Posadas County mysteries
1) Heartshot
New Mexico Undersheriff Bill Gastner is presented with a case that appears to have brought big time crime, including drug gangs, to the country.
Sheriff Martin Holman of the Posadas County Sheriff's Department didn't like flying. Much less at night, with bad weather. So why he took a plane ride over a nearby mesa under those dangerous conditions is a question as disturbing as why somebody shot the pilot dead from the ground-causing the plane to crash. Undersheriff Bill Gastner, a 60 something warhorse, just months away from retirement, now has a murder on his hands. The only possible lead
...9) Bag Limit
Bill Gastner, the reluctant sheriff of Posadas County, New Mexico, anticipates his last few days in office will be uneventful. That is, until local teen Matt Baca drives drunkenly into the back of Gastner’s cruiser, then flees into the night. His eventual capture turns tragic when the boy becomes irrationally violent and takes a fatal tumble into oncoming traffic. Adding to the tragedy, Matt’s father is found dead in his tiny kitchen. Is this
...To most people, hat pins are vestiges of the past, used now only by elderly ladies who don't leave home without a hat. But recently the notion store in Posadas County has been doing a good business selling hat pins to teenage girls. Following a "cat fight" over a boy, one of the girls, Carmen Acosta, had been suspended from school. But Carmen's friends are still around. So, Deena, Carmen's rival, wants something with which to defend herself. Not
...It's Christmas in Posadas County, and Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is settling down to a quiet evening with her family and friend ex-Sheriff Bill Gastner, that is until her doctor husband gets a disturbing call. Retired chief-of-police Eduardo Martinez is calling from a nearby motel where he is having chest pains. Not nine minutes later Estelle gets a call that there has been an incident at the same motel. Estelle and ex-Sheriff Bill Gastner,
...14) Final Payment
The rugged Cat Mesa country north of the village of Posadas is hosting the first annual Posadas 100, a cycle-cross bicycle race that promises to attract more than 140 competitors. Despite enough injuries during the pre-race practice to promise a spectacular and dangerous race. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman has even more pressing concerns on her mind. Someone has been using Jerry Turner's big Cessna 206 and then returning it to its hangar at
...18) One Perfect Shot
When a county employee is found shot to death in sun-drenched daylight while sitting in his county road grader, Undersheriff Bill Gastner is faced with puzzling questions. The simplest explanation—that an errant bullet from a careless target shooter's rifle blew out Larry Zipoli's brains—is soon discarded as inconsistencies surface. The fatal bullet shows no rifling marks, an investigation reveals that the shooter walked directly toward the
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