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Summary
Summary
Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney travels to a California ranch looking to buysome prime quarter horse breeding stock. Instead, he finds himself the primesuspect in a possible homicide when a guest at the ranch, Clifford Spalding, isfound dead. Confronted by a determined cop unwilling to let him off the hook,Kerney decides to conduct his own investigation. As he digs into the victim'sbackground, he learns that Spalding's ex-wife refuses to believe that her son, asoldier killed in Vietnam some thirty years ago, is dead. Kerney digs deeper and soon finds himself sharing the woman's doubts: DidSpalding's current wife, a much younger woman, orchestrate his murder with thehelp of a lover? Did a California cop collude with Spalding to keep his ex-wifefrom learning the truth about her son? Slow Killraces from West Coast to East Coast as Kerney attempts to findthe answers to a thirty-year-old mystery and extricate himself from a situationthat could ruin his career.
Author Notes
Michael McGarrity is a former deputy sheriff for Santa Fe County, he established the first Sex Crimes Unit. He also served as an instructor at the new Mexico Law Enforcement Academy and as an investigator for the New Mexico Public Defender's Office. He lives in Santa Fe.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In McGarrity's latest Kevin Kerney procedural, Kerney, police chief of Santa Fe, N.Mex., is drawn into a messy murder investigation while vacationing at a California ranch. A wealthy hotel magnate, Clifford Spalding, dies of poisoning in the guest room next to Kerney's. Finding himself a suspect, Kerney decides to pursue the case on his own for a few days, uncovering some peculiar circumstances and characters in Spalding's background. They include an unfaithful trophy wife and her shady boyfriend, a deranged and bitter ex-wife and a missing son who presumably died in Vietnam 30 years ago, as well as a couple of police officials who are not as forthcoming as one would expect. Within a few days, Kerney is cleared by California authorities and returns home to more familiar ground. But because of the case's Santa Fe connections, he and his stable of detectives continue the pursuit. As in McGarrity's eight previous Kerney novels (Everyone Dies; etc.), the author excels at detailing police procedures as well as creating a homespun, wry tone that suits setting and characters. His action sequences are shakier, however, and several highly dramatic moments-the arrest of the main suspect, her release and eventual capture-are flat and hurried. A bit more attention to pacing and momentum could give this appealing series a needed shot of adrenaline. Agent, Barney Karpfinger. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Santa Fe police chief Kevin Kerney is visiting a Santa Barbara ranch, looking to buy quarter horses, when he stumbles on the dead body of another guest staying at the ranch. Kerney looks like a prime suspect, which prompts him to make a few inquiries of his own. The trail leads Kerney on a crisscrossing journey around the country, with a stop-off at FBI headquarters in Virginia, near where his wife, Sarah, a career army officer, is stationed at the Pentagon. As in past episodes in this long-running series, McGarrity juggles police procedural and domestic story lines effectively, drawing readers into the dynamics of Kerney's long-distance marriage just as he unerringly charts the painstaking investigative work that defines the lives of real-world cops. Precise realism remains McGarrity's hallmark; his own experience as a deputy sheriff and as a therapist working with abuse victims informs his fiction on every page. This is not a series for those who hope to find either high-octane excitement or existential angst in their cop novels. McGarrity's milieu is the quotidian reality of a cop's life. --Bill Ott Copyright 2004 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Visiting a California ranch, Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney finds himself a suspect in the murder of another guest-and is soon investigating the long-ago death of the man's son. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.