Synopsis

When an old family friend unexpectedly leaves Kevin Kerney 6400 acres of high country land outside Las Vegas, New Mexico, the last thing Kerney wants to think about is police work.  Taking a rare weekend off from his job as deputy chief of the New Mexico State Police, Kerney sets out to explore the land, a rugged mesa in the shadow of Hermit's Peak.

Before Kerney can get very far, he comes upon an ailing stray dog with a woman's running shoe in its mouth.  The dog leads him to the butchered bones of a murder victim, and Kerney finds he's inherited a homicide along with a ranch.

Determined not to see his weekend ruined, Kerney turns the investigation over to the state police district office and continues his survey of his windfall inheritance, only to find that timber thieves have clear-cut a great swath of woodland in a remote canyon.

Unsure of whether he can pay the inheritance taxes, hold on to the land, and realize his dream to ranch again, Kerney returns to Santa Fe.  There he finds that Sara Brannon -- a woman he cares deeply about -- has arrived to visit him.  As Kerney and Sara begin trying to sort out a relationship that means more to both of them either is willing to admit, Kerney is called back to Hermit's Peak. Another murder victim has been found at a remote cabin next to Kerney's property.

Kerney is soon directing a multipronged investigation into crimes that may or may not be connected. Step by step, he assembles facts that cast suspicion on some unlikely suspects.  As he races against time to solve to murders and avert another, Kerney must also grapple with what the truth may mean for a man he has grown to respect and trust.

"Off in the distance he could see the outline of Hermit's Peak, two massive summits that stood like the hindquarters of a prehistoric animal. His gaze travelled to some smaller button-nose peaks that dipped off at the front end, and suddenly Hermit's Peak looked like an upturned face with a gaping mouth staring into the sky."

".. as they made the short fifteen-mile trip to Las Vegas, New Mexico. The city, situated on the edge of the high plains with Hermit's Peak and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains looming in the background, had its boom days late in the last century when the arrival of the railroad turned it into a major transportation center.

With almost a thousand historic buildings dating from early in the century and before, Las Vegas was staging a comeback ..."

"Hermit's Peak", 1999

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Location Map

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Location Information

The fertile valley of Las Vegas, also known as "The Meadows," was occupied as early as 8,000B.C. by Paleo-Indians. Sedentary Pueblo Indians were present in the area during the 1100s and 1200s until forced out either by drought or the pressure of Apache Indian attack. (Image: ©Magnus Land Sales)

In subsequent years, nomadic Plains Indians, and later, the Comanches, camped in the Las Vegas area  on their way to raid Pecos and the other Pueblo and Spanish settlements to the west. A succession of  Spanish explorers, starting with Coronado in 1541, passed through going in the opposite direction on their way to search the plains for fabled cities of gold.

By the 1790s the increase of population in the Rio Grande Valley caused Spanish settlement to expand into the valleys along the eastern face of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

The Santa Fe Trail came through the center of what would become Las Vegas in 1821. When the community was founded in 1835, the trail continued to occupy what is now Bridge Street, the Plaza and South Pacific Avenue. These three routes have been designated as part of the National Santa Fe Historic Trail.

On July 4, 1879, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad arrived in Las Vegas, heralding a new era of prosperity as waves of immigrants from every walk of life soon followed. Las Vegas has the most interesting and colorful architecture in the state thanks to the variety of immigrants and the new availability of building materials shipped by the railroad. (Image:Centre Block ©CCHP )

New Mexico's first phone system and its first opera house were established here. Las Vegas was New Mexico's first territorial capital (for one day). Brought by the railroad, European immigrants settled in with a sense of permanence - and their settlement resulted in the myriad architectural treasures that give Las Vegas its special charm. (Text from Counties New Mexico)

SPRINGER

Springer was named for Frank Springer, a brilliant lawyer from Iowa who arrived in Cimarron on February 22, 1873. As attorney for the Maxwell Land Grant Company, he won stubbornly contested litigations which lasted nearly 20 years. An historic case was won in the U.S. Supreme Court, and it is said that Mr. Springer presented one of the finest land grant arguments ever made before that tribunal. Mr. Springer became president of the Maxwell Land Grant Company in 1891 and directed the development of this vast area into cattle ranches and farming, timber and mining enterprises. His CS Ranch brought one of the first herds of hereford cattle to the area in 1882. The CS Cattle Company is operated today by his descendants. He and his brother Charles were responsible for building Eagle Nest Dam in 1916. A man of many interests, he was a world authority in geology and paleontology -- his fossil crinoid collection is now in the U.S. National Museum in Washington, D.C. He was a founder of both New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas and the New Mexico Art Museum in Santa Fe.

