Michael McGarrity returns with the second installment of his sweeping, richly authentic New York Times bestselling American West trilogy set in the raw, untrammeled New Mexico backlands during the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and World War II. Hard Country , the first novel in the Kerney family trilogy and the debut prequel to his national bestselling Kevin Kerney crime novels, was critically acclaimed for its authentic, gritty realism; its sprawling, engrossing story; and its compelling, engaging characters. An instant hit on several national bestseller lists, Hard Country continues to attract an overwhelmingly positive response from critics, booksellers, and readers. Backlands advances the story of Patrick Kerney; his ex-wife, Emma; and their young son, Matthew, shortly after the tragic battlefield death of their eldest son, CJ, at the end of World War I. Scarred by the loss of an older brother he idolized, estranged from a father he barely knows, and deeply troubled by the failing health of a mother he adores, eight-year-old Matthew is suddenly and irrevocably forced to set aside his childhood and take on responsibilities far beyond his years. When the world spirals into the Great Depression and drought settles like a plague over the nation, Matt must abandon his own dreams to salvage the Kerney ranch. Plunged into a deep trough of dark family secrets, hidden crimes, broken promises, and lies, Matt must struggle to survive on the unforgiving, sun-blasted, drought-stricken Tularosa Basin. An expansive, epic tale like Philipp Meyer’ s The Son , and in the wonderful storyteller vein of Larry McMurtry’ s Lonesome Dove , McGarrity’ s Backlands showcases his keen eye for historical detail, awe-inspiring scenery, and the bitter harshness of life on the last vestiges of the twentieth-century frontier West.

Lawman turned best-selling author Michael McGarrity presents this thrilling Kevin Kerney novel- packed with gritty action-that “series fans will relish” (Publishers Weekly). Called out of retirement, Kerney must take up the hunt for a psychotic killer who’s been blazing a path of carnage from Texas to Colorado. Fortunately he’ll have help from his half-Indian son, Sgt. Clayton Istee.

Best-selling author and former lawman Michael McGarrity’s 11th Kevin Kerney novel further showcases this Anthony Award-nominated writer’s talent for crafting stunning police stories. In Lincoln County, New Mexico, the slaying of a deputy sheriff and his wife reunites Police Chief Kerney and his son, Sergeant Clayton Istee, on the bloody trail of drug-running killers.

National best-selling author and New Mexico native Michael McGarrity takes listeners to the wild territory of the late 19th-century American Southwest for this epic tale. After the deaths of his wife and brother, John Kerney gives up his West Texas ranch and heads south in search of a new home. Soon Kerney is offered work trailing cattle to the New Mexico Territory-a job that will forever change his life.

Given a chance to salvage his law enforcement career, Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Detective Clayton Istee catches a bizarre late-night double homicide at a Las Cruces hotel. Both victims, a man and a woman, have been scalped with their throats cut. The murders show all the signs of a signature hit, but national and state crime databases reveal no similar profiles. Digging into the victims’ backgrounds, Clayton discovers that six months prior the couple had walked out of a nearby casino with $200,000 of a high-stakes gambler’s money. He also learns the crime had been hushed up by an undercover federal DEA agent, who resurfaces and recruits Clayton for a dangerous mission to seize the Mexican drug lord responsible for the killings. Thrust into the nightmare world of borderland drug wars and corrupt cops, Clayton duels with a cunning assassin poised to kill him and his family in a ferocious climax to the Kevin Kerney series that is sure to stun.

Hermit’s Peak is a seminal novel in the crime fiction series that places New Mexico lawman Kevin Kerney in the pantheon with Tony Hillerman’s heroes—while carving out territory that is distinctly his own across the American Southwest.

When Kevin Kerney, deputy chief of the New Mexico State Police, inherits an unexpected windfall of 6,400 acres of high-county land, the last thing he wants to think about is work. But while visiting his new property, he comes across an ailing stray dog that leads him to the butchered bones of a murder victim near the rugged mountain of Hermit’s Peak.

