Animal Parts

Cochiti Pueblo Policeman Peter Romero, a mean dog best caged, is stunned when he discovers a mountain lion he has killed sitting on his bed at home. The big cat demands vengeance for his mate and cubs killed by poachers. Game wardens die while Romero pursues a rocky, twisting trail from the rugged slopes of New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Range to the hot, flat prairies of central Oklahoma. He uncovers the killers: a Cheyenne family suffering from the dreaded Windigo Psychosis, a malady that transforms its victims into ravenous monsters who eat everyone they encounter. Romero attacks the windigos, but is astonished when they will not die. With dog jaws of a windigo crushing his neck, Romero uses his connections to the spirit world to consult a long-dead hunter of the monsters who says the only solution is to change the course of history. He may be too late.

When a cougar attacks hikers near his reservation, Cochiti Pueblo Policeman Peter Romero tracks and destroys the rogue cat. Matters turn bizarre when the carcass disappears and he finds the animal’s spirit sitting on his bed at home demanding justice for the death of his family by poachers. Romero cannot believe what he sees or hears, but is thrust into the investigation when the illegal hunters kill local game wardens. The poachers’ trail gets hot when Romero uncovers a cult of Native American cannibals stalking the Southwest. An Oklahoma Cheyenne family suffers from the dreaded Windigo Psychosis, a malady that makes cannibals of the afflicted and transforms them into ravenous monsters who eat everyone they encounter. FBI Special Agent Jean Reel wants to believe Romero, but despite her Cherokee heritage, has no choice but to stick to FBI protocol. Romero realizes he is on his own. Worse, he discovers that he, not Cougar, has been the target all along. With the dog jaws of a windigo crushing his neck, Romero has seconds to live. He uses his spiritual powers to consult the spirit of a long-dead hunter of the monsters who says the only solution is to change the course of history by killing the mother of all windigos. Will Romero stop the psychotic cannibals? Will he survive?

David E. Knop is a retired Marine officer with twenty years of service. He saw two tours in Vietnam as an artillery forward observer and naval gunfire support officer. As a staff officer, he wrote and edited numerous military operations plans. Dave also authored feature articles for the Field Artillery Journal and Marine Corps Gazette. In civilian life, Dave became a technical writer and produced many electronic and automotive manuals for industry leaders such as SAIC and Computer Sciences Corporation. Dave’s work for the Eighth Air Force received an award of excellence in a Northern California Society of Technical Communications competition. Dave’s first novel, The Smoked Mirror, a supernatural thriller featuring former Marine, Cochiti Pueblo police officer Peter Romero, placed honorable mention in both the Maryland Writers' Association and Reading Writers contests. The manuscript also qualified top ten in the Wahmpreneur Books Fiction contest. Dave’s second mystery, Mining Sacred Ground, brings the role of spirit warrior to the subgenre of Native American detectives. This novel was a semi-finalist in a recent Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Contest and placed top ten in the Killer Nashville contest. Dave’s third novel, Poisoned by God’s Flesh was awarded a bronze medal by the Military Writers Society of America, and received Honorable Mention in the 2014 Eric Hofer writing contest. An alumnus of Book Passage Mystery Writer’s workshops, Taos Institute of the Arts, Maui Writer’s Retreats. Dave is a lifelong student of Native American mythology.