You are here: Michael McGarrity > Books > Mexican Hat
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Synopsis
"Tularosa" introduced Kevin Kerney, ex-Santa Fe chief of detectives and ex-rancher, as he followed the trail of his missing godson into a web of murder, treason, and the smuggling of historical artifacts. A year later, Kerney is working as a seasonal forest ranger in the Gila Wilderness and banking his pay toward the down payment on a small ranch. Despite the county militia's planting pipe bombs on hiking trails, Kerney looks forward to a quiet summer in the high mountains.
But the poaching of wildlife, the murder of a Mexican tourist, and the discovery of a disoriented old man in the wilderness thrust Kerney into an investigation that accelerates dangerously to a heart-stopping final confrontation.
Frustrated by the ineptness of the local sheriff and bureaucratic roadblocks within the forest service, Kerney teams up with Jim Stiles, a young, energetic game and fish officer. Together Kerney and Stiles begin an investigation that takes them back in time to a sixty-year-old feud between two land-rich brothers, Edgar and Eugene Cox, and its possible connection with the death of an Hispanic rancher, and into the present-day intrigue of the paramilitary militia movement sweeping the country.
The investigation leads Kerney to question the motives of the new assistant district attorney, Karen Cox, Edgar's daughter, who may be more interested in shielding her father than in solving the crimes.
As the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, someone keeps trying to kill Kerney. And soon Karen must choose between protecting her father's long-buried secret or joining Kerney in a battle for their lives and the truth.
"A thick cloud broke and rolled toward the distant hogback. Sunlight pierced the narrow canyon, casting long shadows and soft morning colors into the ravine. Pale green cottonwoods, shimmering in a gentle breeze, bordered a dry, rocky streambed...
Through the open door of the trailer he could see the forested mountains east of Reserve that squeezed against the open fields and forced the San Francisco River into a confined, fast-running channel at the end of the valley."
Mexican Hat, 1997
Location Maps
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Interactive maps - click on a place name for the link |
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Locale
Human history at Gila is just as fascinating as natural history. For example, Gila was once the stronghold of Apache warrior Geronimo and his followers. Centuries ago, cliff dwelling tribes lived here, and the remains of their homes are scattered throughout the forest. One outstanding example has been preserved for today's visitor by the Forest Service and National Park Service at the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and Gila Visitor Center. |
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The Forest contains the headwaters of the Gila River, Mimbres River and part of San Francisco River — waters vital to the Southwest.
The mountain ranges of the Gila include the Mogollon, Tularosa, Diablo, Big Burro, San Francisco and Mangas Mountains, and the Black Range.
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James Gadsden was the American minister to Mexico during 1853. He negotiated the Gadsden Purchase that bought a large tract of land in southern New Mexico from the Mexican government. The Gadsden Purchase was located south of the Gila River extending east to El Paso and west to California. The Gadsden Purchase is the name given to a strip of land, now the southern part of Arizona and New Mexico, purchased by the U.S. government from Mexico in 1853. Mexico ceded a rectangular strip of about 29,640 square miles in the Mesilla Valley south of the Gila River. The major step that the U.S. took to solve the Mexican boundary question was The Gadsden Purchase of 1853 which settled the boundary dispute. Previously, the boundary between Mexico and the U.S. was to follow the main fork of the Gila River to its junction with the Colorado River. Mexico claimed the north fork and the U.S. claimed the south fork as its principal boundary. James Gadsden was the American minister to Mexico during 1853. He negotiated the Gadsden Purchase that bought a large tract of land in southern New Mexico from the Mexican government. The 1853 purchase of a large area of northern Mexico was considered necessary because it was needed for the route of a transcontinental railroad which would be constructed on American soil. This purchase gave the U.S. its final boundary adjustment with Mexico. |
GILA
WILDERNESS
The
Forest contains the headwaters of the Gila
River, Mimbres River and part of San Francisco
River — waters vital to the Southwest. The
mountain ranges of the Gila include the
Mogollon, Tularosa, Diablo, Big Burro, San
Francisco and Mangas Mountains, and the
Black Range. Elevations start at 4,500 feet
in the desert and rise to almost 11,000
feet on the often snow-covered crest of
Whitewater Baldy.
Elevations range from 4,000 feet
at the cottonwood/ willow bosques along
the lower Gila River to nearly 11,000 feet
at the summitof Whitewater Baldy in the
nearby Mogollon Mountains. Bewteen river
floodplains and the peaks lie desert grasslands,
vast woodlands of pinon and juniper, ponderosa
groves, and high forests of mixed-conifer.
ReviewsThe
Atlantic Monthly, Phoebe-Lou Adams From
Booklist
, May 15, 1997 From
Kirkus Reviews ,
April 15, 1997 |
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