Review: Perfect Opportunity: A Posadas County Mystery by Steven F. Havill

 

It is always a thrill when the latest Posadas County Mystery arrives in my hands. I have been a fan for many years now. When Sandi was fighting cancer, Mr. Havill’s series was a listening request. I would read the new book to her as she laid in hospital beds in the main infusion room and her own isolated hospital room. Steven F. Havill, Bill Crider, and a few other authors helped us both cope with what was happening in our lives.

 

The latest in this very good series, Perfect Opportunity: A Posada County Mystery, spends considerable time with former Sheriff Bill Gastner. That is a very special treat as it the series began with him long ago in Heartshot.

 

As the book opens, it is the day after Bill Gastner’s 87th birthday. While he is still mobile, he does so with some technological help these days. One of which is a four-wheel drive wheelchair that allows him freedom of movement. He has no intention at all from moving from his adobe home in Posadas County in Southeastern New Mexico. Certainly not to some retirement home near his daughter’s house in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

 

He had woken early, just after four in the morning and decided he was going to go for a drive and see what was what. The former sheriff is legendary for his driving around at all hours of the day and night keeping an eyeball on things. He ends up taking along with him Carlos Guzman. It has been a year since the vicious event that nearly killed himself and his finance, Tasha Qarshe. (That event takes up the majority of No Accident and is briefly referenced here.) He is making progress in rehab, but healing is slow and Francisco says his brother is not sleeping well. Getting him out and about for a bit to take his mind off things might help somewhat.

 

Gastner likes the idea and goes to go get him. Son of Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, Carlos, soon joins him in his old Suburban. After driving around for a bit, they come across a traffic stop. It is 5:27 in the morning and Deputy Lydia Thompson has pulled over a Ram crew cab truck. Something strikes both Gastner and Carlos as being off so they circle back to check. Deputy Lydia Thompson is new to the area and far from her northeastern roots, but she is fitting in well with everyone. She assures them everything is fine.

 

Gastner has a lot of time later to consider what he saw, when the owner of the truck as well as another person, are found murdered at the side of the read in the same area the next day. Coincidence? Probably not.

 

What follows is a complicated and a thoroughly enjoyable read. Gastner is heavily involved as is the incredible Nightzone project introduced long ago in the book by the same name. Numerous secondary characters that have long made this series the quality read that has been for decades return here. There is also the usual level of mystery and the author’s love for the beauty of the New Mexico landscape. Perfect Opportunity: A Posadas County Mystery by Steven F. Havill is the latest very good read in a long series well worth your time. It is strongly recommended.

 
 

Amazon Associate Link: https://amzn.to/4b6PTCt

 

 

My reading copy came as a digital arc from the publisher, Severn House, by way of NetGalley with no expectations of a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024