WILDCAT PLAY

A nomad writer working on a California oil rig investigates the murder of a roughneck on her crew.

As a hipster movie critic, Ann Whitehead pushed a Hollywood murder case to a bloody climax and almost died herself. Changed forever - less stupid and more fun - she has moved on to a place she knows well - the San Joaquin Valley, where her grandfather's closest friend, Joe Balch, owns the oil company that keeps one town alive.

Balch gets Ann a job with the Oklahoma company drilling his wildcat well. It's hard work, but Ann loves both it and her crusty old boss, Emmet. Then a guy on her crew is killed by a falling hammer. Sheriffs rule it an accident but Ann's LAPD squeeze, Detective Doug Lockwood, says it's murder. Ann can't resist the challenge of chasing a killer - and then the killer starts chasing her back...

From a writer whose first novel was praised as "highly literate, exceptionally action-packed and occasionally harrowing" (Chicago Tribune), this is a wild ride - full of bad behavior and laughs, oilfield characters and small-town atmosphere - starring a heroine who never does anything halfway.

Helen Knode put her experiences as a staff writer and film critic for the L.A. Weekly into her first novel, The Ticket Out. She was born in Calgary, Alberta, heart of the Canadian oil business, and Knodes have worked in oil since the nineteenth century, a history that inspired WILDCAT PLAY.