THE FOURTH TIME IS MURDER
by Steven Havill
Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, sometime hero to the 7,500 souls of bucolic Posadas County, New Mexico, is about to become a national figure.
Speaking on behalf of A Woman’s World, a national magazine of considerable distinction, respected writer Madelyn Bolles has a proposition. If the undersheriff is amenable, she’ll be profiled in depth as a woman whose accomplishments other women are bound to find admirable, even inspiring. Estelle—beautiful, brainy, but unalterably modest—is not a bit amenable until she meets Madelyn and instinctively trusts her. As a result, she offers the journalist the chance to ride along with her in order to observe a small-town law-enforcement officer in action. As if on cue, Posadas County becomes decidedly un-bucolic and the action a great deal more violent than anticipated with the grisly murder of a young man no one seems to know. Can he be connected to a sneaky, sophisticated scam? Settling down to her sleuthing, Estelle performs with her usual brilliance. So does Madelyn. Warmly invited to revisit any time, she makes only one stipulation: “Promise me no ride-alongs.”
The Posadas County Mystery series (Final Payment, 2007, etc.) notches its sixth with all its signature virtues intact: good writing, an unerring sense of place and a protagonist it’s a pleasure to root for.