Bitter Recoil

An unusual setting, rural New Mexico, and a decidedly non-New Age sleuth give this second mystery from the author of Heartshot a few fresh angles. After bypass surgery, 62-year-old Undersheriff Bill Gastner should be taking it easy, laying off the beer, the rich food and the smokes. But he isn't. Instead he drives across the state to San Estevan to visit Estelle Guzman, his former deputy, for a big feed and a chance to talk over old times. But the trip becomes a busman's holiday when he agrees to help Estelle investigate the case of a battered, pregnant young woman found unconscious near a road at the bottom of a remote canyon. A hit-and-run? The injuries don't quite compute. When the victim dies, suspects include her lover's local hippie gang and a priest who fathered her young daughter. Deftly avoiding tourist traps as he steers his plot to its unpredictable resolution, Havill delivers an evocative tale of hard lives on the edge of society. His portly detective is a genuine low-key pleasure. (July)