MYSTERY

Bad Country

by CB McKenzie
Minotaur: St. Martin's. Nov. 2014. 288p. ISBN 9781250053541. $24.99; ebk. ISBN 9781466856004. M
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This Southwestern-flavored series launch introduces retired bronco rider-turned-PI Rodeo Grace Garnet. Raised on Arizona's Pascua Yaqui Reservation but caught between the Anglo and Native American worlds, Rodeo mourns the passing of the traditional ways. Returning from vacation, he discovers a corpse sprawled on the road in front of his house. The victim is a member of a local tribe. There has been a spate of unsolved murders in Los Jarros County, which Sheriff "Apache" Ray Molina is investigating. Then Luis Encarnacion, proprietor of the Twin Arrows Trading Post and Rodeo's best friend, urges Rodeo to probe the drive-by shooting of a young Hispanic boy, Samuel Rocha, in Tucson. Soon Apache Ray is dead, along with a professor from the university, and Rodeo is beaten up by Ronald Rocha, Samuel's uncle. Someone knows a lot more than they are saying.
VERDICT Winner of the Tony Hillerman Prize for the Best Debut Mystery set in the Southwest, this edgy noir offers a master class on how to create a vivid sense of mood and place. Rodeo is a hard-nosed, hard-drinking man who searches for the truth as he understands it. Fans of the late, great Hillerman will cheer the arrival of a promising newcomer. [Previewed in Kristi Chadwick's "Pushing Boundaries" mystery feature, LJ 4/15/14.]
Reviewed by Viccy Kemp , Oct 01, 2014
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