When Posadas Register reporter Linda Real barely survives her nighttime patrol with one of Undersherrif Bill Gastner's deputies who is killed by a more accurate shotgun blast than the one that ruins her face, Bill gets angry. Teamed with his intuitive, observant detective Estelle Reyes-Guzman and her usual sharp eye for physical evidence, Bill implicates Tammy Woodruff, the thrill-seeking daughter of the local Republican County Chairman, in the brutal...

"Parked high on a side road on the flank of the second highest peak in the San Cristobal mountains, peacefully surveying what soon would no longer be his responsibility as a sheriff, almost-seventy Bill Gastner could think that the night would be without incident. He'd be wrong. He doesn't foresee that a car full of alcohol-inspired adolescents would run into his automobile. Nor that the driver would take off and disappear in the nearby woods. Far...

In the wake of the retirement of Posadas County Sheriff Bill Gastner, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman finds herself dealing with a flu-ridden family and the investigation into two brutal murders.

With the sheriff out on medical leave following a serious injury, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is called upon to run the Posadas County department and finds herself investigating a strange accident that has injured another police officer.

Posadas County, New Mexico, undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is called to the scene of a possible domestic violence. The victim is a teenage girl, beaten into a coma and stabbed in the ear with a hatpin. Earlier, the girl was involved in a rivalry over a boy -- but the shocking brutality of the crime indicates this was something beyond feuding middle-school girls.

New Mexico Undersheriff Bill Gastner is presented with a case that appears to have brought big time crime, including drug gangs, to the country.

It's Christmas in Posadas County. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is settling down to a quiet evening with her family until her doctor husband receives a call from the retired chief-of-police, Eduardo, who is at a nearby hotel having pains. Estelle then receives a call that the retired man had an exchange with two men and then collapsed. The men took off in Eduardo's car. An out-of-town couple, the woman on the verge of giving birth, were the only...

The 22nd Posadas County Mystery, is a prequel to the prequel of the series, One Perfect Shot. It explores the younger Gastner, introduces Sheriff Eduardo Salcido, and traces the development of series stalwarts. When the first Posadas County mystery, Heartshot, published in 1991, Bill Gastner was the county Undersheriff. Over time Bill became Sheriff, then retired, and Robert Torrez took over the top spot. But what were Torrez's first days as a rookie...

When a county employee is found shot to death in sun-drenched daylight while sitting in his county road grader, [Undersheriff] Bill Gastner is faced with puzzling questions.