New Mexico Books

Jean Rouverol recreates those traumatic years with sensitivity, care and love. With a young family she and her husband not only managed to get away from, (rather than escape), the harrassment of anti-communism in Hollywood but also managed to create a new and productive live in Mexico. Her prose is crisp and very readable.Her sense of humour never fails. Her message is clear- if you believe in it you can do it! One of the few books I have read cover to cover in one sitting.

Jean Rouverol has written here a rather readable personal history of a very public assault on civil liberties (such as they were and are in the US) during the post-WWII Red Scare.

While it does not appear to have been her intention to delve into the politics of the period except as it pertained to women in general and her family (and the expatriate community in Mexico) in particular, especially during the blacklist, the inquiring reader is left wondering, for example, what happened to Rouverol's husband, screenwriter Hugo Butler, perhaps during their Mexican exile, to lead him to celebrate the display of Italian Communist Party banners in Rome even as he wishes that Party to lose the 1960 parliamentary election in Italy -- he, like his wife, having been a member of the Communist Party USA. But then, she tied up the loose ends of her family's Mexican experience somewhat hastily, leaving one to speculate as to whether Butler's political regression was a result of his overall mental deterioration -- a condition Rouverol noted. Nevertheless, her detailed account of their life in Mexico -- the focus of the book -- makes this a worthwhile record of survival during an intensely repressive time.

I was a teenager at Hollywood High during these dark years. Struggling to understand the turmoil and politics that my family was living through. Each day I saw the pain my loving, idealistic father was enduring as more and more of his friends and coworkers became ensnared in the stupid net of fear and accusation that was spreading through his industry.

Jean's story of their quick decision to slip across the border with their children and their day to day challenges of providing a good education and rich family life as exiles makes great reading.

Rouverol's clean prose and unsparing eye will draw readers into recollections of her family's life on the run and the work they scared up to support their nearly decade-long stint underground. Poignant and unapologetic, Rouverol's memoir juxtaposes the support they found south of the border with the unrelenting weight of living as fugitives. -- Publishers Weekly

I worked in the Lower Pecos region with a group of students last summer, and had the honor of meeting Carolyn Boyd. She took time to give our students personal guided tours of the cave paintings, and they were enthralled. She is a gifted communicator, and passionate about her work. These same qualities come through in her book.

The first time she saw these paintings, she was an artist with no experience in archaeology. Her art background allowed her to see what others had missed; the myriad elements were part of a single canvas, composed by a single artist, invested with purpose and meaning. At that moment she held insights the 'experts' lacked, but she did not have the credibility or credentials to convince anyone. Rather than giving up, she went back to school and got her PhD in Anthropology, writing her Doctoral Dissertation on this cave art. She is now recognized as the world's formost expert on these paintings.

Rock Art Of The Lower Pecos by Carolyn E. Boyd (Executive Director of the archaeological research and educational nonprofit Shumla School) offers an expert and in-depth analysis of the rock art created four thousand years ago in what is now southwest Texas and northern Mexico. New interpretations and hypothesis concerning these mysterious yet evocative images left behind by hunter-gatherers of millennia ago fill the pages of this fascinating guide, which packed from cover to cover with the latest up-to-date findings, as well as an anthropological wealth of insightful ideas from a wide variety of experts and schools of thought concerning the uses of the art and the intentions of the ancient artists. Black-and-white as well as full color illustrations embellish this thoughtful and strongly recommended study.

Carolyn Boyd has done an outstanding job with Rock Art of the Lower Pecos! This excellent literary work clearly explains the rock art through extensive ethnographic research and analysis. Her contribution of this book is a landmark acheivment in the field of anthropology. I highly recommend this work to anyone with an interest in historic art or culture.

This author takes research on rock art and makes it concise and understandable for all of us who are interested in rock art in the Americas. But more than that, she takes us to the next level and gives us a basis for understanding WHY the images were produced in the first place and what function they served for the culture. This is must reading for anyone who wants to understand these images and who wants to go to the next level in understanding rock art world wide.

