A Discount For Death: A Posadas County Mystery (Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, 2) - Hardcover

Havill, Steven F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312307853 ISBN 13: 9780312307851

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2003

Synopsis

Another Posadas County mystery with Estelle Reyes-Guzman as the undersheriff, but with the ever more popular Bill Gastner peering out of the wings to which he dispatched himself upon retirement. Estelle's new job continues to be far from easy, and now she is faced the death of a young woman on a motorcycle - a death that could have been caused by improper driving from one of the county's traffic officers when he tried to stop her for speeding. But there is more than meets the eye, Gastner is there to help, but Estelle can go far to cope. This series continues to gain readers, thanks partly to the resurrection of the older books by Poison Penn Press.

About this title

About the Author

Steven F. Havill is also the author of several other mysteries and westerns. He lives with his wife, Kathleen, in Lincoln, New Mexico.

Reviews

After nine mysteries featuring undersheriff Bill Gastner, Havill finally let the aging lawmaker retire and pass the torch to Estelle Reyes-Guzman in 2002's Scavengers. The new undersheriff proves to be as engaging and as effective as her predecessor, despite their considerable differences in age and cultural heritage. Law enforcement is hard in the small town and sprawling county of Posadas, where village police and county sheriff share jurisdictions. Sometimes everything seems to happen at once, as is the case here: popular insurance salesman George Enriquez faces a grand jury indictment for fraud, a village patrolman is embroiled in a messy domestic situation and Estelle finds criminal activity striking too close to her own family. The author renders his characters as artfully as ever, and fans of his earlier books will appreciate that Bill Gastner continues to play a meaningful role. The personal lives of Estelle and her comrades are as vivid as their professional ones. In carving out a little corner of New Mexico near the Mexican border, Havill has created an absorbing and entertaining universe.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Former Posadas County, New Mexico, sheriff Bill Gastner remains in the background as Havill's series shifts its focus to Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman. The switch has changed the rhythm of this consistently satisfying series--from Gastner's lumbering, methodical approach to both work and life to Reyes-Guzman's more frenetic balancing of family and profession--but Havill's attention to both personal and procedural detail continues to drive the action. This time Reyes-Guzman investigates the disappearance of an insurance agent under indictment for fraud and attempts to sort out what led up to a motorcycle crash killing a young single mother. Interpersonal issues, usually sequestered behind closed doors in insular Posadas County, take center stage in both cases, as Reyes-Guzman follows a trail that leads from troubled lives on the edge of despair to her own thriving family. Mystery series too often lose their way when the author attempts to replace an appealing hero. Hats off to Havill for making the transition work smoothly. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312307853
• ISBN 13: 9780312307851
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288