Product Description

The riveting new Kevin Kerney novel from the bestselling author of Serpent Gate

When an old family friend unexpectedly leaves Kevin Kerney 6400 acres of high country land outside Las Vegas, New Mexico, the thing Kerney wants to think about is police work. Taking a rare weekend off from his job as deputy chief of the New Mexico State Police, Kerney sets out to explore the land, a rugged mesa in the shadow of Hermit's Peak.

Before Kerney can get very far, he comes upon an ailing stray dog with a woman's running shoe in its mouth. The dog leads him to the butchered bones of a murder victim, and Kerney finds he's inherited a homicide along with a ranch. Determined not to see his weekend ruined, Kerney turns the investigation over to the state police district office and continues his survey of his windfall inheritance, only to find that timber thieves have clear-cut a great swath of woodland in a remote canyon.

Unsure of whether he can pay the inheritance taxes, hold on to the land, and realize his dream to ranch again, Kerney returns to Santa Fe. There, he finds that Sara Brannon -- a woman he cares deeply about -- has arrived to visit him. As Kerney and Sara begin trying to sort out a relationship that means more to both of them than either is willing to admit, Kerney is called back to Hermit's Peak. Another murder victim has been found at a remote cabin next to Kerney's property, and he is soon engaged in a race against time to solve two murders and avert another. Filled with breakneck action and authentic detail, Hermit's Peak is Michael McGarrity's most involving novel yet.

Product Details

• Published on: 2001-05
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 310 pages

From Amazon.com
Kevin Kerney might just be the best cop currently working the mean streets of mystery fiction. As deputy chief of the New Mexico State Police, he is not tortured by the doubts, angst, alcoholism, or mixed motives that seem to overwhelm many of his fictional colleagues. His methods are rarely flashy or excessively macho, and he treats other cops of all ranks with a minimum of attitude. Author Michael McGarrity, who worked for Santa Fe's sheriff's department before retiring to write, has managed to make Kerney human without loading him with excess baggage.

As we've come to realize in three previous books--Mexican Hat, Serpent Gate, and Tularosa--Kerney works as a police officer to make the money he needs to buy a cattle ranch like the one he grew up on. In Hermit's Peak, that dream comes closer to reality when a woman painter leaves Kerney a large portion of her own property on a mesa northeast of Santa Fe. McGarrity describes this land with the keen simplicity of natural poetry. Reality (in the form of a huge inheritance tax bill) darkens the picture. But the discovery of a very rare cactus plant and the unexpected arrival of Sara Brannon (the career army officer with whom Kerney had a romance in an earlier book) let in a few rays of sunlight. Meanwhile, Kerney and a tough local cop have to deal with a rape and murder, plus enough everyday crimes to keep them seriously busy without busting the boundaries of believability. --Dick Adler

From Library Journal
In McGarrity's fourth Kevin Kerney adventure (Serpent Gate, LJ 5/15/98), the seasoned deputy successfully juggles a windfall inheritance, a sizzling love affair with newly decorated Col. Sara Brannon, and an adoring dog he has rescued named Shoe. When Kerney and his best friend survey sections of high-country ranch land bequeathed to Kerney by artist Erma Ferguson, a shaggy, abandoned mutt appears with a tennis shoe in his mouth and leads the men to a woman's skeletal remains. The investigation stalls as Kerney agonizes over his newly acquired land, probably about to be sacrificed to the tax gods, and as Sara, confused about their "impossible" relationship, takes off for Tucson. An intriguing subplot concerns a rare species of cactus on Kerney's land and the lady professor crusading on its behalf. McGarrity's plotting mirrors real life so effectively that readers will grieve for or celebrate with characters by this tale's bittersweet endAalways a sure sign of good writing. Recommended.ASusan A. Zappia, Maricopa Cty. Lib. Dist., Phoenix
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
The fourth novel featuring New Mexico Deputy Police Chief Kevin Kerney is, like its predecessors, a clever hybrid of the Western and mystery genres. This time around, Kerney discovers a body on some property he's inherited. Araiza, known mostly for his work in the theater, narrates the story with an appropriate air of mystery--his soft, deep voice lulls us into a sense of security that we figure must be false. The story is full of the kind of detail that mystery fans look for (McGarrity was a deputy sheriff in Santa Fe, New Mexico), and the urban Western setting will appeal to fans of writers like Larry McMurtry. D.P.