I thoroughtly enjoyed reading this book. The characters were interesting and multi-dimensional. The plot was interesting and the writing style made it easy to read. Very well done.

This book was similar to Tony Hillerman books, but even better! It is more contemporary, and very nicely written. I liked the comfortable chapter development, so that I could set it down, and yet still finish it in a few days. Linden really turns out some interesting ideas and phrases, and he uses intriguing imagery of the Southwest. Also, it is very culturally revealing - I mean, haven't you just wondered what modern rodeo cowboys might be like? Or how the Native American peoples might live today -- their personalities, their unique traditions? If you live in the southwest, and you know some cowboys and indigenous people, then can you imagine how these people interact? With cleverness and humor, by Lindens account! I'm not really much of a reader, but this book I just loved! I plan to read the continuing series, as it comes out, because the quality appears certain to me. It has what I like in a book --no wasted words, no repetition -- it was just right.

D.W. Linden's Sand Creek is a mystery set in southeastern Colorado with an unlikely sleuth, a broken down cowboy, hunting down Native American history to unearth a serial killer and save his friend from murder allegations. Sand Creek is a mystery with an intriguing romance subplot. Superb characterization and themes make this a 5+ mystery read. Ex-rodeo man and now laid back sheriff Johnny Hart's life is fairly much lost down the bottle. He hasn't been to a rodeo in a while, his wife has left him and his superiors are always warning him. He is even finding it difficult to track down the cattle rustlers. It could not get much worse, but of course, it does. His friend and rodeo buddy Char Sixkiller has been pegged by the FBI as the serial killer mutilating blond white women and dumping them on historic sites of Native American massacres. Can broken down cowboy Johnny save himself, his friend and Sandy?

This mystery focuses mostly on the friendship between two men and the hunt for a killer. Johnny and Char have a long history fro their rodeo past. Both are broken cowboys from past scars but loyal friends. In searching for the identity of the serial killer, Johnny and Char must face their past and rely on their friendship. Can the present hunt also heal their past and teach them how to forgive? Although the mystery focuses on the friendship between Char and Johnny, two important women in this mystery make Sand Creek a 5 star+ read and more than a mystery. Barbara, Johnny's ex-wife, is a divorcee with a career and independent. Sandy Cross is an independent unmarried woman, running her cattle ranch mostly alone since Mr. Cross is just too old. She is a Christian but she is spending a lot of time with a man with different spiritual beliefs and a Native American when Native Americans are seen with suspicion in this part of the country. Will she calmly break the law when push comes to shove? Sometimes a girl has to do what she has to do! Sandy is blond and smart and breaks all stereotypes. When the going gets tough, she doesn't reach for the hair dye or the comfort of the big city. Sandy in this book can be described with one word --- fortitude. She may seem preachy for one small moment or two but circumstances have to mellow out her fortitude and make it less rigid. The Christian element is balanced by the Native American massacre reality and the character of Char who also sees more than beyond his viewpoint. Actually, all the characters in this novel are written without rigid good and evil traits.

Linden's description of the locale draws the reader into the culture and landscape of Southeastern Colorado. A slightly melancholic tone in the beginning was a nice reading change from the typical mystery read. Readers will enjoy hearing about the history of the Native Americans and the massacres. Sand Creek has some nice twists and turns mystery-wise. The first third of this book is more about the rodeo life, the area, and the building of the friendship between Johnny and Char and the life of Sandy.

This was not a romance per se but readers may particularly enjoy its multi-faceted take on love: friendship, love and understanding that divorced people might still have, love emerging, the love of a father for a child, a Christian understanding of love, a Native American approach to spirituality and love/friendship. Sand Creek offers an intriguing insight into history and the massacres. A very nice read...a mystery but also a view more expansive and some insights readers may remember and ponder even after finishing the last page.

