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Overview
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 town. Gastner takes this one personally; he's fond of his deputy, but he does want the truth. He also knows it's an election year and dirty politics can happen anywhere. So can murder. Soon he's got not just one, but two dead bodies. And a strong desire to make sure that when he does retire . . . It's not by way of a well-aimed bullet.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"This series continues to provide a vivid picture of change in rural America: small-town values under siege from within and without as a big-hearted sheriff tries to keep the peace one day at a time. Quiet yet powerful human drama resting comfortably within the procedural formula." — Booklist on Dead Weight
Mystery News
Havill . . . Takes the reader on a fascinating journey . . .Publishers Weekly
Western trends, Chinese traditions and millennial cults clash in this lively and topical Beijing police procedural, the fourth in West's series featuring Det. Wang Anzhuang and his wife, Rosina. Wang has more than enough to do enforcing the Party's new and frustrating policy of "no tolerance" for petty crime. Then Rosina's sister, Julie, disappears in tears from her Beijing flat and Rosina and Wang must track her down. Julie turns up in a rural commune run by the New Church of the Heavenly Kingdom, which worships Lord Ye Huo Huang (Jehovah) and Brother Ye Su (Jesus) and expects the return of a Chinese Messiah. Julie refuses to leave; the heroes give up and go home. Then the cult leader is poisoned, and Wang lands the case. Is Julie next in line for a sinister ritual? Wang and Rosina, plus his colorful array of officers and her network of informants, must race to save Julie and discover the strange truth about the leader's murder. West (Death of a Blue Lantern) constructs fine plots, and his sharp-edged style suits Wang's methods. Readers prize him most, however, for his troves of information about an exotic and rapidly changing nation, and they won't be disappointed here: from knockoff nightclub fashions to emigration, bureaucracy and new religions, Wang and Rosina's adventures provide a dazzling tour of contemporary Beijing life. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.Internet Book Watch
Sheriff Bill Gastner has been part of Posedas County, New Mexico for his entire life and part of the sheriff's department since 1966. Now a septuagenarian, Bill nears retirement waiting for the upcoming election to select his replacement. However, instead of gracefully fading into the background, Bill finds one of the most difficult cases of his illustrious career dumped on his lap. An internal investigation of a member of his staff, Deputy Tom Pasquale is accused of more than just destroying the rental property he leases. Apparently, the county commissioners have received a note from a concerned citizen claiming that Pasquale has hit on Mexican nationals for $100 every time he stops them. Bill also has a potential homicide to deal to investigate. One of the battling Sissons, stars of the local family fight scene dubbed the "Jim and Grace" show, died in an apparent misfortune. Did Grace finally kill Jim or did a grotesque accident really occur? The latest release in Steven F. Havill's great police procedural, Dead Weight, is another superb entry in the Sheriff Gastner collection. The two prime inquiries are fully developed because the charcaters seem more like flesh and blood than part of a novel, even for someone reading their first book in the series. The story line centers on the residents of the county and the surrounding landscape, although the police investigations are in full bloom. Anyone who wants a cerebral character-based plot, the Gastner novels, in which the first few are being reprinted, is must reading.—Internet Book Watch