Okay... granted, I'm pretty much a sucker for any mystery book series set in New Mexico... and that's why I bought this first book in the series (after discovering McGarrity about 12 years too late and wanting to start with the first book in the series)...

Tularosa was a strong enough effort that I've just gone ahead and ordered the rest of his books.

If you haven't read Michael McGarrity yet you've been missing out on some excellent police procedural mysteries. I love his characters and the richness and color of his Southwestern settings. Tularosa is intriguing, well-paced and fun to read for anyone who likes seeing justice done.

While I agree with other reviewers that a couple of his later works are weak on pacing and rushed at the climax that is NOT the case for Tularosa, which exceeded my expectations in every category.

By the way, I'm a published author myself and am not easy to please.

Ray White How I Got Published: Famous Authors Tell You in Their Own Words The Towers Of Greed

This is sort of a Western in a Procedural Mystery guise. A Western in the mythos sense. A lot of what happens is not really credible. If you read the book, count the number of times that person A has the drop on person B, only to have B's confederate show up in the nick of time and reverse the situation. The romantic interest, Sara, turns out to be to be not only a tough, intelligent Army cop with survival and martial arts skills, she is also an expert horsewoman. And the villain kidnaps her without a good reason. He isn't planning to hold her hostage, nor does she know or have something he needs. Maybe he intended to tie her to the railroad tracks. And I'm not sure, but I think the author got some of his Native American customs wrong, mixing up Navajo and Tewa (Pueblo) beliefs and attibuting petroglyphs created by the Mogollon people to the Apaches.

I found this book at my local libary. I was searching for a mystery book and was surprised to find one that was about places I knew. I haven't heard about the magnanimous author, Michael McGarrity before, but I am intrigued to read it anyway, because it sounds like a good mystery book.

The book Tularosa is about a missing, silent soldier from White Sands Missile Range. Kevin Kerney, a former cop from Santa Fe is searching for his godson Sammy Yazzi, the son of his former partner, Terry Yazzi. Sammy has been reported as AWOL from White Sands Missile Range. The credence to find Sammy falls on Kerney, together with Sara Brannon, the capricious, blond, armi investigator. They embark a cryptic story about stolen, golden artifacts, murdered people, and a corrupt, white, high ranking officer from White Sands Missile Range.

Today Michael McGarrity lives with his wife and his son in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Before he turned to writing full time, he worked also as a deputy sheriff for Santa Fe County. Maybe this was what inspired him 1996 to write Tularosa, which was well nominated for an Antohny Award, a Dilys Award and a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. I really want to read more from him, because this first novel combined the characters of mystery, a story involing unknown persons and facts, with a description of the sometimes green desert landscape of New Mexico.

McGarrity's books move right along -- lots of action and not a lot of conversation or things not strictly associated with the plot. His books are set in the southwest and draw on his experience in law enforcement. Kevin Kerney, his hero/detective, is the kind of character who would be played by a younger Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford -- tough, honorable, capable, and a bit of a loner although well-liked. Think Lone Ranger, riding in to defeat the forces of evil and then riding off again leaving behind grateful people.

At the beginning of the book Kerney is living alone on a New Mexico ranch. He was seriously injured fighting badguys and is no longer in law enforcement but kind of retired, doing caretaking for an absentee landlord on a ranch. A truck arrives carrying a Navajo police officer, a former partner whom Kerney has a grudge against on account of the injuries, but the ex-partner hopes that he will take a paid assignment to track down his son Sammi, who has apparently gone AWOL from the army -- or at least he's missing, because no-one who knows Sammi believes he would desert. Kerney cares about Sammi so agrees to go looking for him. Sammi had been assigned to the White Sands Missile Testing Center (or whatever the base is called) and that's the land that Kerney was raised on -- he knows it well. So with the initially reluctant help of Sara, an army intelligence officer, he starts asking questions and trying to uncover what has happened to Sammi.

This is high adventure and quick paced. This isn't the first book in the series I've read, and it won't be the last. I think guys will particularly like the book, although as a woman I also enjoyed it. Some violence, but nothing too graphic, and a little sex but not too explicit, for those concerned about such things.