A serial killer is dumping the dismembered bodies of women at historical Native American massacre sites. The killer knows his history. With each body he leaves a token recalling the butchery of the past. The shame of America's nineteenth century western expansion has returned as a twenty-first century nightmare. Deputy Johnny Hart, a flawed and charming lawman, is stumbling through his life in middle-of-nowhere Kiowa County, Colorado. A "stove-in" rodeo rider, a man clinging to the last threads of connection to his wife and children, a beer-for-breakfast alcoholic, Johnny Hart is caving in under the debris of his misspent youth. An old buddy, Char Sixkiller, fits the description of the murderer and a lovely woman whose struggling ranch includes the site of the Sand Creek massacre is the likely next victim. It falls to Johnny Hart to save the people he loves, the few people who still love and care for him, and in this perhaps to save himself.

D.W. Linden's suspenseful new mystery of the contemporary west has everything we want in a good read. He gives us characters we can care about, suspense that never stops, and a climax that surprises and satisfies. Along the way, we meet the upright and the low-down, the crazy and the big hearted, the cowboys, the Native Americans, the FBI agents, and the ranchers. The "Sand Creek" story is rooted in the history of the Southwest and Native American culture, giving us a story of contemporary lives freighted with a very particular past. D.W. Linden's characters are gritty, real and memorable, struggling with the shadows of death and loss, looking for life.

"Sand Creek" is a great read and I look forward to the next installment in the Johnny Hart Mystery Series. This promises to be an exciting ride.

R.C. Knight

This book is a fascinating look at a period of western history not usually covered by fiction writers.
The author brilliantly uses real characters and events to weave a story which is both entertaining and informative.
The characters are, in most cases, composites of several people who lived at the time. What struck me most was the lack of incomplete story flow - usually I have to stop and wonder why the author did not have the characters do a particular act, or glosses over some detail which would enhance the story. I am too often left having to mentally fill in a story, even one written by our foremost talents. But this author seems to anticipate the nip-picky reader, and takes care of the small details in a very-complete manner.
I found it hard to put down, but he conveniently provides stopping points where the reader can lay the book down, and come back to continue the story later.
A great read - I encourage those who admire L'Amour, Brand, Haycox and others to read this one. They will not regret it.

Jon Bauman gives realistic details of the old West, including the tragic and the crude as well as beautiful descriptions which cause you to empathize with the characters. The culture clash betwen Anglo and Mexican is skillfully done and his story depicts how one person's decision can influence the outcome of historic events. Having hiked the entire Santa Fe Trail, and having written two books about it, I was thrilled to go down the Trail again with his story and recognize familiar sites, now with "real" characters in the experience.

Santa Fe Passage provides an outstanding perspective on the history of New Mexico. It brilliantly captures the cultural diversities between the Mexican and American peoples, their attitudes and expectations. The reader can eastily identify with the various characters as they progress through the tumultous times prior to the invasion by the U.S. army. It's a fascinating, historical novel. This truly should be a "must read" for all those living in New Mexico! And, a "highly recommended" read for anyone interested in the Spanish culture and its influence on the development of the United States.

