Those thirsty for a refreshing read will welcome Martin's sixth mystery (after 2001's Death of the Last Villista) to feature hip trading-post owner Texana Jones, which focuses on some all too real problems along the arid Texas-Chihuahua border. When Zanjiv Mehendru, head of the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water commission (aka the River Master), is found shot in his car in Ojinaga, Mexico, Texana's veterinary husband, Clay, is charged with the murder. Mehendru had made plenty of enemies across the Rio Grande in Texas, where his pro-Mexican policies had deprived Texas farmers of the river's precious water. But the Mexican police's arrest of Clay—who was dozens of miles away on a professional call the night of the murder—seems one of mere convenience. In her efforts to exonerate her husband, Texana uncovers far more likely suspects, from the farmer whose father had been ruined by Mehendru's efforts to the environmental group Bonis Avidus, which is aggressively buying up ranches along the border. Martin's evocation of this region is as clear as the desert air. Her observation that the border areas share more with each other than with their respective countries, however, collides with the big differences between American and Mexican laws. Those differences provide much of the book's tension, as Clay languishes in a Mexican jail with faint hope of real justice. (July 7)
