’s latest mystery – in fact the whole Allison Coil series –  would translate easily on to celluloid. You listening Fox Searchlight or Miramax?

Mark Stevens has worked in school public relations in Denver and Greeley and was also a reporter for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and the Christian Science Monitor. He also been a field producer for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. Stevens is married and has two daughters.

More: www.writermarkstevens.com or click the “play” button and listen to my interview with the author.