BAG LIMIT

Bill Gastner, the septuagenarian sheriff of Posadas County, New Mexico, is 72 hours from retirement and plagued by insomnia and the toughest, deadliest case of his career. A local teen is killed escaping from Gastner’s police car, the teen’s father dies in mysterious circumstances, and someone reports cattle rustling. Rusty Nelson’s delivery is low-key and laconic as the story reveals clues as subtle as the faintest of winds brushing the vegetation along an empty highway. Nelson’s rich, oftentimes conspiratorial narration is perfect for this sleepy border town where everyone is a genealogist and gazetteer of the highest order. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 05]