After assigning the case to his subordinates, Kerney returns to Santa Fe to spend time with a woman he cares about, Sara Brannon, a career army officer who is visiting him on holiday. But his time with Sara must wait, as he is called back to Hermit’s Peak when another body is found at a remote cabin. Now, Kerney must unearth the shattering truth about his new land and follow a twisting trail of blood through the majestic landscape of the American Southwest.

Hermit’s Peak is a seminal novel in the crime fiction series that places New Mexico lawman Kevin Kerney in the pantheon with Tony Hillerman’s heroes—while carving out territory that is distinctly his own across the American Southwest.
When Kevin Kerney, deputy chief of the New Mexico State Police, inherits an unexpected windfall of 6,400 acres of high-county land, the last thing he wants to think about is work. But while visiting his new property, he comes across an ailing stray dog that leads him to the butchered bones of a murder victim near the rugged mountain of Hermit’s Peak.
After assigning the case to his subordinates, Kerney returns to Santa Fe to spend time with a woman he cares about, Sara Brannon, a career army officer who is visiting him on holiday. But his time with Sara must wait, as he is called back to Hermit’s Peak when another body is found at a remote cabin. Now, Kerney must unearth the shattering truth about
his new land and follow a twisting trail of blood through the majestic landscape of the American Southwest.

Critically acclaimed author Michael McGarrity’s powerful tale is packed with constant surprises and non-stop action. When retired Santa Fe detective Kevin Kerney discovers a mysterious body, his quiet summer in the Gila Wilderness is interrupted. Narrator George Guidall holds you spellbound as Kerney tangles with a modern paramilitary group and a vicious 60-year-old feud.

Former deputy sheriff Michael McGarrity’s stunning cop mysteries, including Slow Kill, have been nominated for the coveted Anthony Award. The New York Times says, “McGarrity has a cunning mind for crime fiction.” When pro rodeo star Johnny Jordan returns to Santa Fe, he asks his childhood friend, police chief Kevin Kerney, to serve as a consultant on a new film being staged along the Mexican border. On the road to the location, Kerney discovers the dead body of an undercover federal agent.

A long-unsolved mystery gets a grim new break when the bones of Kim Ward are unearthed in Las Cruces, New Mexico, forty-five years after her disappearance. Suspicion swiftly falls on her old college boyfriend: none other than retired police chief Kevin Kerney.
The chief’s hopes of clearing his name look bleak in the face of damning evidence compiled against him by State Police Lieutenant Clayton Istee-Kerney’s own son. Left grasping for clues, with no alibi and not a single witness to speak for him, Kerney and his wife must race to reconstruct long-past events to identify the one person who can clear his name and expose the killer before it’s too late. As their investigation unfolds, they’ll discover that Kim Ward’s murder isn’t the only crime they’ll have to solve before they can put danger behind them.

In this complex tale of greed and revenge, best-selling author Michael McGarrity shrewdly blends riveting action with magnificent southwestern scenery. Serpent Gate portrays former Santa Fe policeman Kevin Kerney in a perilous struggle against corrupt officers, New Mexico politicians, and a deadly enemy from the past. Recruited for the State police by the new chief, Kerney searches the mountainous countryside for a patrolman’s killer. Quickly solving the months-old murder, he takes on a more challenging assignment: recover the priceless art collection stolen from the governor’s office. As Kerney pursues the mastermind behind the theft, he finds himself returning to the violent roots of his first case. Michael McGarrity, a former police officer for Santa Fe County, draws on his own experience to create plots packed with nonstop excitement and believable predicaments. Narrator George Guidall’s stellar performance will hold you spellbound from the intriguing opening to the surprise ending. For more gripping Kevin Kerney mysteries, don’t miss: Tularosa and Mexican Hat.

Nationally best-selling author Michael McGarrity’s Slow Kill is a stunning addition to a series The New York Times hails as “robust.” When Santa Fe police chief Kevin Kerney finds the dead body of hotel magnate Clifford Spalding, he thinks he knows who to talk to, as the deceased man had known enemies. But little does Kerney know that the truth may go back 30 years to the day when Spalding’s son mysteriously disappeared.

