Book description
Former Posadas County Sheriff Bill Gastner, now a New Mexico Livestock
Inspector, is enjoying a day on Herb Torrance's ranch-soaking in the sun
as he counts a small herd of cattle and thinking about an upcoming lunch
with an old friend back in town. But a light breeze stirs dust, a horse
spooks, and Bill finds himself ferrying a broken cowpuncher in the back
of his SUV, headed out to meet an ambulance. Moments later, Bill's day
goes from bad to worse as he is summoned by undersheriff Estelle
Reyes-Guzman to an investigation of an unattended death. Too impatient
for Bill to finish up out at the ranch, old George Payton had decided to
eat lunch on his own. A couple of bites later, he collapsed-dead of an
apparent heart attack. But something isn't right. It may well have been
a heart attack, Estelle agrees, but something triggered it. Before any
questions can be answered, the small herd of cattle Bill had just
counted is found wandering down a county highway. But there's no sign of
cowpuncher Pat Gabaldon or his boss' ,000 truck and livestock trailer.
Forced into two tangled investigations, Bill faces one of the most
complex cases in his 35-year career. When Bill Gastner retired as
sheriff of Posadas County, New Mexico, in 2001 (Bag Limit), Havill
turned the lead role over to Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, with
Gastner only making cameos. The series has motored along smoothly ever
since, continuing to rely on its amiable mix of procedural details and
small-town interrelationships. Longtime series readers can't be blamed,
however, for missing the lumbering, chile-loving Gastner. Havill
apparently has heard our wishes, as this seventeenth in the series finds
Gastner newly retired and working part-time as a livestock inspector
(chronologically, the story fits immediately following Bag Limit and
before the succeeding six volumes in the series). The former sheriff's
new, presumably less-stressful routine is jolted by two overlapping
events: the disappearance of a cowpuncher and the sudden death of one of
Bill's oldest friends. When the death turns out to be murder by poisoned
burrito, Bill is firmly back in the saddle. As the story unfolds, Havill
shows us yet again how random bad decisions spur unnecessary tragedy. As
always, a fine mix of village drama and carefully rendered police work.
Steven F. Havill lives with his wife of more than forty years, Kathleen,
in Ratón, New Mexico. He is the author of more than twenty novels set in
the American west, taught secondary schools for 25 years, and recently
earned an AAS degree in gunsmithing.
