Publisher, Books in Motion (2002)

"Not only does Havill offer a melancholy reinterpretation of the grand western myth of the slow-talking, fast-thinking lawman, he also writes crisp, marvelously detailed police procedurals with a mix of technical know-how, and informed common sense to get things done." –Booklist

Aging Posadas County Under Sheriff Bill Gastner is taking a rare vacation in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. Still recovering from his quadruple bypass, Gastner heads to the hills to escape his physicians who keep preaching health reform. While there he intends to sort through his desire to reunite with Detective Estelle Reyes from San Estevan County. The plans for a peaceful vacation at Steamboat Rock Campground are interrupted by sirens. Reyes and Gastner do not meet for dinner, but for a murder case. A young pregnant woman seems to be the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Hers is the first in a series of deaths that pull Gastner off of vacation and onto the case...