An excellent entry in this very fine series. An old mystery turns up while Estelle is investigating the accidental death of a young neighbor in an off the road vehicular accident. They become very connected as she and her team sort it out. ( )

Advance reader copy

There is something in us that seeks the mutual support and comfort of the small town where everyone knows everyone else, ​​​​​​people help each other, and life is relatively simple in appearance. This is not to say that bad things don't happen, but it's that quality, I think, that makes Steven Havill's Posadas County police procedurals so appealing. You really like the characters, you want to get to know them, and you wish they would pop over for dinner some time. I've read about six of his books.

While it's not necessary to read his stories in order, doing so does provide some context for the characters. His first series followed undersheriff Bill Gastner, as likable and competent a law enforcement officer one could ask for. Estelle Reyes-Guzman, now the undersheriff with Robert Torrez the sheriff, in Double Prey, is faced with multiple difficulties: a neighbor's boy, Butch, and her son, Francis, were teasing a large rattlesnake with a Weed Whacker. The string chopped up the snake's head, throwing a fang and venom into the kid's eye. That required a medevac trip to Albuquerque while the next day, Butch's brother is found in an arroyo, underneath his ATV having flown off the edge. Everything looks like a routine accident. But what was the old dust-encrusted handgun doing in the ATV's storage box? And just a day after having found the skeleton of a jaguar, a cat not seen in the area for years.

Havill writes well, creates intriguing plots, and has created a family of characters we really care about. I plan to read many more of his books. ( )

Double Prey is a police procedural/mystery, the sixteenth novel in the Posadas County series and the eighth with Undersherrif Estelle Guzman as the focus. The book held up well as a stand alone, I didn't know that this was part of a series until I had finished reading it and ran a search on the author.Havill has an authentic writing style that I found appealing. The dialogue is natural and by extension his characters felt genuine, his skill with the dialogue is what makes each character distinct. I liked Estelle's no nonsense attitude, and the glimpse into her family gives her some warmth. Gastner has an old boy quality that makes him perfect as a mentor. The pace is fairly relaxed as there is no real urgency in solving the case. I would have liked a bit more action perhaps. The storyline is linear and uncluttered and the mystery is interesting. It doesn't quite tie up completely, that loose thread is a small irritation though.Double Prey is a fine book, a good read and I'll be looking out for the previous in the series. ( )

A double tragedy strikes the Guzmans' neighbors and leads to an unexpected find.

Typical of the series. ( )