Maximum Insecurity

P.J. Grady's Maximum Insecurity, featruing PI Matty Madrid, the first nortena - native of northern New Mexico - to appear in a mystery series. Her investigations take her from trendy galleries to the barrio, from the state capitol to mountain villages, Indian Pueblos, and New Age communes. "At the Texas State Prison, you can put out a man's life for a cupcake. At the Penetentiary of New Mexico it'll cost you at least a carton of cigarettes." When an inmate dies an "accidental death," Matty uncovers multiple murders and singular corruption at the pen. The stunning conclusion is set in the eerie world of prison lockdown. Matty's goals are simple - an ice-cold Tecate and justice for all - and, as a one-time sherriff's deputy fired for insubordination, she knows how to take care of herself, her family, and her friends. Matty's family has been in northern New Mexico since 1698, and, in the owrds of the prison warden, she "didn't fall off no turnip truck."

P.J. Grady is a cousin by marriage of outlaws Frank and Jesse James, and she knows her territory. She is on a first-name basis with rustlers, child molesters, and contract killers. She's worked at the Penitentiary of New Mxico (the state's only maximum security facility, housing death row and the "hole") the Public defender's Department, and State District Court. In the early 90's, an inmate with an attitude and a homemade knife took her hostage. She sued the Collections Department for negligence and the state settled for nearly a quarter of a million dollars.