Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 3/9/2024 + 1184 more book reviews

This is the second book in the Kevin Kerney series. I read this one immediately after finishing the first in the series, TULAROSA, which I enjoyed a lot. In MEXICAN HAT, Kerney, the ex-Santa Fe chief of detectives, is working as a seasonal forest ranger in Catron County, New Mexico. He gets involved in the murder of a Mexican man named Hector Padilla who had come back to New Mexico along with his grandfather, Jose, to try to right a wrong that was done to their family sixty years earlier. Unfortunately, the Padillas truck broke down and Hector was shot when he stumbled into someone poaching a mountain lion. Kerney had also been investigating the poaching of a black bear. Could the two cases be related? Then there is also a local family feud related to what happened to the Padillas sixty years ago and that family's involvement in a paramilitary group. Kerney's investigation makes him a target for someone. Is it the poachers or the paramilitary group? Or both?

This was another fast-paced entry in the Kerney series. This series reminds me of two of my favorites, the Longmire series by Craig Johnson and the Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box. I enjoy the New Mexico locale and the descriptions of the desert Southwest used by McGarrity. His characters are also interesting and his narrative kept me turning the pages. I have a few others in this series that I'll be reading soon. SERPENT GATE is next on the list.

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