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Middle schooler Deena Hurtado is caught with a sharpened hatpin stuck down the inseam of her jeans. This violates the policy of no concealed weapons on school grounds and earns Deena an expulsion, some touchy-feely counseling, and some problems with her parents. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman deals with this minor crisis and continues on with her job. Until the battered and bloody almost-dead body of Carmen Acosta is found by her father, ne'er-do-well Freddie Acosta. Did Freddie do this to Carmen? It's possible -- he and his wife and their kids are the center of a wealth of domestic violence calls. Did Deena take the fight over some guy just a way lot farther than she should have? Both options are real, but unlikely. During the initial investigation of Carmen's assault, Estelle notices that the neighbor's truck is sitting in his driveway. There is no sign of the neighbor. Perhaps he is at work; that's where county manager Kevin Ziegler is supposed to be, where he almost always is. But he's not there. And he can't be found. This is very unusual. Estelle had seen Kevin earlier, after a county commissioners meeting. But nobody has seen him since. Estelle thinks Kevin may be a witness to what happened at the Acosta house. So she tries to find Kevin. And can't. She does track down his partner, William Page. This creates some problems for Page, since he doesn't want to jeopardize Ziegler's job by revealing the nature of their relationship. As one might surmise, homosexuals are not always welcomed in rural New Mexico, particularly in positions of some importance and authority. CONVENIENT DISPOSAL is the 11th installment in Havill's Posadas County series. It is the first I've read, but I hope it will not be the last. Havill writes well-plotted mysteries with characters that I, as a reader, cared about and wanted to learn more about. The police work is interesting, and detailed without becoming boring. The setting is barren, which forces the characterization to be more important and forces Havill to concentrate on plot and dialogue and character. If I read the accompanying paperwork correctly, most of the previous books in the series have featured Bill Gastner, the former sheriff in CONVENIENT DISPOSAL. Gastner helps Reyes-Guzman without patronizing her or stepping on her toes. If you like southwest settings, police procedurals, strong female main characters, tightly plotted mysteries, and an all-around good read -- CONVENIENT DISPOSAL will meet your needs. If the rest of the series is on a par, then a new reader is in for a nice treat.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, March 2005
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