Summit County Citizens Voice

Meet Colorado author at the Next Page bookstore in Frisco, presenting his new mystery novel, Buried by the Roan.

Colorado author Mark Stevens presents his new novel at the Next Page bookstore in Frisco

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Colorado author Mark Stevens will be at Frisco’s Next Page bookstore this weekend (Saturday, Aug. 27, 3 p.m.) to present and sign copies of his new book, Buried by the Roan.

The novel is the second in the Allison Coil mystery series and focuses on the fate of The Roan Plateau, the controversy over energy development and the mysterious death of a local ranch owner. The story is set in the Flat Tops Wilderness and surrounding communities of Glenwood Springs and Meeker.

Antler Dust, the first book in the series, twice made the Denver Post bestseller list and garnered some good reviews, including this blurb from New York times bestselling author Margaret Coel: “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.”

“People’s Press is extremely pleased to be publishing this title,” said Mirte Mallory, head of People’s Press. “The book is timely, given the controversy over what’s happening on the Roan Plateau, but it’s also highly entertaining and hard to put down. Western Colorado readers will enjoy the scenery and the settings. Buried by the Roan is topical but not preachy, and it features one of the most intriguing protagonists in modern mystery fiction, hunting guide Allison Coil. Fans of Western mysteries like those from C.J. Box, Margaret Coel and Craig Johnson will find lots to like.”

In the novel, one of Allison Coil’s clients turns up dead on the shore of Oyster Lake, deep in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area. Buffalo ranch owner Josh Keating apparently died following a drunken, late-night stumble on a sub-zero night, but Allison learns he was in the middle of a bitter feud with a world-class environmental zealot, a man who was also his neighbor. The trail of questions leads to the battle over natural gas exploration in the nearby Roan Plateau. The drilling is seen by some locals as a welcome windfall or riches and by others as reckless and dangerous, given the chemicals that energy developers inject deep underground to make the natural gas easier to extract.

About Mark Stevens
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 worked as a field producer for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. Stevens is married and has two daughters. More: www.writermarkstevens.com.

About People’s Press
People’s Press publishes stories—in words and images—that come from the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond. People’s Press believes it is the people that make a community, and it is their stories and photos that narrate history. More: www.peoplespress.org.

Filed under: Frisco, Summit County Colorado, Summit County news Tagged: | Buried by the Roan, Colorado authors, Flat Tops Wilderness Area, Mark Stevens, mystery novels, Roan Plateau