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A new Kevin Kerney mystery is a bright spot in any publishing season, and in McGarrity's fifth book in the series, he brings Kerney back home to southern New Mexico on the trail of a spree killer who's murdered six victims at remote campgrounds. But something in the crime pattern tells Kerney these murders aren't as random as they first appear. Instead, they seem to be senseless killings meant to cover up the last one, a very personal crime involving family secrets hidden for generations. It's supposed to be the last case for Kerney, whose unexpected inheritance of a vast tract of prime ranchland and recent marriage to a career army officer (Hermit's Peak, Serpent Gate) have him putting in for early retirement from the police force. And it's all mixed up with a stalker seeking revenge on Kerney for his part in an Internal Affairs investigation that got a cop kicked off the force and led to a deadly gunfight that still haunts Kerney. This is a solid bull's-eye for McGarrity. It leaves the reader hungry for his next, in which presumably Kerney will rethink his retirement plans as he copes with impending fatherhood and the kind of financial freedom most lawmen never experience. What makes this series work is not only its likable hero but also the brilliant evocation of the American Southwest he calls home. --Jane Adams
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