There have been many novels about the Santa Fe Trail, most of which tell little if anything about the historic route, but Santa Fe Passage is based on extensive research and is by far the best historical novel about the Trail. Jon Bauman, an international lawyer with special interest in Latin America, has written a readable, entertaining, and informative story that rings true.
Trail historians will know the sources of many of his characters and their stories, including the first U.S. woman to travel the Trail with her family and operate a hotel in Santa Fe, a woman injured in a carriage accident who miscarries her child at Bent's Fort, a Jewish trader and merchant in Santa Fe, a Mexican woman who owns a gambling establishment and assists Mexican officials and American traders, a governor who is in and out of power in Santa Fe as changes occur in Mexico City, a village priest who opposes the Anglo influences, and the main character Matthew Collins who runs away from an apprenticeship and becomes a Santa Fe trader who marries into a prominent Mexican family and is selected by President James Polk and Senator Thomas Hart Benton to persuade the governor of New Mexico to allow Stephen W. Kearny's Army of the West to occupy Santa Fe without resistance in 1846.
Bauman has a good understanding of all three cultures affected by the Santa Fe Trail, and he creates a number of realistic characters, not stereotypes, for all of them: Anglo, Indian, and Mexican. He has researched the history of the Trail, with help from historian Mike Olsen, and the book is endorsed by historian David Weber. The interaction of the American traders with Mexican citizens is done well. Purists may argue that Bauman has moved some events in time and place (for example there was no Bowie Knife in 1826 and Raton Pass was not an option for a wagon train in that year), but this is creative fiction based on history; just enjoy it.
Not only is this finely-crafted, thoughtful, and sophisticated novel a good read, it will cause readers to want to know more about the history of the Trail. As one of the characters in the novel, Jack Marentette the mountain man, might say, "This is a splendiferous book."

A terrific book, full of lots of photos and colour reproductions of advertising posters etc. Was dissappointed in that it had no detail on the actual trains re locos and consists etc, but more on the PR side of the Chiefs. If you are after more in depth detail I recommend the book "Santa Fe Streamliners" the Chiefs and their Tribesmen by Karl Zimmermann. A must have addition for the set.

In Santa Fe: The Chief Way, railroading enthusiasts Robert Strein, John Vaughan, and C. Fenton Richards Jr. collaborate to present an informative and totally engaging presentation of the famed Santa Fe railroad, and its legendary"Chief" locomotives that powered the trains along the New Mexico terrains. Blending historic photography with period advertisements, and thematic artwork, Santa Fe: The Chief Way is a welcome and much appreciate contribution to any American railroading history collection. Also available in a hardcover format (0937206717), Santa Fe: The Chief Way is an ideal giftbook for railroad buffs as well.

Gorgous photos, paintings, and old advertisements along with informative text, this book is for anyone who has ever been drawn to the serenity and beauty of new mexico.

Robert Strein, John Vaughan, and Fenton Richards effectively collaborate to provide an informative and fascinating history of the Santa Fe railroad in Santa Fe - The Chief Way. Illustrated throughout with many unique historical photographs enhancing the "reader friendly" text, we are presented with highlights of those prestigious trains and their luxurious accommodations on the Santa Fe run. A welcome and highly recommended addition to any railroad buff's collection, Santa Fe - The Chief Way also touches upon the railroad hires of Native Americans guides to ride the trains through New Mexico for the edification of the passengers, as well as citing the film stars and cinematic moments associated with Santa Fe railroading history.

I stumbled upon Steven Havill's books by perusing Amazon's amazing resources. Though I write books for young readers (www.grahamsalisbury.com), I read mysteries for R&R, and am always thrilled when I discover great new (to me) writers. Steven Havill is the best of the best, in my opinion. His Posadas County series is as comfortable as a snapping fire in January. What makes it great is the chracterization. Bill Gastner and Estelle Reyes Guzman are endearing in every way, making Steven Havill one of my all-time favorite authors. The greatest mystery of all is why Steven Havill is not as widely loved as such fine authors as James Lee Burke, or Tony Hillerman. He's every bit as superb as they are. Try a Posadas County Mystery. You'll love it. And want more. Promise.

Billed on the front cover as "A Posadas County Mystery" this reader was immediately alerted that after nine Undersheriff Gastner novels, this was not the tenth. It has been a great run and while I was hoping for a tenth, I expected due to the way the character has developed that there would not be a tenth. Unfortunately, my expectation proved correct, but while different from the Gastner series, this book still retains the flavor and color of the previous novels. However, since it is not Gastner it does take some adjustment to get used to the new style and tone of the series.

