Crack Shot by Sinclair Browning


Trade Ellis series set in Tucson - 4th book

Trade is part cowgirl, part Apache, and part-time private eye. When a friend asks her to meet someone in a bar who has a case it doesn't seem like a very big deal. But then when she meets her actual client a Grandmother who is trying to track down her missing grandson, Eddy Gallegos. Eddy is on the run from a local youth detention center that he broke out with a couple of his compardres. Because Grandmother is a friend of a friend Trade agrees to look into it even though there is no way she can ever be paid for the job.

When one the compadres is killed, the case is now tied to a local Senator as the killed boy is the Senator's stepson. The case gets even more complicated as the Senator's wife was murdered a few weeks before by a break-in gone wrong.

Trade spends a lot of time meeting with several homeless youth who are connected with Eddy. Since I've lived in Tucson and have family there it was interesting to read a story set there. There are side stories of a fellow rancher dying and seeing the funeral march, illegals battling with the other ranchers who own property on the Mexico border. This book was written in the early 2000's and a lot has changed with illegal immigration so I'm curious to see how she encorporates this with her newer books.

A lot happens in this book but I have to say I found her relationships more interesting than the actual mystery. The author is quite the storyteller and obviously loves the Southwest ranches and Tucson. I also did not start at the first book so am looking forward to reading one of the earlier ones to get a better feel for the characters.