English Lessons: A Mad Dog & Englishman Mystery

At the outset of Hayes's solid seventh Mad Dog & Englishman mystery (after 2008's Server Down), set during the Christmas season, Sewa Tribal police officer Heather English finds the skin of Arizona governor-elect Joe Hyde "tacked to a weathered wooden wall to cure" in a remote canyon. A note at the scene addressed to Heather indicates Hyde's murder is related to a drug war that involves her half-Cheyenne uncle, Mad Dog. Meanwhile, in Benteen County, Kans., Heather's father, Sheriff English, watches as a series of fender-benders in a church parking lot somehow escalates into an insurrection by a trigger-happy right-wing militia. The book's wry tone doesn't hide the author's contempt for irresponsible leaders and the yahoos who mindlessly follow them. Hayes cares about the English family with their enduring sanity and resilience, and so will readers. (July)