DEADGAME There's only one reason for the illegal killing of so many sturgeon—caviar. And behind the highly profitable trade in caviar is the Russian mafia, dealing in things much more dangerous than fish eggs. John Marquez is closing in on the sturgeon poachers when his key confidential informant disappears. Marquez and his understaffed team—which is slated for shutdown by top brass—search frantically for the informant in their remaining weeks, while also pursuing the poachers and tangling with the Russian mob and the FBI. Fast-paced, thought-provoking, and vivid, this eco-thriller pushes the tough but sensitive Marquez to the limit. Deadgame is a tale of unforgettable action and complex human emotions. Read an excerpt. Listen to Kirk talk about Deadgame on Houston Public Radio! See photos taken during Kirk's research of the Delta area. BUY THE BOOK from an independent bookstore, Chronicle Books, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble. DEADGAME Chronicle Books, September, 2005 Hardcover 377 pages ISBN: 0-8118-5078-1 PRAISE FOR DEADGAME Russell tackles both action sequences and intractable moral problems with prose as sharp and efficient as a filleting knife...    —KIRKUS REVIEWS Who knew that a Fish and Game undercover team could uncover so much menace? Or that an eco-thriller could be wildly fun and solidly convincing without sliding into preachifying? Russell has been proving that an unlikely detective, John Marquez, a California Fish and Game warden, makes a marvelous focal point for plots that pit good, in the form of embattled environmentalists, against evil, in the form of wildlife profiteers. Each Game novel so far is told from the point of view of Marquez, who is wounded enough and sardonic enough to make us want to watch how he'll cope with whatever life—or poachers—throw at him. ...undercover procedure, well-drawn characters, and the kind of description—whether of action or scenery—that leaves one gasping. Russell is at the top of his game.    —BOOKLIST (starred review, and placed it in the top ten crime novels of the year!) Fiction can raise your consciousness as well as educate you, but unless it fulfills its primary goal of entertaining the reader, we're talking about trees falling in an empty forest. Kirk Russell's third John Marquez mystery novel delivers on all three levels as the former DEA agent, now working undercover for the California Game and Fish Department, goes after sturgeon poachers.   Admittedly we were never big caviar fans, but after learning how the eggs are harvested, we're definitely sticking with peanut butter on our crackers from here on out. When you think caviar, you think Russians, and Marquez's overworked team suddenly finds itself caught up in a crime ripe with international repercussions.   Fans of Nevada Barr's national park series will find much to enjoy in Deadgame, especially in its complicated and very human hero. Marquez wants nothing more than to put the bad guys away, but sometimes a law officer can keep a kid from becoming a felon by looking the other way—once."    —TOM AND ENID SCHANTZ, DENVER POST Deadgame, Kirk Russell's third in his series featuring California Fish and Game Warden John Marquez, is even better than his last, and that's saying something. This time Russell squeezes Marquez nearly to the breaking point...   Russell's simple, straightforward prose is perfectly-balanced, dissecting intractable moral problems without once verging on preaching. What he's done in this book is nothing short of breathtaking. Nothing is black and white in Marquez's world. He's an ardent activist who can still distinguish between real evil and petty crime and has enough compassion to cut the latter some slack while pinning the former to the wall. He is passionate about the wilderness and our need for each and every species of creature that inhabits it. And he realizes that the fundamental question at the bottom of it all is one of greed versus nature, a cost-benefit calculus of conservation.   When you ride along with Marquez you've got yourself a great guide to the natural world and all the species that inhabit it, all the way to the top of the food chain. Buy this book and hunker down. I guarantee you won't want to leave the house for a while.    —CARROLL JOHNSON, ReviewingTheEvidence.com