As the book opens, Gastner has been regulated to the sidelines in his role as Livestock Inspector. While he appears briefly a couple of times, the main action involves Estelle Reyes-Guzman. Long a fixture of the series she is now front and center and has her hands full. Along with her mother and her failing health, she has children who currently have the flu bug and her husband, a local doctor. Her boss, the newly elected Sheriff Bobby Torrez, is off at Quantico taking a course. As Undersheriff, she is in charge with all the usual problems that brings in running a department and then the bodies start showing up.

The first is found out on the prairie and has had half of his head blown off. The lower part of his face is shattered and according to the corner, he thinks it happened after the man was killed by the headshot. While the body is clothed, there are no personal effects and thanks to the weather and the assorted wildlife, roughly three weeks after the person was killed, there is not much to identify. As they start to work the case, within a couple of days, a second body is found. Certain clues with that body lead Estelle to believe that the bodies were killed by the same killer or killers and the hunt begins.

There are several secondary stories as well, but to explain them would violate the golden rule of a book review-don't reveal too much. Especially for those new to the series, the explanation of several of the secondary stories would render the reading of those books all but pointless.

While this is not a Gastner book, it does come awfully close. The stark beauty of Posadas County comes through once again along with all the colorful characters that make this imaginary piece of New Mexico landscape home. Fortunately, while the author did move Gastner to the sidelines, he wisely did not change the other characters that populate his books. So, while somewhat different, there is enough of the earlier books in this one to make it work once again.

It was with some trepidation that I started reading Steven Havill's latest book, SCAVENGERS, knowing that it was the start of a new direction in one of my favorite series. Bill Gastner has retired as Undersheriff of Posadas County, and Estelle Reyes-Guzman, his young protegee, is taking over. Havill is about as good at bringing the small world of a Southern New Mexico town to life as anyone could be. My fears were soon set to rest as I was reassured that he can also write well and convincingly from the point of view of a female, and a Latina at that. SCAVENGERS is just as sound in its police work, real in its evocation of the desert, and touching in its portrait of one busy woman in a small town. The U.S.-Mexico Border has many facets, but this series realistically portrays one of them, where the mixing of cultures is constant and taken for granted. A sound detective story in an endlessly fascinating setting.

Posedas County is a wide-open range between New Mexico and the Mexican border and for the most part it is a quiet place. There are some areas that are patrolled rarely because there is nothing there. One day a pilot flies over the area and sees what she thinks is a body. She returns to base and the local authorities are on the scene almost immediately. A man is lying in the dirt, his faced so smashed in that they can't obtain dental plates.

Now that Bill Gastner is retired and the newly elected sheriff Robert Torrez is in Virginia taking a law enforcement course, the case is headed up by Under Sheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman. Even with her ailing and aging mother and her son down with the flu, Estelle copes with the investigation just fine until they find a second body buried in a shallow grave located a few miles near the first. Estelle thinks the two deaths are tied to together and Eurelio Scener, a person who acts like he knows more than he is telling, might have some answers but he has disappeared, perhaps involuntarily.

Anyone who likes to see an investigation played out from the beginning to the end will definitely like SCAVENGERS, a police procedural that has heart. Watching the Under Sheriff balance her home life with her work gives the audience an appreciation for the police performing duties that sometimes can be at the expense of their own families. Steven F. Havill continues to write excellent crime thrillers as his series keeps evolving with a true time line.

Harriet Klausner

This is a beautiful book! I am designing a garden in Australia, this has given me so many ideas, from plant selection, colours, points of view and interest. Incorporating modern art and traditional building ideas. I hope you enjoy this too!

This is a beautiful book for artists and gardeners. Wonderful color combinations in landscapes & hardscapes, all accented with inspiring art pieces. Good text but...the photos say it all! (No offense to the author, I know writing is hard work.)

