BLOOD MOUNTAIN

A wealthy family’s elk hunt turns into something far more dangerous, forcing a newly minted game warden to struggle to keep everyone safe.

New Mexico game warden Jodi Luna isn’t even out of her probationary period when she begins to get warnings from her boss about being too animal-friendly, as if game wardens should be more hunter-friendly. Jodi, a writer in an earlier life, won’t let the criticism derail her second career. She’s old enough to have a sense of self and justice, and keeping order runs in her family. Just ask her oldest, Ashley Romero. Though she didn’t even know that they were related until recently, Ashley, as the Rio Truchas sheriff, must interact a good deal with Jodi in her role as game warden as they try to navigate their complex relationship. Jodi’s younger daughter, Mila Livingston, who’s equally justice-minded, is a member of the Gato Montes School’s Wildlife and Conservation Club, where she met her latest boyfriend, Sterling Evans. Sterling’s family is different from other local families. They have bottomless wealth and the ability to hire Jodi to facilitate a weekend elk hunt in the Sangre de Jesus mountains. Jodi isn’t eager to spend the weekend with the uber-wealthy and their entitled kin, some of whom don’t take a shine to a woman in a position of authority. But since she’s brought Mila with her, she has some good company, too. What happens next involves perils more urgent than cultural clashes. Mila, Jodi, and the whole Evans clan find themselves in the crosshairs of a dangerous killer, or killers, during a dangerous freeze and power outage.

Lots of background enriches the plot but slows the forward motion.