Deputy Margarita Ricos is not like every other deputy sheriff. She’s young. She’s tough. She’s kindhearted and smart. She’s a proud Chicana! Raised on the edge of the United States in Terlingua, Texas, she has a broad perspective of “the border,” its people, and its issues. She chooses to remain in the vast land of mountains and desert, a muddy, winding river, fiery sunsets, unique dangers, and indescribable beauty. Margarita is an advocate of justice and fairness in a world that is neither. She takes comfort in the steadfastness of the scenery she adores and her love for and commitment to her community. While still recovering from the loss of her love, Margarita’s birth father comes to visit. He is Sergeant Zeke Pacheco with the Texas Rangers, and he invites her to accompany him to Dallas. He wants to spend a week with his daughter, to take her away from the darkness in her head and the gossip in Terlingua. Also, “if she wants to,” he could use her help on the mysterious case of a friend’s son. The young man is in prison for killing his wife and children. Is he guilty as charged or innocent, as he claims? Margarita jumps at the chance to get to know her father better and to have an adventure in Dallas. And she can never resist a mystery or a chance to right a wrong. She’s quickly drawn into a web of lies and cover-ups, angels and villains, wrongs and redemption. While trying to prove an imprisoned man guilty beyond doubt or wrongly accused, Margarita is haunted by a mystery from her past. She begins the fast-paced, danger-filled, winding route to the Border Ghosts.

Border Ghosts - A Deputy Ricos Tale #4 (The Deputy Ricos Tales)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Garcia, Elizabeth A.

Mystery

Iron Mountain Press

A few words about One Bloody Shirt at a Time Margarita Ricos is not just any deputy. She’s smart. She’s courageous. She’s a twenty-five-year-old Chicana with attitude who grew up on the edge of the United States in Terlingua, Texas. There, the peoples and cultures of two countries are blended, more than separated, by the once-fierce Rio Grande. Terlingua is an unincorporated settlement built around a mercury mining ghost town of the same name. It lies in the southern part of Brewster County, the largest county in the largest state in the lower forty-eight. It has more square miles than inhabitants; and more mountains than you can count: tall, short, wide, narrow, jagged, rounded, naked, stunning mountains. Margarita and her partner, Deputy Barney George, are entrusted with preserving the peace and upholding the law in a land where the flowers and people grow wild. Crime in south Brewster County is seldom violent, and usually does not come in the form of murder or rape. Yet Norma Bates, a married, forty-five year old, mother of three, is found dead on her kitchen floor, lying in a pool of blood. There is a single stab wound in her chest. Deputy Ricos is about to conduct an interview about the murder when she receives a call from the sheriff. He says he has a couple from Terlingua in his office claiming their fourteen-year-old daughter was raped. Since Margarita is young, and known to the girl, perhaps she can get her to open up. The deputy is stunned by the sheriff’s news. Murder—and now rape—what is going on in Terlingua? As the deputies work to solve both crimes, a sinister presence approaches Margarita in her home in the dark. Is it a murder suspect, or the unknown rapist, or a different kind of threat altogether?

One Bloody Shirt at a Time: A Deputy Ricos Tale

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Take one sharp, determined deputy and ask her to solve a mystery that has not been solved in thirty years. Stir in a disgruntled local chauvinist, a tourist who disappears while camping near Big Bend National Park, a sexy new waiter in Lajitas, a foray into the nightlife of a nearby Mexican town, a tall and handsome millionaire, a herd of wild pintos, a ferocious blizzard, a bloody one-car crash, and an abandoned mercury mining town. Sprinkle with the awe-inspiring scenery of the Big Bend area, starry desert nights, a little hawk-watching, and the drop-dead beauty of Wyoming. Mix it all together for a fast-paced read you won’t want to put down. Ms. Garcia has already shown herself to be a master of the whodunit, stay-up-all-night-reading genre. The Beautiful Bones is the second of the Deputy Ricos Tales series.

The Beautiful Bones: a Deputy Ricos Tale

Before the sun has a chance to rise on the majesty of Big Bend country, sheriff’s deputies Ricos and George are called to the Rio Grande near the Texas resort town of Lajitas, where there is an informal crossing point. A dead body has been found at the edge of the river on the U.S. side. Later that day, a severed foot is reported by fishermen farther upstream. Then there’s a burning wreck, a series of break-ins, and a new truck is stolen. A large stash of cocaine is discovered. Then another. “Stereotypical Mexican drug dealers” are seen hanging out in the Ghost Town. A handsome special agent from the D.E.A. comes to town. The deputies are soon overwhelmed with the amount of crime taking place in their normally serene community. As Deputy Barney says to Deputy Margarita, “What in Lawman Hell?” Can these crimes possibly be related? Who is behind the millions of dollars worth of drugs? Where is the rest of the body belonging to the feet? Will Deputy Ricos ever date again? What’s up with the break-ins? Who would steal a truck in such a small place? Why is Margarita accused of protecting a Vietnam veteran everyone else thinks is crazy and dangerous? How does she end up running for her life in a Mexican town? Come along for the ride and find out.

