DEATH SAINT was selected as a Finalist for Best Mystery in the 2016 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards. New clues in an old, unsolved murder case lead Deputy Sheriff Manny Rivera from Moab, Utah, to a small, remote village in the mountains of northern New Mexico. With reluctant and sometimes non-existent assistance from the local sheriff, he enters a community of people unwilling to open up with him … up with him because of a centuries-old distrust of outsiders–outsiders were the ones who stole their land grant.
He slowly penetrates their hardened attitude toward strangers and learns about a series of bizarre events which took place there fifteen years ago. As layers of the case are peeled away, he begins to understand the complexities behind a number of mysterious deaths. Local cultural beliefs–superstitions, witches, evil spells, owl power, a secret religious organization, and a strange saint–stymie his progress, complicate his investigation, and threaten his life.
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I like learning about life in different parts of the world. Readable but not great. Don’t feel the urge to read another one by this author.
I love regional mysteries. To feel as if you are in the area, the customs, the sights, and the way a community works…..Manny Rivera is a detective in Moab.
He is good detective, thorough and proper in his approach to solving crimes. What starts as a mystery about a dead man found shot to death years earlier turns into a bigger case. The terrific part is the author takes you into the desert, the dust, the heat and the lifestyle. The case becomes two dead men, a suicide, and a missing man. The fun is seeing Manny investigate the little town under a different sheriff where the original dead man is from.
No high drama, no deep midlife angst from the detective, no high action…but really great police procedural that keeps you turning the pages. And the people and life they have in this little town become precious to Manny as he hunts for a killer.
It is rich in description, characters are quickly introduced and you feel they are fully developed people. I’m thrilled to read more of this series with Manny solving crimes without gunfire, extreme violence and pathos. And I close my eyes and see the red rocks, the owls and the quiet of the desert.
Very, very flat characters ! The author uses few if any adjectives and tells a story like a teenager. Don’t waste your time. Try James Lee Burke.
Not sure I like Manny. Really not sure that he would be allowed to just take off and spend days in a remote area over something that happened 15 years ago. Doesn’t he have anything current to work on?
Not a bad story, but nothing based in reality going on here.
A great deal of the story takes place in small villages in rural Northern New Mexico. Good story and great descriptions of people and place.
Good western
I love the Southwest setting, and the description of a quieter, simpler world. I admire the character of Manny Rivera, and would like to read more books about him. It was an interesting mystery too.