Twice Buried

When Bitter Recoil (SMP, 1992), Steven F. Havill's second book featuring Undersheriff Bill Gastner of Posadas County, New Mexico, appeared, The Armchair Detective declared, "Assuming [Gastner] can continue to survive bullets and cigarettes, we can hope for many more." Well, the bullets are still flying but it's been five months, seven days, and some hours since the last cigarette when Gastner returns in his third adventure in Twice Buried.
The sixty-something Gastner is getting ready to become padrino, or godfather, to the baby boy of his good friend and former deputy Estelle Reyes-Guzman. The ceremony, which will take place in a few weeks' time down in Old Mexico, would normally be the only thing on Gastner's mind. Lately, however, slow, dusty Posadas County has seen a lot of activity.
There's the series of burglaries that have left the law enforcement officials with no leads. There's the deliberately set fire that destroyed Sheriff Holman's home. There's the escalating fistfights after the high school basketball games. And then eighty-six-year-old Anna Hocking is found dead at the bottom of her cellar stairs, and Gastner is sure it was no accident. At the same time, Estelle's great-uncle Reuben Fuentes starts carrying a gun again, and when Gastner goes out to talk to him, he learns that Reuben's three dogs were recently poisoned.
When the body of the real estate agent Stuart Torkelson is found out near Reuben's place, and the sheriff wants to arrest the old man, Gastner calls in Estelle to protect her great-uncle's name. With Reuben's health deteriorating rapidly, Gastner knows he'll need all the help he can to get to prove Reuben's innocence and clear up the rash of lawlessness in Posadas County.