South Phoenix Rules

As David Mapstone's life spirals into the ground, narrator Jim Meskimen expresses his simmering anxieties. Mapstone's unique career as a cold case deputy has ground to a halt because his boss, the Maricopa sheriff, lost his reelection bid. His wife has moved to another city without him, and their separation is the tip of the marital iceberg. As if that weren't enough, his live-in sister-in-law receives a grisly UPS delivery: the bubble-wrapped head of her lover. Mapstone must protect his sister-in-law while trying to discover her dead lover's true identity. Meskimen allows the well-drawn secondary characters to enhance the plot. In particular, he distinguishes the self-possessed former sheriff with delicate Hispanic inflections and employs subtle characterizations in the provocative portrayal of gang clout in South Phoenix. On the whole, narrator and author craft a stimulating whodunit. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine