Braving Rattlesnakes and Cliffs to Write a Crime Thriller

How an ‘adventurous’ hike allowed me to finally finish a book.

It’s easy to panic when you realize that a five-foot rattlesnake is swimming a few feet away from you.

My wife and I had agreed to let a good friend of ours take us on a hike through the wilds of eastern Oregon. The hike itself, we’d been…