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Double Prey (Posadas County Mystery #8)
A rattlesnake fang pegged in a teenager's eye is just the beginning of a spring day for Posadas Undersheriff Estelle Guzman. The injured lad's older brother goes missing, and is found dead in an arroyo, apparently killed by his cartwheeling ATV. But most puzzling is what the dead boy found moments before he was killed...an astonishingdiscovery that takesdeputies back to a...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
January 4th 2011
by Poisoned Pen Press
(first published May 27th 2010)
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#17 in the Posadas County mystery series. Undersheriff may have been written into a corner by author Havill. Her older son is a musical prodigy and can advance no further in tiny, rural Posadas, N.M. He may have to be sent away from the close knit family or the family may have to move. The issue was identified in series #15, "The Fourth Time is Murder (2008), but has now become critical. Havill has published 5 books since #15 (through September 2012) but this is the only continuation of the seri...more
Advance reader copy
There is something in us that seeks the mutual support and comfort of the small town where everyone knows everyone else, people help each other, and life is relatively simple in appearance. This is not to say that bad things don't happen, but it's that quality, I think, that makes StevenHavill'sPosadasCounty police procedurals so appealing. You really like the characters, you want to get to know them, and you wish they would pop over for dinner some time. I've read about...more
There is something in us that seeks the mutual support and comfort of the small town where everyone knows everyone else, people help each other, and life is relatively simple in appearance. This is not to say that bad things don't happen, but it's that quality, I think, that makes StevenHavill'sPosadasCounty police procedurals so appealing. You really like the characters, you want to get to know them, and you wish they would pop over for dinner some time. I've read about...more
Jan 18, 2011
The Sunday Book Review
added it
I'm not really sure how I felt about this book even as I was reading it. Here are some of my thoughts as I was reading it:
* The lack of urgency in solving anything - ok, so it takes place in a small town where everyone knows your name. It's still a crime no? You still have a dead teenager who happens to be carrying a gun no one knows where it came from. Once you trace the gun back to an old un-solved case, there is still no urgency. Everything is taken in stride. This may work, and me be, the w...more
* The lack of urgency in solving anything - ok, so it takes place in a small town where everyone knows your name. It's still a crime no? You still have a dead teenager who happens to be carrying a gun no one knows where it came from. Once you trace the gun back to an old un-solved case, there is still no urgency. Everything is taken in stride. This may work, and me be, the w...more
I enjoy mystery novels and this one really was up my alley. This is the first novel I have read by Steven F. Havill and I find myself hooked on the characters, enough that I need to do some searching for the other books in his line of Posadas County Mysteries and catch up on all the previous adventures. Normally I do not like reading a book that is a sequel without having read the previous books since I find that I often times get lost following plot lines that have a previous reference. Not so...more
I think there is a danger, that mysteries set in the Southwest will fall into the trap of trying to be like other mysteries set in the Southwest. Luckily, Double Prey avoids this pitfall.
Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman's day starts with boys being boys leading to tragedy, and ends in a murder mystery. A body found in an arroyo looks less and less like an accident as the investigation proceeds. The story winds through the canyons and around the mesas of Havill's fictional Posadas County, leavin...more
Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman's day starts with boys being boys leading to tragedy, and ends in a murder mystery. A body found in an arroyo looks less and less like an accident as the investigation proceeds. The story winds through the canyons and around the mesas of Havill's fictional Posadas County, leavin...more
Everyone is grieved, and no one surprised, when Freddie Romero's ATV spins off a back road and leaves him dead. Freddie, a neighbor of deputy sheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, was a reckless, thoughtless teenager. It's probably just a coincidence that Freddie had found the skull of a jaguar, rare in the United States. But as Estelle tries to find what Freddie was doing on a remote trail, she finds that there was more in the cave he discovered--and that someone doesn't want the cave's secrets known....more
Double Prey is a police procedural/mystery, the sixteenth novel in the Posadas County series and the eighth with Undersherrif Estelle Guzman as the focus. The book held up well as a stand alone, I didn't know that this was part of a series until I had finished reading it and ran a search on the author.
Havill has an authentic writing style that I found appealing. The dialogue is natural and by extension his characters felt genuine, his skill with the dialogue is what makes each character distinct...more
Havill has an authentic writing style that I found appealing. The dialogue is natural and by extension his characters felt genuine, his skill with the dialogue is what makes each character distinct...more
Mar 22, 2011
Richard
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Mystery lovers; people who like stories set in the Southwest US
Recommended to Richard by:
I read all Mr. Havill's work.
What starts out as the exciting discovery of a jaguar skull leads to the tragic sudden death of the teenager who found it. In trying to determine what this young man was doing in the desert before he crashed his All Terrain Vehicle, retired sheriff Bill Gastner and Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman find all sorts of wickedness.
You will quickly learn that everyone in this tiny community seems to have a history: some better and others worse. The dogged police work by our unlikely pair unravels all...more
You will quickly learn that everyone in this tiny community seems to have a history: some better and others worse. The dogged police work by our unlikely pair unravels all...more
Terrific sense of place (rural New Mexico) and police procedure with all its minute details. I enjoyed the mix of murders past and present, but found the pace in the first half of the book a little too slow. I stuck with it, however, and was rewarded with more action at the end.
Havill understands New Mexico and it's people. His descriptions of characters and scenes are vivid, and he is adept at describing the minute details of criminal investigations as only an insider can.
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Having spent time in Deming and Alamorgodo NM, I enjoyed the geography of this book. The plot was interesting but the personal stories and relationships were more interesting. I'll put this author on my TBR list.
I love this series. Nothing flashy, just regular people in a regular small New Mexico town doing what regular people do. Small town police procedural with brilliant people at the helm. Good stuff.
Evokes the Southwest (new mexico). I liked the characters - I will check and see if our library has more of these.
As usual with this series there are stories within the story. Compelling reading for me. This was an interesting read.
Great mystery series set along the New Mexico/Mexico border. Our heroine is the lady sheriff.
Audiobook - Glad to have another entry with Gastner working alongside Estelle.
this is a really good series with well drawn characters and decent plots.
Another solid entry in a solid mystery series. Love this series and that Havill moves life forward in this book. Can't wait for the next book to come out to find out what is happening in Posadas County :)[return][return]This one has tragedy striking close to home. Estelle has to figure out where a victim of an ATV accident was coming and going in the desert leading to another tragedy. Can she solve the mystery? Of course! With Gastner and Sheriff Torez helping out this is wrapped up neatly. [ret...more
Good "suspense"in determining who did it. One of the author's better books.
Great buildup on the multiple mysteries in the story but I believe it ended to quickly and neatly. Just a bit of a letdown...but I still love the characters and locations. Just a great series.
Joe
Joe
Posadas County Undersheriff Estell Reyes Guzman starts the day dealing with a neighbor boy with a rattlesnake fang in his eye. Things get worse when the kid's older brother goes missing.
Well written installment in the Posada County Sheriff series--a couple of coincidences too many, but a good read
An enjoyable read as this fine series continues.
May 10, 2013
Bobbi
added it
Apr 17, 2013
Glenna Cornford
marked it as to-read
Apr 13, 2013
Bill Snow
marked it as to-read
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Steven F. Havill is an American author of mysteries and westerns.
Havill lives in Raton, New Mexico, with his wife Kathleen. He has written two series of police procedurals set in the fictional Posadas County, New Mexico; along with other works.
More about Steven F. Havill...
Havill lives in Raton, New Mexico, with his wife Kathleen. He has written two series of police procedurals set in the fictional Posadas County, New Mexico; along with other works.
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