The town that is now Springer used to be called Maxwell, in honor of Lucien B. Maxwell, sole owner of the Maxwell Land Grant. As the years went on and the Santa Fe Railroad made its way through Springer in 1879, the town developed as the center of trade, serving ranchers and farmers for miles around. Springer became the third county seat of Colfax County (1882-1897). The old County Court House -- the first one to be built in the area -- still stands, its yellowish exterior a nostalgic monument to the ruthless outlaw gangs who passed in and out of its portals. Today the Court House is home to the Santa Fe Trail Museum and Historical Society, Inc., featuring a fascinating collection dramatically portraying the history of the Old Santa Fe Trail and local pioneers. The museum recently received a $145K scenic byways grant to construct an interpretive center.

The Maxwell Wildlife Refuge is the place to be for wildlife viewing and fishing. Established in 1966 on 2,800 acres, the refuge is used extensively by ducks and geese during the fall and winter seasons -- when viewing is at its peak. From king fishes to mallards to bald eagles, the Maxwell Refuge has it all. But the refuge is much more than nature's bird house. Aside from a population of deer and other animals, Lake Number 13 has some of the best trout fishing in the area and trolling is allowed up to October.

Reviews:

Amazon.com
Kevin Kerney might just be the best cop currently working the mean streets of mystery fiction. As deputy chief of the New Mexico State Police, he is not tortured by the doubts, angst, alcoholism, or mixed motives that seem to overwhelm many of his fictional colleagues. His methods are rarely flashy or excessively macho, and he treats other cops of all ranks with a minimum of attitude. Author Michael McGarrity, who worked for Santa Fe's sheriff's department before retiring to write, has managed to make Kerney human without loading him with excess baggage.

As we've come to realize in three previous books--Mexican Hat, Serpent Gate, and Tularosa--Kerney works as a police officer to make the money he needs to buy a cattle ranch like the one he grew up on. In Hermit's Peak, that dream comes closer to reality when a woman painter leaves Kerney a large portion of her own property on a mesa northeast of Santa Fe. McGarrity describes this land with the keen simplicity of natural poetry. Reality (in the form of a huge inheritance tax bill) darkens the picture. But the discovery of a very rare cactus plant and the unexpected arrival of Sara Brannon (the career army officer with whom Kerney had a romance in an earlier book) let in a few rays of sunlight. Meanwhile, Kerney and a tough local cop have to deal with a rape and murder, plus enough everyday crimes to keep them seriously busy without busting the boundaries of believability. --Dick Adler

From Kirkus Reviews
The day figured to be just about perfect for Kevin Kerney, at last firmly ensconced as chief deputy of the New Mexico State Police. There, he is checking out his windfall6,400 acres of prime high-country ranch land left to him by a family friend. It's spring, the north New Mexican mountains are breathtaking, life is sweet, and then he leans out the pickup's window to see the dog. Well, not the dog so much as the sneaker in the pup's mouth, plus its mate produced minutes later. Because, instinctive cop that Kerney is, he senses at once that his perfect day is about to darken. It doesn't take him very long to locate the corpse mutilated and dismemberedof a young Mexican woman, dead for about a year. How did she get there? Who hated her enough to treat her so cruelly? The answers turn out to be as heartbreaking as they are grim, and when he has them all, he finds himself facing the cops classic dilemma: the law points one way, justice another. And on top of that, Kerney's in love, which, for a bachelor as confirmed as they come, results in dilemmas no less excruciating. Brisk pacing, meticulous plotting, and characters to root for: the fourth (Serpent Gate, 1998, etc.) and best in a series that was never less than professional and is now approaching distinguished. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist , April 15, 1999
The first three Kevin Kerney novels drew much of their strength from the way author McGarrity uses his New Mexico setting to meld western and mystery genres. That mythic frame is still part of the mix in the series' latest installment, but the focus this time is more on procedural detail and the emotional burden of being a cop. The action begins with cowboy manqueKerney in northern New Mexico, where he has inherited prime ranch land. Along with the land comes a dead body. The search for the identity of both the victim and the killer draws Kerney, chief deputy of the New Mexico State Police, into contact with the local cops, especially Lieutenant Gabe Gonzales, whose investigation reveals a very personal connection to the crime. Also present is Major Sara Brannon, Kerney's love interest from Tularosa (1996), returned from duty in Korea and every bit as uncertain as Kevin about where their relationship is heading. The Kerney series has become the class of the post-Hillerman New Mexico stable by creating characters who are equally at home on the mythic range and in the contemporary world. If the latter is more prominent this time--the agony of Gabe Gonzales, a good cop caught in a personal tragedy, screams modern world with all the force of an NYPD Blue episode--the contrast between Old West myth and New World reality remains a potent force, as McGarrity reminds us that the rugged individualists in today's Southwest need a little help getting through the night. Bill Ott
Copyright© 1999, American Library Association. All rights reserved