Wyoming-based mystery author CJ Box has won nearly all of the major crime fiction awards. Now he can add Edgar to his mantle. Box's first stand alone, Blue Heaven, a nifty thriller set in the Idaho panhandle, just took top honors for best mystery at the Edgar Awards. Blue Heaven is out in paperback.

Game warden Joe Pickett fans should be pleased with Box's latest mile a minute read. Below Zero (Putnam, $24.95) pits the whole Pickett family in a race to save a ghost. Six years ago, Joe and his family welcomed young April Keely, an abandoned child, into their home.

All that changed when April's lowlife mom reappeared and took her daughter back. At the fiery conclusion of Winterkill, April supposedly died. Joe was unable to save her. He still carries the guilt.

Now, Joe's oldest daughter, Sheridan, receives a chilling message from out of the blue: "Tell Sherry April called."

Since Joe's last embarrassing, high-profile adventure, he's been reassigned to the remote Maggs, Wyoming area. The long distance is killing Joe and the family. Now he's trucking it in high gear back to Saddlestring to reclaim an innocent or to put a cruel hoax to rest.

Meanwhile, Sheridan's getting text messages from the newly reformed April. The now-14 year old knows personal, Pickett family things only the real April could know. She's travelling with a generous older man and his high-strung son.

The old guy is the terminally ill and very dangerous Chicago mobster Stenko. He's just reconnected with his eco-nut son Robert. But Robert would rather his dad pay back Mother Earth for all the carbon his crime and casinos have used up. Robert wants dad's carbon footprint to be "below zero," as if he never existed.

"April" becomes witness to a heinous road of crime while a passenger with the killers. Joe's wife Marybeth computer searches a series of murders originating from the areas of April's messages. Joe and Sheridan tag team on the road while the texts continue. The FBI joins the chase, with some of Joe's least favorite players. April's last text proclaims things are "vry bad."

But a Joe Pickett novel becomes golden when Nate Romanowski joins the fray. The reclusive falconer/most wanted renegade adds fresh fire to Below Zero when he and Joe close in on the killer family and whoever is texting Sheridan. The dirt bike chase scene rocks!

Will Joe and Nate be able to stop Stenko and Robert's grand finale? Is April really April? There's a roadblock straight ahead, pockmarked with blood, bruises and bullets.

Below Zero is all about family; the good guys, the dysfunctional and the lost. Follow the long road to redemption in CJ Box's high octane Joe Pickett thriller ... and see why he keeps on winning awards.

JC Patterson is a literary critic and is active in local theater.