Steven Havill
21) Before She Dies
"If what you're hiding is motive, Gastner will ferret it out and do what needs to be done. An outstanding mystery." —Booklist starred review
Posadas Register reporter Linda Real barely survives her nighttime patrol with one of Undersheriff Bill Gastner's deputies. He is killed by a more accurate shotgun blast than the one that ruins her face. Teamed with his intuitive, observant detective Estelle Reyes-Guzman and her usual
...A well seasoned sixty-nine, Sheriff Bill Gastner knows his Posadas, New Mexico, territory as well as he understands the foibles of the human condition. So when a backhoe crushes a man to death, it's more instinct than fact that leaves him feeling there's more to this "accident" than meets the eye. Adding to his problems, anonymous letters charging his best deputy, Tom Pasquale, with hustling Mexican nationals for cash are being dispatched around
...23) Blood Sweep
Next book in the Posadas County Mystery Series
Posadas County Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman has a lot on her plate—but when her family is threatened by a criminal underworld, she'll stop at nothing to protect her own
Gifted fifteen-year-old Francisco Guzman has become an internationally renowned concert pianist, touring the world under the auspices of his music conservatory. That gives his mother, Posadas County
...A man's body is found in the unforgiving New Mexico desert, his face so smashed that identification is impossible. It's the beginning of a brutal murder spree that will soon take Posadas County's new undersheriff, Estelle Reyes-Guzman, into a case that has roots on both sides of the border.
With retired Sheriff Bill Gastner—now a livestock inspector for the state—still close at hand to offer unerring logic and horse sense, Reyes-Guzman
...Sheriff Estelle is called to teenager Carmen Acosta's home. When she arrives, Carmen's father, Freddie, is in police custody and an unconscious Carmen is on the way to the hospital "beat to a pulp." There has been a fight over a boy, but it is hard to believe that the also young Deena is responsible. Estelle has many other suspects to choose from, since the Acosta family holds the record for the number of domestic violence calls the police have
...A newly minted graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1890, Dr. Thomas Parks heads to the big timber country of Puget Sound to practice trauma medicine. An hour after stepping off the boat he's nearly crushed to death by a less-than-surefooted mule and finds himself a patient rather than a physician. As he convalesces, he discovers that his host, an aging and venerable physician friend of his father's, is running an elaborate
...Former Posadas County Sheriff Bill Gastner, now a New Mexico Livestock Inspector, is enjoying a day on Herb Torrance's ranch - soaking in the sun, counting a small herd of cattle, and thinking about meeting an old friend back in town for lunch. But suddenly a light breeze stirs the dust, a horse spooks, and Bill finds himself ferrying a broken cowpuncher in the back of his SUV, headed out to meet an ambulance.
Moments later, Bill's day goes
...28) Easy Errors
Next book in the Posadas County Mystery Series
"This is one of the very best entries in a consistently excellent series."—Booklist STARRED review
When County Sheriff Bill Gastner retired from Posadas County, Deputy Robert Torrez rose through ranks of small town law enforcement. But what were Torrez's first days as a rookie officer like?
It's 1986. Undersheriff Bill Gastner is enjoying his usual insomnia
...29) Heartshot
First book in the Posadas County Mystery Series
When a series of crimes disrupts the tranquil community in Posadas County, New Mexico, a group of small-town cops will have to fight for their lives to keep the county safe
Posadas County, New Mexico, has very few mean streets and no city-slick cop shop. But it has an earnest, elected County Sheriff and his aging Undersheriff—William C. Gastner. Pushing sixty, widower Bill
...30) NightZone
"Gastner's capabilities are plausible for a septuagenarian, and Havill peoples the book with believable characters." —Publishers Weekly STARRED review
What do you do when you inherit $330 million after taxes? If you're New Mexico rancher Miles Waddell, you build a dream. Waddell's dream is NightZone, an astronomy-based theme park complete with giant radio telescope, a bank of smaller scopes linked to a theater, five-star dining
...31) Out of Season
Bill Gastner, Undersheriff of Posadas County, New Mexico, is about to lose his valuable deputy when she goes to Minnesota with her doctor husband. Then his life becomes even more complicated when his boss, the sheriff, dies in a private plane crash piloted by his brother-in-law. Questions about why the men were flying (the sheriff hated to fly), especially in bad weather are overshadowed when the coroner finds that the pilot was killed by gun shots
...No crime is forgiven, and no mistake overlooked in this new addition to the critically acclaimed Posadas County Mystery series...
When a developer shows up in Posadas County, the locals get nervous. The small town along the southern border of New Mexico has enjoyed a surge in visitors, jobs, and prosperity since rancher Miles Waddell opened an eco-friendly complex. But then the developer buys land just next door, with plans for a project
...33) No Accident
Good cops have no use for coincidence
When a driver slams his pickup truck—twice—into a tandem bike being ridden by Carlos Guzman and his fiancée, Tasha, in Briones, California, it's more than a simple hit-and-run; the driver clearly intended to harm them. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman gets the call with the news of her son's accident and wastes no time racing to his side. She is greeted by Police Captain Eddie Mitchell, formerly
...Octogenarian former sheriff Bill Gastner and Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman investigate a puzzling double murder in this twisty, page-turning instalment in the critically acclaimed Posadas County mystery series
"If you haven't yet discovered these wonderful mysteries, you are in for a treat!" Anne Hillerman, New York Times bestselling author
The morning after his eighty-seventh birthday bash, former Posadas
When a county employee is found shot to death in sun-drenched daylight while sitting in his county road grader, Undersheriff Bill Gastner is faced with puzzling questions. The simplest explanation—that an errant bullet from a careless target shooter's rifle blew out Larry Zipoli's brains—is soon discarded as inconsistencies surface. The fatal bullet shows no rifling marks, and investigation shows that the shooter walked directly toward
...