A DISCOUNT FOR DEATH
by Steven Havill
Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman gets her second star turn here, and longtime fans of Posadas County, New Mexico (Scavengers, 2002, etc.), won’t mind a bit.
A step slower but still amiable and astute, Sheriff Bill Gastner, long the series mainstay, shuffles in from the wings every now and again, but clearly the torch has been passed. A good thing, too. Considering the current rate and complexity of crime in rural little Posadas, only the young and energetic can be expected to cope. An inept cop in overzealous pursuit of a speeding motorcycle has killed the cyclist, the mother of two. When a relationship emerges that turns tragic ineptitude into possible vehicular homicide, Undersheriff Guzman realizes she won’t be sitting down to family dinners with her husband and sons any time soon. Before she can come to grips with the smashup, however, she has an even more pressing and personal case to disentangle. On her way to appear as a grand-jury witness, she hears that insurance scamster George Enriquez, focus of the investigation, has offered to cut a deal with the DA: “I can give you Guzman,” he’s promised. A couple of tense 30-hour days are in store for the hard-pressed law-enforcement officer, but bright, resourceful, tough-minded Estelle demonstrates anew that she’s got game.
A first-rate police procedural, small-town division. And Estelle’s a charmer.