Rating: 
Summary: SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO
Review: What we have here is one heck of a plot, one that is populated by a few really good "good guys" and a whole bunch of really bad "bad guys." In the middle are an even greater number of folks who are question marks. You don't know just where they stand until late in the book.The plot is really two plots that mesh neatly at several points. Plot A involves a gang of poachers of exotic animals who harvest various animal organs to sell in the Oriental marketplace as aphrodisiacs and curatives. One young man who fits neatly into plot B (described next), is murdered when he accidentally comes across a poacher from plot A harvesting organs from an illegally killed animal. Plot B is the more complex of the two. It traces its beginnings to a murder that took place over 50 years ago. The murder victim from out of the past was a Hispanic landowner and the young man killed by the poacher is a present generation relative of this landowner. Somehow this old death and a feud between two brothers, dating back to the same time frame, are related. Now, let's talk about good guys, bad guys, and question marks. Good guys: Our first good guy is Kevin Kerney, a former Santa Fe Detective who has been retired because of crippling wounds received on his last Santa Fe case. He is now working as a part time employee of the Forest Service and has been dispatched to investigate reports of an illegally killed bear. On this investigation, he teams up with our second good guy, Jim Stiles, a young New Mexico Game and Fish Officer. During this investigation, they find the body of the young man murdered by the poacher. In the ensuing investigation of the murder thay team up with the third good guy. (Can you call a woman a good guy?) She is Karen Cox, an Assistant District Attorney who is also the daughter of Edgar Cox, one of the feuding brothers. Now let's take a look at the bad guys: First there's Eugene Cox, the other feuding brother, paralyzed from the waist down, he's one really nasty bad guy. All of the poachers are bad guys who are willing to murder at any time. Then there are the members of a particularly violent paramilitary militia group who consider all federal agents, Forestry Service Department Personnel, and all environmentalists to be fair game. They don't mind killing either. Now for the guys in the grey area. For starters we have Sheriff Omar Gatewood who is either incredibly stupid, or incredibly evil, or both. Now we have Karen's father, Edgar Cox, the other feuding brother who is hiding some very old secret that might make him a member of either camp. Then there's Phillip Cox, Eugene's son and Karen's cousin. He's not a very nice person, but he, too, could be in either camp. There are a number of construction workers, ranchers, Sheriff's Deputies and a Judge who might be good and might not. Playing "Who can you trust?" is part of Kerney's dilemna. During Kerney's investigations there are two serious attempts made to kill him. He is not sure by whom, or why. Okay, you get the picture. A trio of white hats against a whole bunch of black hats with no knowledge of who else might be friend or foe. There's a lot of suspense here, a lot of heroics, and, I'm afraid, a few too many lucky coincidences. All in all, I think that MEXICAN HAT is well written with a trio of protagonists that I can really care about. It provides several hours of pleasant escape reading.
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