Red, Green, or Murder

September 15, 2009
In Posadas County, N.M., everybody knows chile burritos can be killers.

True, the green-chile burrito from Posadas's leading Mexican restaurant is somewhat less decisive than the red. But obviously it suffices, a certain retired law-enforcement officer thinks mordantly while staring down at the lifeless body of a longtime friend. It's especially unfair that"he didn't get to finish," as former sheriff Bill Gastner says to undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, who's already ordered George Payton's kitchen enveloped in yellow crime-scene tape. No longer does she believe what the police were meant to believe: that old George, known to be suffering from numberless serious ailments, had succumbed to a massive heart attack triggered by a hot blast of famously lethal chile. Her sharp eyes have noticed enough out of kilter to suggest malice aforethought, and soon Bill too is persuaded. Who could have wanted irascible but likable George dead? Before Bill can give much thought to that question, he has another mystery to crack. Someone has punched the lights out of a young cowpuncher, stolen his truck and left him for dead. The two attacks make Bill and Estelle a clue-sifting team once again, leaving his retirement far behind.

Another highly entertaining entry (The Fourth Time is Murder, 2008, etc.) that shows those unruly New Mexicans doing what they do best. Long may they stay homicidal.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 1, 2009
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 cant 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 sheriffs new, presumably less-stressful routine is jolted by two overlapping events: the disappearance of a cowpuncher and the sudden death of one of Bills 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)