The photographs, in The Secret Gardens of Santa Fe, offer a glympse of a very special place in the western states. Sydney Leblanc does a fine--brief--job descibing the history of Santa Fe, and the reasons the gardens of this unique area do so well. Charles Mann has the touch when it comes to photography. He captures the mystery, the spectacular colors and design, and the fabulous art that adorns many of the gardens. A terrific book that makes one want to visit New Mexico, and see for one's self the magic of the high desert.

Santa Fe is a pretty tough place to garden. At 7,000 feet, the growing season is short, winds are high, and a five-year drought has made watering your garden politically incorrect.

Nevertheless, serious gardeners persevere, and some of the better results are documented here. It helps to be rich, to have a private well, to have a gardener -- best if you have all three. The color photo reproductions here are simply splendid. The text ranges from OK to pretty good (but who buys flower-porn for the text?) Recommended for gardening and Santa Fe fans, who will surely drool over the lovely gardens, homes and art so beautifully portrayed here.

Happy gardening,
Peter D. Tillman
Santa Fe

Another fantastic poet pushed to the chest of oblivion of women's achievements, in spite of her Nobel Price of Literature. Touching and profound stories of innocence, longing for one's roots, lost loves, and nature's beauty. The Spanish original poems are so rythmic and endearing, and yet, the excellent English version maintains the purity of its message. A book worth reading and re-reading.

This bilingual collection offers a superb selection of poetry from all of Gabriela Mistral's volumes. Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957)was the first Nobel Laureate from Latin America, teacher to Pablo Neruda, forerunner of writers such as Garcia Marquez and Rigoberta Menchu. Her work is hardly known in the United States in part because Mistral was not (unlike these other, better-known writers) identified with any particular political platform. She was always, first and last, a writer and a teacher...and incidentally one of Latin America's first celebrities, a public intellectual in every sense of the word. This collection draws from Gabriela Mistral's poetry alone (excerpted from five volumes; short selections of Mistral's poetic prose have been ably translated by Stephen Tapscott, published by the U of Texas, while the hundreds of journalistic pieces that Mistral wrote and circulated all over the Spanish-speaking world are still unknown to US readers).

The editorial standards in this text are very high. Pages have been laid out so that it is easy to consult the corresponding lines in Spanish and English. While LeGuin states in the introduction that she has little prior experience translating from Spanish to English, she makes clear in her introduction that she worked on this project for years, aided by associates fluent in both languages, and her motivation throughout was the desire to bring this extraordinary, brilliant, hard-to-classify poet's work to English language readers. LeGuin has succeeded admirably. The translations are close to the feeling of the Spanish, yet they avoid wooden literalism.

At all moments LeGuin opts to communicate the mood of the poem, and her choices of poems to translate is clearly dictated by a combination of elements. She chooses, first, what can be most readily translated - she prefers the narrative poems over most of the "songs" (cradle songs and rounds) since the rhymes and rhythms of latter are difficult to convey. Also the book selects more or less equally from the volumes of poetry that Mistral produced over her lifetime, so that we get an excellent overview of this poet's development. Finally, the translator has worked with poems that are among the poet's most intellectually complex works, ones that show the poet's utopian vision for the Americas, her unique feminism, her fascination with landscape and her travels all over the world.

This book gives you great insight about the amazing writer Gabriela Mistral. I wish more translations were available.

A simply outstanding addition to any personal or academic poetry collection, Selected Poems Of Gabriela Mistral is an extensive anthology of poetry by Gabriela Mistral who is the first Latin American writer to earn the Nobel Prize in literature. These free-verse poems are presented side-by-side in their original Spanish and expertly translated into English by Ursula K. Le Guin. Impressionable imagery and powerful, sweeping themes of the human condition mark this truly exceptional collection as highly recommended and memorable reading. Evening: In this sweetness I feel/my heart melt like wax./In my veins runs/not wine, but slow oil,/and I feel my life slipping away/still and soft as a gazelle.

