Posadas County Mysteries: Dead Weight: A Posadas County Mystery (Paperback)

Publishers Weekly,Sheriff Bill Gastner, who last appeared in Prolonged Exposure, is facing an election year in Posadas County, N.Mex., and one of the last things he, or anyone else, wants to have questioned is the integrity of the sheriff's office. Anyone, that is, except an anonymous letter-writer who accuses a deputy of shaking down illegal immigrants. The letters are sent to the county commissioners, who quietly pass them on to Gastner to investigate. Then Joe Sisson, a spouse-abusing contractor, is found crushed to death by an oversized tire from a piece of construction equipment on which he was working. When the police photographer (and lover of the deputy accused of being on the take) notices that the bruises on Sisson's body don't quite match up with the tire treads, it looks as if Gastner has a homicide on his hands. But this mystery is more than a straightforward police procedural. Gastner is surely one of the most appealing heroes to come along in a while. The aging (70 and facing retirement) law-enforcement officer shows rare patience and compassion for the people in his community: the elderly retired post-mistress, who has little to do but bully her garden into flowering and her tenants into moving; the deputy accused of wrongdoing; and the wife and kids of the dead contractor. Havill does an excellent job of balancing the cozy aspects of the story with police procedure. Fans will cast their vote for a continuation of the series. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved