Incident at Cougar Creek
Mary Flodin
Two wounded souls, hunted by monsters, bound by destiny …
A love forged through passion for a sacred land
In one of the most sensitive biodiversity hotspots in North America, Central California’s rugged and beautiful Cougar Creek Coast Ranch National Monument, a brutal murder and a supernatural secret bring together Fish and Wildlife Officer Colin Dawson—an Army Ranger veteran struggling with PTSD—and Kumeyaay Native Delfina Cuera.
Will Colin and Delfina be able to rise above their personal wounds and learn to trust one another in time to stop the monster who killed Delfina’s mother?
At the intersection of eco-thriller and romantasy, Incident at Cougar Creek posits the fantastical question: Can mutations in epigenetic DNA activated by the recent wave of climate havoc-induced pandemics turn humans into shape shifters?
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About The Author
Mary Flodin
Before settling into the writer’s life, Mary taught k-12 environmental education, English language arts and literature, social studies, digital media, and art in California public schools. A native Californian, she lives on an urban micro permaculture farm on the Monterey Bay coast with her husband—a retired NASA climate scientist—and their dogs, koi, feral cat, chickens, 1,000 hummingbirds, and gopher herd. Learn more about Mary at shorturl.at/NTdAi and linktr.ee/maryfloiam.
The International Review of Books –
“Incident at Cougar Creek is a masterfully woven eco-thriller that fuses mystery, romance, and mythology against the haunting beauty of California’s central coast. Mary Flodin’s prose pulses with authenticity, from vivid environmental detail to her nuanced portrayal of trauma and resilience. Both a gripping page-turner and a profound call for empathy toward people and planet. Highly recommended.”
The International Review of Books
Rachel Pfotenhauer MA, LPC –
“I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor, specializing in PTSD. In Incident at Cougar Creek, I found that the author accurately and sensitively portrays characters who are dealing with unresolved PTSD resulting from the trauma of military combat and rape. This eco-thriller has plenty of page turning, entertaining, edge-of-your-seat twists and surprises, but also reveals the urgent need for conservation of wild California’s fragile central coast ecosystem, and elevates serious concerns about missing and murdered Indigenous people. A timely and meaningful read.”
Rachel Pfotenhauer MA, LPC
Gary A. Patton, Santa Cruz County Supervisor –
“Incident at Cougar Creek is an intricately plotted, deeply engaging murder mystery and love story that will compel the reader’s attention from the story’s beginning right to its very end. The story is set in California’s central coast, with excursions to both Southern California and San Francisco. As a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor who represented that county’s North Coast for twenty years, I can testify to how profoundly and powerfully the mystery and majesty of this under-appreciated part of the California coastline has been made into an essential element of the gripping trajectory of Flodin’s story.”
Gary A. Patton, Santa Cruz County Supervisor (1975-1995)
Anna Citrino –
“Mary Flodin’s new book, Incident at Cougar Creek, is a fast-paced cli-fi-eco thriller full of action and intrigue that made me want to keep turning the page. Incident at Cougar Creek delivers an exciting narrative full of twists, turns, and tense chase scenes threaded through with a profound and satisfying love story, along with vivid setting elements and factual details that reveal the challenges of protecting the natural world.”
Anna Citrino, author of Stories We Didn’t Tell