Wed 9 Aug 2023
An Archived Review by Barry Gardner: MICHAEL McGARRITY – Tularosa.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[4] Comments
MICHAEL McGARRITY – Tularosa. Kevin Kerney #1. Norton, hardcover, 1996. Pocket, paperback, 2004.
This is the second book from Norton that I’ve thought highly of lately; maybe they’re stepping up their crime line. It’s a first novel by a man who became a law enforcement officer for the State of New Mexico while in his forties. He established their first sex crimes unit, and had great success with it. The book was recommended to me by [a good friend of mine], but I went ahead and read it anyway.
Kevin Kerney is the ex-Chief of Detectives for the Santa Fe PD, retired now after being shot up, an embittered man living alone in the New Mexico desert. He’s visited by the cop, a Navajo Indian, who caused him to be shot (by drinking on duty), and the man needs help. His son has gone AWOL from his Army assignment at White Sands Missile Range, and no one can find him.
Kerney is the boy’s godfather, and for this reason alone eventually agrees to look. The trail leads back in history, and then to death and Mexico.
In terms of prose and characterization, this is one of the best I’ve read in a while. My only problem with it came from the fact that it started out to be a detective story and turned into something more of a cowboy story for the second half of the book. A darned good one, mind you, but still.
McGarrity obviously has a love of and a real feel for the desert country of New Mexico, and writes of evocatively of it as anyone this side of Tony Hillerman. I didn’t think a couple; of the villains were fleshed out quite well enough to make them completely believable, but that was one of the few slips I thought McGarrity made. This has the potential to be a very good series.
The Kevin Kerney series —
1. Tularosa (1996)
2. Mexican Hat (1997)
3. Serpent Gate (1998)
4. Hermit’s Peak (1999)
5. The Judas Judge (2000)
6. Under the Color of Law (2001)
7. The Big Gamble (2002)
8. Everyone Dies (2003)
9. Slow Kill (2004)
10. Nothing But Trouble (2005)
11. Death Song (2007)
12. Dead or Alive (2008)
13. Residue (2018)
14. Head Wounds (2020)
August 10th, 2023 at 8:01 am
I remember when Barry first reviewed this one, and I tried it but just couldn’t get into it for some reason. I had no idea the series had gone on as long as it has.
August 10th, 2023 at 11:31 am
That pretty much sums it up for me, too. Checked out the first one or two Kerney books, passed on them, and went on to other things. Had no idea that there were so many.
Obviously Barry saw something in this first book that neither you nor I saw, Jeff. Read that last sentence in his review again.
August 10th, 2023 at 2:07 pm
I probably read the first seven or eight books in the series, and thought they were well written with strong characters, plus a strong sense of place.
He has written three books about the history of the Kerney family, which are more westerns than mysteries.
His most recent book is The Long Ago, I just finished, and is set in the 60’s at the beginning of the Vietnam war,and is also well done.
August 11th, 2023 at 7:26 pm
I read one because of the New Mexico setting, I lived in Los Alamos for a while, but it just didn’t grab me. I’m happy to admit though I might have missed out.