Richard Beeson

Things aren't looking very good for Chandler “Stonewall” Kean. First clue? His body no longer seems to be attached to his head. The (literal) head of the former Secretary of Defense, with a couple of grisly and cryptic additions, was found on his New Mexico ranch. Two members of the super-secret organization, Ring Zero, are called to investigate, but not all the organizations involved want to play nicely together. It's not always easy to tell the bad guys from the good guys.

A good part of this mystery deals with decoding a puzzle, something the perpetrator apparently wanted solved, but not too quickly, and I enjoyed following the attempts. The characters weren't always politically correct, but then, that is true with non-fictional characters as well. I thought that one of the important clues was a little too serendipitous but that is a minor quibble. All in all, this is a fun mystery with a challenging puzzle included, one I couldn't solve.

(Santa Fe, and the Santa Fe opera was briefly mentioned. If you ever have a chance to go, do it. The operas can be sublime.)

I was graciously provided a copy of this book by the author. Thank you.… (mais)