David G. Ferguson

David G. Ferguson is now the author of five great outdoor action/wildlife crime thrillers - TOXIC WATERS, BEAR RUNNERS, UP HALFWAY CREEK, DOUBLE BACK FUR RUN and his latest release, Moose Down. These novels are inspired by his outdoor work experience as a Conservation Officer, although he admits that work rarely got as exciting as the stories in his novels.

Dave was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, and raised in Kingston and Streetsville (what they now call Mississauga). Growing up, he was exposed to a variety of boats, large and small, on inland lakes as well as the Great Lakes.

In 1975, he became a Conservation Officer with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. During his twenty-four year CO career, he spent much of his time each spring, summer and fall, aboard government boats — everything from canoes and little 12' outboard runabouts up to a modern 33' welded aluminum patrol vessel powered by twin diesel engines and equipped with all the latest electronic navigational gear.

Along the way, Dave and his wife, Pat, owned a Dutch built Zeeland yawl (bearing a strong resemblance to the classic vessel in his first book TOXIC WATERS) and they and their two daughters, plus various dogs and cats spent summer vacations over the next twenty three years cruising the waters of Lake Huron, Georgian Bay and the world renowned North Channel.

A highlight of his career was a three-year sojourn in the MNR's Moosonee District on Ontario's Arctic coast. With no road systems connecting the James and Hudson Bay communities with each other or to the provincial highway system, all long distance travel was done by air ... bush planes, helicopters and small regional passenger planes.

All local wilderness travel was accomplished by outboard motor powered runabouts and freighter canoes in the open water seasons and snowmobiles in the winter. His Moosonee experiences provided the inspiration and setting for his second and third novels BEAR RUNNERS and UP HALFWAY CREEK.

During Dave’s natural resources law enforcement career, he met all manner of resource users — mostly good folks. The law breakers he dealt with covered a broad spectrum of characters from polite, “Oops, sorry officer, I really didn’t know I couldn’t do that,” people, all the way up the scale to the kind of black hearted men you wouldn’t want to turn your back on ... men frequently known to the police.

It was his evolving understanding of the complex range of resource users that he dealt with and his love of summers spent boating on pristine lakes and rivers and the challenging northern winters he lived and worked through that inspired him to write his novels.

While each novel is more or less regional in setting, all of his stories speak to major issues of global significance. While the nucleus of each novel is an environmental or wildlife crime story, the fact that COs frequently encounter persons also known to the police means that each novel also involves cooperation with police agencies.

Each of Dave's novels features strong, believable characters with both males and females sharing the mantle of Hero.

Among the many authors of fiction on Dave’s reading list, some of his favorites include Alistair MacLean, Clive Cussler, Hammond Innes, Douglas Reeman, Nevil Shute, Jack Higgins, John Sandford, Lee Child, James Lee Burke, James Patterson, Jonathan Kellerman and Canada’s own, General Richard Rohmer. Many of their collective writings are weighted toward seagoing or outdoor adventures - wartime and otherwise. To some extent, each of these authors has probably had some influence on Dave’s own writing style.

Dave is now enjoying retirement from his “day job” (which was more a calling than just a "job") and living with his wife on the north shore of his beloved Lake Huron while he conjures up his next stories.

A BRIEF SUMMARY ABOUT EACH OF HIS BOOKS:

TOXIC WATERS

In the tradition of Clive Cussler, comes a novel of suspense and adventure set on the big water of the Great Lakes. Erin Franklin will do what it takes to take down Mid-Con, a waste management company that has been playing fast and loose with the law. An environmental crusader, known in the industry as the Iron Maiden, Erin doesn't know what she is getting herself into when she is caught intruding on Mid-Con property.

Judge Franklin has his own bone to pick with Mid-Con. They are up on new charges and back in his courtroom again.

Willard Reiger, owner of Mid-Con, built his company from nothing, he is not about to let anyone take it away from him. He will do what it takes to keep it, and Erin Franklin is just the leverage he needs.

Conservation Officer Rick Webb doesn’t understand why Judge Franklin dismissed the case against Mid-Con ... the evidence was ironclad. Frustrated by the setback, Webb is looking forward to a vacation on Water Baby, his classic sailing yawl ... his pride and joy.

But his vacation is unexpectedly cut short and he is unwittingly drawn into a fight for his life when he realizes that the lives of two innocent people are at stake. He uses all his know-how and his guts to set things right.

Non-stop action, tight pacing and believable characters make this an excellent read for anyone wanting to escape into a nautical adventure sprinkled with romance. Because of its setting and authentic descriptions, this story really delivers for sailing and boating enthusiasts and lovers of nature.

BEAR RUNNERS

In the first of what is becoming a series, Conservation Officer Rob McNabb teams up with Samantha Williams, a government bush pilot in an attempt to bring a murderous polar bear poacher to justice in the midst of a harsh northern winter.

The story is set in the remote Hudson and James Bay Lowland region of northeastern Ontario.

Action, suspense and a string of extreme challenges make for slim odds of success for the pair, let alone their survival. And a budding romance hangs in the balance. While the setting is regional, the message is global ... the illegal trade in wildlife is the world's fourth-largest criminal enterprise.

UP HALFWAY CREEK

Conservation officers uncover a crime even darker than poaching. And Rob McNabb and Samantha Williams return for a summer misadventure on James Bay.

Two fly-in poachers go on a caribou killing spree in Polar Bear Provincial Park. Annie Wabano, a resourceful young Cree teen, goes missing in Peawanuck.

When the COs initiate a poaching investigation, shots are fired. The officers are left adrift on James Bay, and their women stranded in the bush. So begins a case of wilderness survival for both halves of the group.

Police and Natural Resources personnel pull out all the stops to track down the dangerous poachers. The case escalates into a murder investigation, which is unexpectedly linked to the teen’s disappearance. And only Annie can lead the authorities to the criminals’ hangout.

DOUBLE BACK FUR RUN

A transport load of wild fur pelts shipped with no export permits is seized by Saskatchewan conservation officers. Ontario CO, Rob McNabb, teams up with fellow officer Rick Webb for the straightforward assignment of returning the big rig and its load to Ontario.

But Derek Cheney, the owner of the transport, has other ideas. His road warriors have been instructed to get the rig back … by any means necessary. A sea container load of drugs and ivory is on the line. For McNabb and Webb, the job quickly escalates into something far more dangerous than what they had signed up for.

A hijacking attempt is foiled by government pilot Sam Williams and that incident leads police and ministry personnel to join forces in an attempt to bring the criminals down.

Moose Down

Conservation Officer Rob McNabb and Natural Resources pilot Samantha Williams transfer to a new district, once protected by four COs. The last officer transferred out two years ago. Their only help is retired CO, Eric Snyder.

Trouble looms when they begin to investigate a rogue fly-in outfitter who freely breaks the law and has never been caught. At the same time, each day is filled with regular violators that keep McNabb and his team busy.

When a rich poacher books a fly-in trophy moose hunt, Rob, Sam and Eric team up with the police to catch the outfitter and the rich poacher in one operation. But the takedown goes badly. Shots are fired, and the good guys are left scrambling to rescue their hijacked pilot.

All of David's books are available on Amazon in Paperback and Kindle editions.

David G. Ferguson

October 2024