DEATH OF A SAINT MAKER

Pity poor Gringo, Pete Rosales's pit bull. First, squatter Carl Sebastien claims that the dog has killed his goats; then the blood-dabbled Gringo bolts out of a church, leaving behind the savaged corpse of Isidro, the wandering saint-maker who's been working on the woodcarvings around the altar. Is Gringo on a crime spree, or was Isidro killed by a two-legged predator? Out of all the scarce humans in borderline Presidio County, only shopkeeper Texana Jones's veterinarian husband Clay can tell for sure—but Clay's detained at Gordon Mateo Suarez's fabulous Rancho de Sierra Vista, enjoying Suarez's bountiful, coercive hospitality—and by the time he returns with Texana, piloted by Suarez's precocious 13-year-old daughter Inez (who calls herself ``Julia'' after Julia Roberts), there's even more trouble afoot. Texana's trading post has been broken into, her truck has been searched, and somebody's let her pet bobcat loose—all in a futile, increasingly violent search for the illegal pelts being smuggled over the border. Since Martin (Death of a Healing Woman, 1996) also takes time for subplots involving a nosey photojournalist professor and his wife and an American boy languishing in a Mexican jail, don't be surprised if the whole cast winds up under arrest—though Martin is unusually dexterous in juggling the permutations of suspects and crimes. Highly recommended for regional buffs, and a good introduction for buffs-in-waiting.