Dead Weight: A Sheriff Bill Gastner Mystery
Sheriff Bill Gastner of Posadas County, New Mexico, is feeling every one of his nearly 70 years; first as undersheriff and now as sheriff, he has struggled against the county's long, slow slide into the horrors of the modern world. The slide continues here as one of Gastner's deputies is accused of harassing Mexicans, and the sheriff is confronted with a particularly grisly homicide that unlocks a Pandora's box full of illicit sex and dirty politics. What keeps Gastner moving forward, despite the melancholy hanging heavily from his shoulders, is the routine of police work; Havill is every bit as good at evoking procedural detail as he is at capturing small-town ambience. This series continues to provide a vivid picture of change in rural America: small-town values under siege from within and without as a big-hearted sheriff tries to keep the peace one day at a time. Quiet yet powerful human drama resting comfortably within the procedural formula.Bill OttCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved