A Discount for Death [Audio CD]

Steven F. Havill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2005

A Posadas County Mystery. Estelle Reyes-Guzman plunges into her new job as undersheriff of Posadas County and the action never stops, as recently retired sheriff Bill Gastner lurks diplomatically in the background. Estelle must deal with the disappearnce of a local insurance broker who was about to be indicted for fraund. A far worse challenge comes when one of her officers, on a wild chase through town, causes the death of a young single mother in a motorcycle crash. And if that wasn't enough, now there is a dead body. It look like suicide...or does it? Read by Stephanie Brush. 9 CD's 9.4 Hrs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After nine mysteries featuring undersheriff Bill Gastner, Havill finally let the aging lawmaker retire and pass the torch to Estelle Reyes-Guzman in 2002's Scavengers. The new undersheriff proves to be as engaging and as effective as her predecessor, despite their considerable differences in age and cultural heritage. Law enforcement is hard in the small town and sprawling county of Posadas, where village police and county sheriff share jurisdictions. Sometimes everything seems to happen at once, as is the case here: popular insurance salesman George Enriquez faces a grand jury indictment for fraud, a village patrolman is embroiled in a messy domestic situation and Estelle finds criminal activity striking too close to her own family. The author renders his characters as artfully as ever, and fans of his earlier books will appreciate that Bill Gastner continues to play a meaningful role. The personal lives of Estelle and her comrades are as vivid as their professional ones. In carving out a little corner of New Mexico near the Mexican border, Havill has created an absorbing and entertaining universe.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Former Posadas County, New Mexico, sheriff Bill Gastner remains in the background as Havill's series shifts its focus to Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman. The switch has changed the rhythm of this consistently satisfying series--from Gastner's lumbering, methodical approach to both work and life to Reyes-Guzman's more frenetic balancing of family and profession--but Havill's attention to both personal and procedural detail continues to drive the action. This time Reyes-Guzman investigates the disappearance of an insurance agent under indictment for fraud and attempts to sort out what led up to a motorcycle crash killing a young single mother. Interpersonal issues, usually sequestered behind closed doors in insular Posadas County, take center stage in both cases, as Reyes-Guzman follows a trail that leads from troubled lives on the edge of despair to her own thriving family. Mystery series too often lose their way when the author attempts to replace an appealing hero. Hats off to Havill for making the transition work smoothly. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Books In Motion (July 15, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 159607356X
• ISBN-13: 978-1596073562
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,264,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Second In the New Series: A Discount For Death, March 30, 2004

By 

Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Discount For Death: A Posadas County Mystery (Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, 2) (Hardcover)

"A Discount For Death" is the second mystery bearing the tagline "A Posadas County Mystery." As long time fans know, with the retirement of Sheriff Bill Gastner, the series has shifted focus and now primarily revolves around Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman and her family. As such, this new series of which this is the second book, reflects not only a change in focus but also a subtle difference in writing style to a more distant view of the characters. While temperament of the new series is also different, this new series not only showcases familiar characters, it also retains the literary flavor of the southern New Mexico region that the author clearly loves.

Opening a little after "Scavengers" left off, Posadas County Undersheriff Guzman is picking up her dry cleaning while in the village of Posadas, New Mexico. As she stands next to her patrol unit preparing to get back inside, she hears the distinctive whine of tires on pavement and engines at high speed. She can hear two vehicles in some sort of chase and knows that somewhere along their route as they draw closer, residents have already called and complained to the village Police Department. She has time to realize that the lead vehicle is a motorcycle with a car in close pursuit and then the unthinkable happens. Undersheriff Guzman is witness to a horrible crash at the end of the street as the motorcycle goes out of control, throwing the rider into the base of a utility pole. Seconds later, she witness the near crash of a Posadas Village patrol car as it slides through the accident scene.

Despite what the misleading jacket copy states, which must have been written by someone who never read this book or the series, Posadas Village isn't really part of Undersheriff Guzman's Department. That fact does not stop her from being able to respond or request help. She does both and realizes that the Patrol car, now stopped, never had its lights or siren running and since they share frequencies, is sure she never heard the officer radio dispatch. The village patrolman, Perry Kenderman, whom she has known for some time, seems uncharacteristically dazed and confused as he stands surveying the wreckage and does nothing to assist the rider who lies crumpled at the base of the utility pole.

The rider died at impact and Undersheriff Guzman wonders why Kenderman is acting so strange. She also wonders when he is initially questioned, why he lies, as she knows that the events he describes leading up to the crash, simply did not happen. He is lying through his teeth and not very good at it. As the investigation begins into what really happened, the District Attorney, Dan Schroeder, drops another bombshell.

In an unrelated matter, he informs her that George Enriquez, about to be indicted in all likelihood by the grand jury for insurance fraud has asked to make a deal. Enriquez told the DA, "I can give you Guzman." Like the Undersheriff, the DA has no idea what he meant and he never showed up for the meeting to explain. The obvious conclusion is that he meant the Undersheriff but she is unable to think of anything that she had to do with him beyond investigating some of his alleged insurance fraud. In fact, she is to be a major witness when the Grand Jury convenes.

When Enriquez is found dead of what was supposed to appear as a self-inflicted gunshot, the eye of suspicion naturally falls on the Undersheriff. While nothing is said to her, the word soon spreads while she tries to work the motorcycle crash case. At the same time, she can't stay away from this new problem and thanks to her sterling reputation is allowed some free reign to work that case as well.

Steven F Havill has always managed to work unconnected and very complicated twin storylines in his novels and this is no exception. While the easy familiarity of the Gastner novels are gone in favor of the stiffer prose reflecting the temperament of the primary character, Undersheriff Guzman, the read is still quite enjoyable. Nothing could replace Gastner, his constant battle against insomnia and his penchant for driving the county at all hours of the night as he ruminated on a case. However, in her own way, Guzman is becoming more and more a major viable figure in her own novels. Undersheriff Guzman ruminates as well in her own way and with the stylistic changes, the author makes it clear that while it may feature many of the same very familiar characters, this is a different series. Despite the changes, which do take some getting used to, this book and new series, is well worth the read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting police procedural thriller, November 6, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Discount For Death: A Posadas County Mystery (Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, 2) (Hardcover)

It's a quiet night in Posadas County, New Mexico as Undersheriff Estella Reyes-Guzman heads to her car when she notices a motorcycle being chased by a patrol car without the lights flashing or the sirens sounding. By the time she reaches the accident scene the young woman is dead and Patrolman Perry Kenderman tries to lie his way out of some potentially serious charges. Perry was angry at Colette Parker because she intended to run off with his younger brother and take her kids (one of whom might be his) with her.

While this scenario occurs, local insurance dealer George Enriquez, who is under a grand jury indictment for fraud, is found in his office with a bullet in his head. The murder was clumsily made to look like a suicide. After giving temporary custody of Collette's two children to their grandparents, Estelle is free to work on the homicide investigation until it gets a little too close to home.

Every visit to Posada County is an adventure and A DISCOUNT FOR DEATH is no exception. As one investigation winds down, another revs up so that readers find themselves unable to tear themselves away from this exciting police procedural thriller. Steven F. Havill is a talented writer who is an expert at creating believable characters and plausible plots.

Harriet Klausner

4.0 out of 5 stars Well-Written, but Atrociously Edited, January 29, 2012

By 

Nan Booth "Hiking and dancing through life" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Discount for Death: A Posadas County Mystery (Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, 2) (Hardcover)

This is a well-told story in a beautiful setting. The action, characters, and plot twists in this novel are everything I look for in excellent crime fiction. Unfortunately, no one bothered to edit this book.

Once a chapter, there's a garbled sentence of the type "She walking down the street." Other sentences carelessly repeat words, such as "A troop of ideas trooped across her mind." Proper names are regularly mangled: MacArthur vs McArthur, Frieburg vs Freiburg, Maggie Archer vs Marion Archer. And what is a STATE police cruiser doing at a COUNTY crime scene? In a carefully edited book, it would be a clue, but in this book it's just sloppy work.

These mistakes are incredibly distracting. Normally, being a careful reader enhances my pleasure in a well-written book, but I would probably liked this book more if I read it more casually. Whoever was paid to be this book's editor has robbed the author and all his readers of what should have been a first-rate book.