Deputy State Police Chief Kevin Kerney is weeks away from trading in his badge for a rancher’s hat, when six murders are committed at a remote campground in New Mexico. Most of the evidence points to the work of a spree killer, but peculiarities at one crime scene suggest another grisly possibility: that five random people have been shot to death to cover the premeditated murder of the sixth, Vernon Langsford, a retired judge and wealthy businessman.

Ruling out neither scenario, Kerney mounts a high-profile search for the possible spree killer and conducts a deep probe into the life of Vernon Langsford — which quickly reveals a number of motives for Langsford’s murder. But Kerney has no clear suspect, nor does he know why Langsford’s son scornfully refers to his murdered father as “the Judas Judge.”

As Kerney pieces together a shocking history of family betrayal, he is harassed by a stalker, forced into a gunfight with a c rooked cop, and is shaken by new doubts about his plan to give up police work. Challenged by the most sensational case of his career, Kerney must use all his skill to track down and bring to justice a brilliant and ruthless killer.

The grand saga of an American ranching family continues in The Last Ranch, the final, mesmerizing book of New York Times bestseller Michael McGarrity’s gripping and richly authentic American West trilogy. When Matthew Kerney returns to his ranch in the beautiful San Andres Mountains after serving in Sicily during World War II, he must not only fight to recover physically and emotionally from a devastating war injury, but he must also battle attempts by the U.S. Army to seize control of his land for expanded weapons testing. Forced off public grazing lands, banned from gathering his cattle on high mountain pastures, and confronted by military police guarding a high security army post on the northern reaches of the range, Matt finds himself at the center of a heavy-handed government land-grab. The reasons behind this surge of secrecy and control become clear when Matt witnesses the boiling, blinding explosion of the first atom bomb at Trinity Site. As he struggles with an aging, stove-up father no longer able to carry a heavy load at the ranch, an ex-convict intent on killing him, and a failing relationship with a woman he dearly loves, Matt must draw upon all his mental and physical resources to keep his world-and the people in it-from collapsing. Following the New York Times bestselling Hard Country and its sequel Backlands, The Last Ranch enthralls with the deeply rich, sometimes heartbreaking Kerney family saga as it steps brilliantly into the mid-twentieth-century world of the new American West.

Acclaimed as a born storyteller by critics, Michael McGarrity packs his powerful mystery with Southwestern lore and breath-taking action. In a wicked conspiracy reaching across the Mexican border, Tularosa pits a jaded ex-cop against tight-lipped Army personnel, hired thugs, and smooth-talking outlaws. Forced into retirement by a crippling gunshot wound, Santa Fe policeman Kevin Kerney seeks solitude on a small New Mexico ranch far from the nearest neighbor. But when his godson disappears without a trace into the harsh, high security desert of the White Sands Missile Range, Kerney emerges to search for the young soldier. His probing questions lead him on a perilous journey across the stark, sun-beaten wilderness deep into the shadowy, cutthroat alleys of a lawless border town. With the winning combination of complex, believable characters and a brilliantly crafted plot, it’s easy to see why Publishers Weekly named Tularosa Best Book of the Year. With George Guidall’s dramatic narration, the rugged Southwestern backdrop and each of the colorful inhabitants burst vividly from the page.

He’s returned to Santa Fe, newly installed as police chief, when a U.S. ambassador’s estranged wife is found murdered in her multimillion-dollar home. Before he can mount a proper investigation, an FBI anti-terrorism team arrives, takes control of the inquiry, and forces Kerney to watch from the sidelines as the crime scene is sanitized, potential witnesses disappear, and the case is cleared with trumped-up evidence.
Warned off, put under surveillance, and threatened with reprisals under the rubric of national security, Kerney balks at accepting the whitewash and begins a soft probe that points to a covert intelligence cover-up with tendrils stretching from every known government spy shop and running deep into the South American jungles.
Convinced that unscrupulous government agents are acting outside the law, Kerney begins his own clandestine hunt for a hard target that will lead him to the truth about the Terrell homicide, knowing full well he might not survive the chase.
Under the Color of Law delivers another one-two, know-out punch that firmly establishes Michael McGarrity’s place in contemporary investigative fiction.