Convenient Disposal : A Posadas County Mystery (Posadas County Mysteries (Hardcover))

Rating:
Summary: Terrific investigative thriller
Review: In Posadas County, New Mexico following a volleyball game, middle school students Carmen Acosta and Deena Hurtado got into a fight over Paul Otero. Both fourteen year old girls were suspended. A few days later, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman lectures honor student Deena, but also confiscates a potential weapon a sharpened six inch hat pin. Estelle reads Deena the riot act; case closed. Not long after that, Carmen is beaten unconscious with a stab wound to the middle ear that came from a honed hat pin. Estelle has doubts that a skinny young teen could have inflicted the brutal beating.

While Carmen is in the hospital, her neighbor County manager Kevin Ziegler vanishes. Estelle notices discrepancies between the image Kevin portrayed to his constituency as effective and efficient on the job and health living off the job; yet she finds evidence that he probably smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol or someone with him did. As Estelle continues to search for the missing administrator she wonders if the vicious teen thrashing is linked to Kevin's disappearance, but how seems elusive.

In her third appearance as the lead (retired Sheriff Bill Gaston still makes appearances and provides advice), Estelle proves she is a superstar in her own light as she easily carries the tale. Perhaps the New Mexico setting that Steven F. Havill brings so vividly to light made the transition so smooth; but more likely it is simply the author's talent. The story line is actually different than previous tales as the plot goes into hyperspeed and stays there throughout the action-packed thriller. CONVENIENT DISPOSAL is a terrific refreshing entry in one of the best police procedural series around today.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Death returns in "Convenient Disposal"
Review: This latest mystery in the series from author Steven F. Havill opens with a parental nightmare all too common these days. Lady's hatpins are being sharpened into weapons and carried by children, often in the inseam of their jeans, as self-protection. That is exactly what Deena Hurtado; age fourteen was doing, just days after being involved in a major fight at school with Carmen Acosta. After being caught on school property with the weapon, she is facing not only mandatory school suspension for the rest of the year but possible criminal prosecution. For investigating officer, Posadas County New Mexico Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, the case represents not only such a waste by a promising honor roll student, but her fears for her own children who are growing up much faster than she would like.

Hours later the same day, Carman Acosta is found brutally beaten and near death in her bedroom in her home. Not only is her body badly battered including what maybe a fatal skull fracture at the back of the head, a hat pin has been driven deep into her right ear. The Acosta family has a long history of domestic violence and public disagreements but Estelle is sure that isn't what happened here. She is also sure, based on the crime scene and the brutality of the attack, this wasn't the work of Deena. What she isn't sure of who actually did do it and how the fact that County Manager Ken Zeigler, who lives next door, is apparently missing while his county truck, hood still warm and with the keys in the ignition, figures into everything.

What follows is another twisting read concerning Posadas County New Mexico which once again comes alive for the reader thanks to the skillful efforts of Steven F. Havill. What James Lee Burke has done for Louisiana, Steven F. Havill has done for New Mexico as he brings alive the stark beauty of the southwest. The series continues with the stylistic changes since Estelle became the featured character, as the books remain reserved and distant from the reader as reflects the character as compared to the books that focused primarily on Gastner. While little character development occurs, it is nice to again read about characters that have become old friends over the years and through twelve books. Former Sheriff Bill Gastner makes an all too brief appearance in this one but that is a minor quibble. This read is a good one and well worth your time. Unlike others in the series, this novel could safely be read as a separate stand-alone.


Book Facts:

Convenient Disposal: A Posadas County Mystery
By Steven F. Havill
Thomas Dunne Books
www.minotaurbooks.com
2004
ISBN # 0-312-32404-9
Hardback
$23.95 US
$33.95 Canada



Kevin R. Tipple © 2005


Rating:
Summary: The life and times of Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman
Review: Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is more annoyed than dismayed when she is called in by Posadas Middle School authorities to deal with students carrying concealed weapons, sharpened hat pins that they hide in the inseam of their jeans. She knows the students involved, and is disappointed by their behavior.

Her disappointment turns to dread when one of the girls involved is severely beaten, then stabbed in the side of the head with, you guessed it, a hatpin. Looking into the attack, Guzman begins questioning the neighbors, hoping one of them saw something, anything, to help her in her investigation. It's then that she discovers that County Manager Kevin Zeigler, who lives in the house next to the victim's, has gone missing. Are the cases connected? Is Ziegler the perpetrator? Another victim? Guzman's dogged search for answers leads her into disturbing territory.

Havell continues his intimate examination of the life and times of Estelle Reyes-Guzman, wife, mother, and cop, a process begun in 2002's Scavengers and continued in 2003's A Discount for Death. A fascinating character, Estelle struggles to hold all the separate strands of her life together despite the pressure of a big case, making her someone modern readers can easily relate to. Besides Estelle, Havell is also sensitive to the ways and mores of small towns, which, counter to common sense, might prove more stressful to a lawperson than those of the typical big city. Both aspects of the novel combine to create memorable reading, ensuring that Havill's ever expanding audience will return for more.