What I like best about this collection is that the author (or editor, really) tells you a little bit about the people who tell the stories. He also includes the original Quechua, which is an interesting touch even if I can't read it. At any rate, if you enjoy fairy tales, and are interested in hearing them from other cultures (there are a few parallels to the traditional Brothers Grimm in this book), this is a good book to buy. If you aren't interested in fairy tales, this is a good book to change your mind.

An enchanting book! Here is a unique opportunity to read stories never before written down, much less translated. The author was told them in the original language in the high Andes by Quecua storytellers. Now he has translated them into English, and in She-Calf and Other Quechua Folk Tales we find, opposite each translated page, a page printed in the original Quechuan language. Fascinating! Johnny Payne further enriches our experience by sharing the similarities that he observed between these stories and stories with which we are already familiar. Included as well are wonderful background stories of experiences and people he encountered in the story-gathering process. For those interested in stories, folk tales, oral tradition, antropology, history, language, travel... This is not only a must-read, but a must-own. It's a keeper!

This is a marvelous collection of Quechua folktales, told by various Quechua speakers to anthropologist Johnny Payne. These are short and "catchy" tales printed in English with the Quechua version on the facing page. This gives you a chance to get acquainted with the sentence structure of the Quechua language which I found very helpful. The author also shares interesting insights into the people who tell the tales. I love to travel in Peru and I am going to pass this book on to a Quechua friend who will surely enjoy it as much as I did. If you're interested in the cultures of the Andes, or if you plan to travel there, don't miss this book! .

An excellent collection of stories -- not merely in the presentation of a different set of stories than those which reach the common awareness, but also in the insights it gives to the shape of the Quechua culture and people. It is not presented as an explication of the way these people live, the way the thoughts go, but the stories show that shape, show that means, bring the world alive in a way both subtle and profound.

The stories are presented both in the Quechua language and in English translation, and it is possible to see the shape and patterns of the language with careful text comparison; it makes it worth considering learning the Quechua tongue to pick out the nuances which are inevitably lost in translation.

Book is in excellent, new condition. Have not yet read it, but am a fan of the Posadas County mysteries.

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS is a fine addition to Havill's excellent Posadas County series. While it certainly can be enjoyed on its own, readers who seek out the other novels will be amply rewarded, especially if they read them in order of publication. The richness of character and setting builds throughout the series. I eagerly await more from this author.

I have read each and every one of Steven Havill's books in the Posadas County series, and will read every one he publishes in the future. They are very comforting, with stories that not only surround a mystery or two, but also the lives of the continuing characters. I've gotten to know these people. They are like old friends, and I love reading about them. Steven Havill is one of the most under-recognized authors I know of, a secret for those who love good books and seek them out. Thanks to Amazon.com, I will never miss out on any of Havill's work.

On Christmas Eve in Posadas, New Mexico, Chief of Police Eduardo Martinez suffers a heart attack while confronting car thieves in a motel parking lot; the stories from the two witnesses seem off kilter. The next morning Sheriff Robert Torrez still in recovery from on the job injuries suffers from what appears to be a pulmonary embolism. That afternoon the fiancé of one of his deputies is murdered. Finally that evening someone viciously assaults former sheriff Bill Gastner who is brutally attacked that night.

Under-sheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is left in charge to learn who brutally attacked her mentor Gastner, killed the fiancée, and to capture the car thieves. At the same time she feels overwhelmed and her spouse feels the same way as a doctor at the hospital with an abundance of law enforcement officials filling the beds albeit Robert's is in Albuquerque.

In her latest police procedural Estelle feels overwhelmed with the recent medical track record of law enforcement as she and her shrinking staff struggle with a difficult caseload including murder, car jacking, and keeping score of how everyone is doing. She also has some issues at home, but that quickly takes a back seat to police matters. STATUE OF LIMITATIONS is a fabulous police thriller that fans of the series will immensely enjoy and newcomers will seek Steven F. Havill's résumé.

Harriet Klausner