Long Shadows in Victory: A Harry Starbranch Mystery

In his second appearance (after No Comfort in Victory), Harry Starbranch, who left his pressure-packed Denver PD job to become chief of police in quiet little Victory, Wyo., joins the swelling ranks of mystery protagonists grappling with right-wing racists in the West. Harry's career calm shatters when a long-dead body turns up in a nearby mine shaft and, shortly thereafter, the local junk collector who found it is tortured and murdered. Meanwhile, vandals target a Jewish hardware store owner and a Mexican chicken farmer. When the FBI arrives to investigate the Posse Comitatus, militants whose antigovernment rhetoric is tinged with racism, Harry fears that a larger force is behind the outbreak of crime in Victory. Tad Bauer, a rich summer visitor, apparently supports the Posse. He also beats his ex-girlfriend, Ellen Vaughn, for whom the divorced Harry develops romantic feelings. When Bauer and his bodyguard are butchered, the boorish county sheriff arrests Ellen. Working to clear her, Harry and fellow officer Frankie Tall Bull face a snowy trap that may kill them before they can unmask the murderer. Harry's chatty narration sometimes slows the action, but it nicely evokes a close-knit Western town. Bean, a former newspaper reporter, weaves in history of authentic militant groups, adding timely realism. (Aug.)