Rusty Nelson
"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
...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
...Savvy storytelling infused with a spicy Southwestern setting.
"Not only does Havill offer a melancholy reinterpretation of that grand western myth of the slow-talking, fast-thinking lawman, he also writes crisp, marvelously detailed police procedurals in which a mix of technical know-how and informed common sense gets things done."—Booklist
Bill Gastner is going crazy recuperating from heart surgery. Dreaming of green
...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
...5) Dead weight
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
...Parked high on a side road on the flank of the second highest peak in the San Cristobal mountains, peacefully surveying what soon would no longer be his responsibility as a sheriff, almost-seventy Bill Gastner could think that the night would be without incident. He'd be wrong. He doesn't foresee that a car full of alcohol-inspired adolescents would run into his automobile. Nor that the driver would take off and disappear in the nearby woods. Far
...When Matt Jorgensen learns that the man who helped him hone his deadly skills with a pistol is gunned down, he vows to bring the killer to justice. On the train to Abilene, Matt relives his early days in the Kansas territory when he found himself embroiled in the rising turmoil of a nation at odds over slavery. Free soilers and slavers fought against each other at the expense of the innocent farmers of the territory. Matt would have to learn to
...When Matt Jorgensen met plantation owner, Ginny McBride, he knew that she would be the love of his life. Together, they would forge a lasting body, but a Yankee musket ball would tear their lives asunder. Matt searches but cannot find Ginny. He joins the confederacy and continues his search for her. Years later, while clinging desperately to life one wintry Montana night, he would once again have to face the demons of his dark past and answer the
...10) Bag Limit
11) Mountain man
Alone on the prairie—Rosemary Spencer is a woman alone. All alone, except for her young children. She and her husband and their two boys sold their farm, bought a Conestoga wagon and some oxen, and joined a wagon train heading for a new life in Oregon. But they soon learned the dangers of the West. First they became separated from, the train. Then bloodthirsty Sioux attacked the train, wiping out everyone except the Spencers. Finally a grizzly
...12) Colorado Gold
Harrison Mandell had come to the Arizona outpost of Yuma, on the bug infested banks of the Colorado, to find out who was stealing money from an upriver mining company called Mina del Agua Mala. But from the moment a saloon girl came running naked into the dusty street, and a love-crazed Indian was driven off with a shotgun, Mandell knew this wasn't going to be an ordinary case. Between him and the mine was a hard, muddy stretch of the swirling
...In 1828, few white men dared to venture into the immense, unsettled region west of the Mississippi. And of those who did, only courageous men like Nathaniel King had the skills and strength to survive the harsh, frozen wilderness. But when three vicious trappers ambushed him and kidnapped his pregnant wife, Winona, King faced the greatest challenge of his life. For if Nate did not rescue Winona and their unborn child, the life he had worked so
...It takes a special breed of man to survive in the wilds of the American frontier. A man like Nate King has the courage, the strength and the skills he needs to endure the hardships of the magnificent Rockies. But the four cutthroats who heard about Nate paying for provisions with gold don't plan to make it on their own. They figure they can get Nate's gold for themselves. When they kidnap Nate's younger daughter they think they've struck it rich.
...15) Ghosts of Lodore
No man knew how to survive the dangers of the West like the legendary frontiersman Kit Carson. But even Kit was in for the ride of his life when he found himself trapped on a flimsy raft hurling down the roaring Green River—straight into a mysterious canyon surrounded by impossibly high sheer rock walls. Kit's first worry was trying to find a way out...until he came face-to-face with a primitive tribe of Indians hidden in the canyon, preparing
...LEGEND OF THE WILDERNESS. Christopher "Kit" Carson was a true American legend: He could shoot a man at 200 yards, trap and hunt better than the most skilled Indian, and follow any trail – even in the dead of night. His courage and strength as an Indian fighter earned him respect throughout the West. But all of his skills were put to the test when he got caught up in a manhunt no one wanted him to make. The beautiful daughter of a Missouri
...19) Dead Weight
20) Nightzone
What do you do when you inherit $330 million after taxes? If you're New Mexico rancher Miles Waddell, you build a dream. A flat-topped mesa and a third of a billion dollars equals NIGHTZONE, an astronomy-based theme park, complete with giant radio telescope, a bank of smaller scopes linked to a theater, five-star dining in a restaurant with retracting dome ceiling, a hotel/resort, tram car access, and a narrow gauge steam locomotive to carry tourists
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