Darker Than Black: Deputy Ricos Tale 3 (The Deputy Ricos Tales)

Jed Petersen is an up-and-coming bull rider from Fort Stockton, Texas. He’s courageous, stubborn, and daring. His overbearing father has groomed him all his life to become a national champion on the rodeo circuit, but that is his father’s failed dream, not Jed’s. Jed's Texas-sized heart holds horses and his best friend, Ron. His father's narrow-mindedness forces Jed to leave home and make his own way in the world. He works hard to find his place in it, with help from friends he meets along the way. “The Reluctant Cowboy” will take you into the excitement and dust of rodeo arenas, into the rugged mountains of West Texas, and into the sensitive heart of an exceptional young man. It’s more than a coming-of-age story, more than a love story, more than a compelling adventure. As one reviewer stated, “Just like ‘The Beautiful Bones’ (also by Elizabeth A. Garcia) I could not put the book down until it was completely read. Love is love no matter who experiences it.”

The Reluctant Cowboy

LGBTQ+ Books

It's March in Terlingua and the weather is playing games—icy one day and warmish a few days later. But the weather is not the problem. The trouble begins with a Photoshopped picture of Deputy Ricos and Sheriff Ben that makes an innocent encounter look like something it's not. Someone is making a problem where none exists. Why? Mix in the brutal murder of quiet man "everyone likes," a young, green-eyed deputy trainee, a wealthy, mysterious newcomer to Alpine, a prostitute from Mexico, and a local ranch where it appears something "wrong" is happening. Then stir in a cast of characters you will swear you know, hillsides purplish with bluebonnets, and the never-changing/always changing mountains of South Brewster County. What you get is Deputy Ricos Tale 5, a book you can't put down. So find a comfortable place to read and come along for the adventure.

Hard Falls: Deputy Ricos Tale 5 (Deputy Ricos Tales)

The time is September of 2008. The place is Ojinaga, Mexico. Observing the peaceful beauty and outward normalcy of the pueblo, you could not tell that bad things are happening. Capitán Benito Escalante is called home from a weekend visit in Texas because of two unusually brutal murders. One perpetrator, a gringo covered in his victim’s blood, is behind bars. The other is, for now, still in the wind. As the capitán says, “Crime doesn’t stop because the police captain is busy.” Who is the woman claiming to be the gringo prisoner’s friend? What do a box containing a fifty-year-old mystery, a man with “eyes like a cat,” and a homeless boy with a sobering secret, have to do with the murders? What does the blind curandera know? Capitán Escalante invites you to ride, run, and walk along with him as he tries to figure it out. “Invite” might be the wrong word…his tale of intrigue and adventure will force you to turn pages until all questions are answered. When he rests, you can rest. Then everybody can take a breather on a bench in the shade on the plaza. But not for long.

The Trail of a Rattler

Does a deaf criminal investigator from Austin, TX have an ulterior motive for “vacationing” in Terlingua? Also, as he settles in, a series of murders occur in Sportfish Landing, Florida. Is a vigilante at work, or is it something else? Add a rescued coyote to the story, along with a young woman with blueberry-colored eyes who reveals a long-kept secret. Stir in a live oak forest full of Spanish moss, magic, and mystery; an alligator-infested lake, a “weird old man of the swamp,” a gregarious Latino sheriff, and a cast of other characters you’ll swear you know; and what you get is a mystery, an adventure, and a human-interest story you won’t want to put down.

I Can't Hear You

Tale 6 catapults Deputy Margarita Ricos from a spousal abuse case to a long-deserted shack on Terlingua Ranch, to one of the nation's most notorious prisons—the Polunsky Unit of the Texas State Prison System. An acquaintance from the deputy's past, two local bad guys, a creepy man with a Darth Vader voice, and a 21-year-old skeleton will be along for the ride. Why don't you come, too?

Raw Deal (Deputy Ricos Tales)

Franco, Antonio S.

What happens in laid-back Terlingua when a convicted sex offender moves into the Ghost Town?Will Deputy Ricos' small slip in judgment come with too high a price to pay?Does Margarita adopt a girl in desperate need of parenting? Is the ex-con conning Margarita when he claims innocence? Does he have a dark purpose for involving the deputy in his plans? Who or what is the evil that lurks in Carterton?To find out, take a wild ride with a feisty deputy through And Justice for Some!

And Justice for Some: Deputy Ricos Tale 7 (Deputy Ricos Tales)

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Books by Garcia, Elizabeth A.