Reader’s Guide for Baited

About the book: It’s the summer of Glacier Park’s grizzly bear DNA study when trail crew worker Clancy Dyer goes to roust her buddy Ezra, and finds his tent shredded. She alerts district ranger Mack Savage who launches a search and rescue. As they work to find the missing man, Clancy and Mack uncover a series of misdeeds and betrayals. Told from multiple voices representing Glacier Park’s eclectic east side community, Baited grapples with personal loss, the controversy surrounding grizzly bears, and how to reconcile our love and affection for someone once we discover they’ve committed a reprehensible act.

1.      Each of the characters in Baited faces personal and work-related challenges. Does Clancy’s grief impact her search for Ezra? How are Mack’s feelings about Liz complicated by his history with women? How do Vera’s childhood experiences and the fact that she’s a Blackfeet tribal member inform her opinions?

2.      Glacier Park’s wilderness looms large in Baited. What does the park represent for Clancy and Mack? What role does it play in the lives of Roberts, Liz, Vera, Layne, and Grady?

3.      We are all more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. Many of the characters behave in less than honorable ways. Whose transgressions are understandable or sympathetic, and which are unforgivable? Because of their actions, which characters are culpable in the deaths of Ezra and Penelope?

4.      Many of the characters struggle to belong. Mack tells Layne that Glacier culls the riffraff. How does the quest for love and belonging dictate the choices made by Penelope, Ezra, Rosie, and Layne? Which characters act out of an inherent sense of belonging? How do Vera and Patrick earn their sense of ease within themselves and inside Glacier.

5.      Clancy, Mack, Roberts, Vera, Grady, Turner, Patrick and Layne all come from various socio-economic backgrounds. What values and experiences do they hold in common and which circumstances divide them?

6.      The grizzly bear DNA study is central to the novel’s conflict. Liz explains to Patrick that loving an animal isn’t enough to ensure its continued existence. How do Mack, Patrick, Ezra and Clancy grapple with Liz’s study and its impact on grizzly bears? At what point do scientific studies negatively affect the very animals that need protection? Might there be another way to ensure the continued existence of species like grizzlies, lynx, and wolverines? What would that look like?