Statute of Limitations - Hardcover

Havill, Steven F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312336306 ISBN 13: 9780312336301

Verlag: Minotaur Books, 2006

Inhaltsangabe

A call to her doctor husband is Estelle Reyes-Guzman's unwelcome reminder that it may be Christmas Eve, but it's still her job as undersheriff to deal with things not as pleasant as welcoming friends and relatives and listening to her two small boys put their storybook tales to music. Shortly after her husband hurries off to see the patient, Estelle gets a call of her own from the dispatcher at headquarters. An anonymous person has called the emergency line to report seeing two men fleeing a motel where another is lying dead on the ground. It is the patient who called, and he is now Estelle's responsibility.

The information relayed to the police was incorrect, though; the man is not dead, although he is close to it. On top of that, the sheriff, still recovering from injuries from a previous encounter with a criminal, is threatened with an embolism and must be flown to Albuquerque for investigation and treatment, and the fiancée of one of Estelle's men has gone missing. When her body is found on Christmas Day, this tops the alarming combination of events that have Estelle and Bill Gastner, former sheriff of Posadas County, spending their Christmas "holiday" chasing through the countryside to find the young woman's killer and remove the suspicion that hovers over the young deputy.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Steven F. Havill is the author of the Sheriff Bill Gastner mysteries as well as several Westerns. He lives with his wife, Kathleen, in Ratón, New Mexico.

Rezensionen

This is the fourth entry in Havill's Posadas County series since the starring role was passed from Sheriff Bill Gastner to Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman. The crotchety but bighearted Gastner still makes cameos, but with Reyes-Guzman atop the marquee, the series has taken on a much more domestic tone, as the undersheriff balances home life with the demands of policing. The tension between the two is on display this time, as Estelle's Christmas holiday is disrupted by the murder of the girlfriend of one of her deputies. The primary appeal of this series continues to be its evocation of daily life in a small New Mexico town. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Things go from bad to worse in Posadas, N.Mex., at the start of Havill's appealing fourth Posadas County mystery (after 2004's Convenient Disposal). First, Chief of Police Eduardo Martinez suffers a heart attack while confronting car thieves on Christmas eve; Sheriff Robert Torrez has a pulmonary embolism Christmas morning; a deputy's fiancée is murdered that afternoon; and former sheriff Bill Gastner is brutally attacked that night. It's enough for under-sheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman to keep up with the medical reports, never mind track down the perps. As Estelle races from crime scene to hospital to home and back again, she's keenly aware of time slipping away and with it the criminals. The initial flood of characters and Estelle having to deal with her musically gifted son, Fernando, may make newcomers feel as if they've walked into the middle of a movie. But once Havill gets into the police work, the story becomes more focused. Descriptions are as spare as the Southwest desert, and the action gallops along to a satisfyingly thrilling ending. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Minotaur Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2006
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0312336306
• ISBN 13: 9780312336301
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar