Back to Posadas County…
I’ve been a fan of Steven F Havill’s Posadas County mysteries for years, and Perfect Opportunity is the newest in the series. And it’s just as enjoyable as all the previous books.
To start with, there’s an off-beat plot that originates with a series of seemingly unconnected incidents – but in such a small community, maybe they’re related? Posadas County’s usual cast of characters, along with a couple of new folks, investigate, and it’s pure pleasure following along as they do. Havill’s writing and the southwestern setting provide an awesome background for the tale. But for me, the most enjoyable parts of the book are the small vignettes that Havill gives us: the family of javelina on the way up the mesa, Bill Gastner’s four-wheel drive “desert wheelchair” and Francisco/Angie’s Happy Birthday rendition for Gastner that I wish I could get to hear.
All-in-all, this is an excellent police-procedural mystery, which can be read as a stand-alone, although you’ll probably enjoy it a bit more if you’ve read some of the earlier books in the series. And you should be forewarned – if you read this one, you’re going to want to read the earlier ones! But luckily, many of the earlier books in the series go on sale pretty often, so you won’t have to break the bank if you do want to catch up! Check back here, and I’ll post when I see them on sale.
Finally, although intellectually I appreciated Havill trying something new by setting his previous book in California, I was relieved to find that Perfect Opportunity had moved back to Posadas County. I know, I know, I should be open to new things, but trading the wide-open spaces of southern New Mexico for the bustle of northern California just didn’t work very well for me.
And my thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for the review copy.
Buy: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Kobo US | Kobo UK | Kobo Canada