Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – The Blue Horse by Bruce Borgos
Showing posts with label Bruce Borgos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bruce Borgos. Show all posts
Sunday, August 24, 2025
Friday, July 11, 2025
Wednesday, July 09, 2025
Sunday, July 06, 2025
Review: The Blue Horse: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos
This comes out Tuesday...
The Blue Horse:
A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos begins in September 2020. Covid is
making an impact and will directly affect the good sheriff of Lincoln County,
Nevada, in the coming days and weeks. But in the here and now of this beautiful
September morning, Sheriff Beck and Chief Deputy Tuffy Scruggs are on horses are
chatting and watching as wild mustangs are being herded for capture.
Sheriff Beck,
48, and with worsening eyesight problems that make him almost blind at night,
is soon to be Chief of the Investigative Division of The Department of Public Safety.
He is looking forward to the new job though he hates to move on from what he
does now. That loss is mitigated by the fact that the new job means he will get
to see his girlfriend, Charlie Blue Horse, a state police detective, a lot
more. He is also happy to turn over his current job to Tuffy Scruggs who will
be the new sheriff.
With drought
gripping the land, the Bureau of Land Management ordered an emergency roundup
of the wild horses in the area. The goal is to remove almost fifteen hundred
stallions, mares, and foals from the surrounding public land. Protestors have
made their presence known, but they are not close to where the helicopter today
is herding about forty wild horses known to the locals as the “Willow Creek
Band.”
The horses are
being herded into a nearby canyon with high limestone walls. Those walls hide
the view as the helicopter makes multiple passes above and below the rim as the
pilot expertly maneuvers to herd the horses for capture. Those same walls hide
the view as the helicopter maneuvers down out of sight, but the noise of it
crashing is heard loud and clear. Sheriff Porter Beck also believes he heard a
gunshot which would mean it was not mechanical failure or pilot error.
Riding their
horses, it takes two minutes for Sherriff Beck and Chief Deputy Tuffy Scruggs,
to arrive on scene. It is instantly clear from the wreckage that nobody could
have survived. It also does not take long to verify that Sherriff Beck was
right that the pilot was shot and killed in order to cause the helicopter to
crash.
That murder
leads to a complicated case of politics, natural resources and land use, and
quite a lot more. It won’t be the last death in this complicated and very enjoyable
read.
As it is the
third book in a very good series that began with The Bitter Past: A Novel,
there are various references to earlier books and events. Sheriff Beck has been
coping with a lot, personally and professionally, and all that was child’s play
compared to what is in store for him here in The Blue Horse: A Peter Beck
Mystery by Bruce Borgos.
It is also one
heck of a good read. Strongly recommended.
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4lvbutj
My digital ARC came the publisher, Minotaur Books, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Review: Shades of Mercy: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos
Shades of Mercy: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos is the second in the series that began with The Bitter Past: A Novel. This one might be better than the first.
Among other things, massive wildfires are ripping through the Nevada countryside and adding to the long
list of Sherriff Porter Beck’s worries. The government helicopter arriving to
land near his house means even more trouble.
Aboard the helicopter is Special Agent Ed Maddox of
the Office of Special Investigations. OSI is the equivalent of the Army’s
Criminal Investigation Department. He wants Beck’s help in locating a piece
that came off an aircraft last night. He has a general idea of where it went
down and wants Beck to ride in the small unmarked chopper to go look.
Once onboard the helicopter, Maddox reveals the
impact site is out at the Double J Ranch. Owned by a childhood friend who has
moved back home, Beck coming along should help smooth the way. It might have if
they were still close. They aren’t and a lot has changed at the ranch that has
existed for decades.
It is also clear that the impact was not a piece of
the aircraft. Maddox claim a fuel tank did it. There is no way. Beck is ex-military
and knows missile debris when he sees it.
Maddox finally admits that they lost control of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft the night before. It was hijacked and flown way off
course. It ultimately fired a missile at the prize bull at the ranch. Somebody
targeted the bull of the owner who just happens to be a guy Beck grew up with a
long time ago. Who would want Jesse Roy’s prize-winning bull exploded into
pieces? What are they planning to do next? And the biggest question of all –
how did they take control of the RPA?
Those three big questions and many others are
answered in the incredibly entertaining, Shades of Mercy: A Porter Beck
Mystery. This review only carefully scratches the surface as much is in
play here and I am not going to spoil any of it for readers.
Additional character development, multiple complex story
lines, and plenty of action make this second in the series a very good book.
For a more in-depth look at the very good read, make sure you read Lesa Holstine’s review.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3SFeNS7
My digital ARC reading copy came by way of the
publisher, Minotaur Books, through NetGalley.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2024
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Sunday, August 13, 2023
Do Some Damage: Guest Post: Bruce Borgos on Folks Who Help You Along the Way
Do Some Damage: Guest Post: Bruce Borgos on Folks Who Help You Alo...: Today I’m delighted to welcome Bruce Borgos to the blog. I was lucky enough to get an early read of his new mystery, The Bitter Past , seve...
Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Review: The Bitter Past: A Novel by Bruce Borgos
The Bitter Past:
A Novel
by Bruce Borgos takes readers to Nevada and Lincoln County. Retired FBI Agent
Ralph Atterbury is most definitely dead. It also was certainly not a peaceful
death. The 71-year-old man has been found strapped down to his recliner. He has
had patches of skin stripped off, every finger is broken, and his teeth were
pulled one by one. All this and quite a lot more was done as he was tortured
for reasons unknown by a person or persons unknown.
It is a brutal
case and one that Sheriff Beck knows is going to be bad. He is ex-military so
he knows a thing or two about what people can and will do to others. He has
seen the work of the Taliban and this far exceeds what they are known to do.
It is not long
before Sana Locke of the FBI shows up. She is beautiful and intriguing on many
levels, but there is something a little off about her. Not just because she
claims to be from nearby Las Vegas when it is far more likely she is out of
Washington. He does not have long to contemplate what is off about her as she makes
it very clear that wants to see the crime scene and the body.
What follows is
a complicated read that moves back and forth between current times and the late
50s and the Cold War. Nevada was the site of the nation’s nuclear testing
program. That program is a significant part of the book as the current case has
links to what happened then. I will leave it there as this is one of those
books where it is better to do a less is more approach to the review so as not
create spoilers and ruin the read for others.
The Bitter Past:
A Novel
by Bruce Borgas is a very complicated read and one that is incredibly good. I
suspect it will collect award nominations and some hardware. One hopes that
this is the first book in a series. Regardless of that fact, this is a book you
really need to read.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4j0SAc6
My reading copy
came by way of a NetGalley digital ARC.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2023
Saturday, July 15, 2023
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