Showing Bitter Recoil by Steven F. Havill

Posadas County Undersheriff Bill Gastner has weathered a quadruple bypass and is taking a rare vacation in New Mexico’s northern mountains. On the lam from meddlesome medical providers who wish he’d reform, Bill is staging a reunion with his former detective, Estelle Reyes, now working in San Estevan County. Arriving a day early at the Steamboat Rock Campground, his camping plans are interrupted by the sound of sirens. Suddenly, Gastner, Reyes, and her husband reunite over the body of a young pregnant woman.

At first the detectives assume she was a hit-and-run victim, but the medical exam reveals that she was thrown from a moving vehicle following an attempted rape. Like any good cop, Gastner’s curiosity is piqued—but he’s on vacation. Then four more deaths follow and Gastner, still a force to be reckoned with, steps in to stop the rash of murders.