Red Man Down

March 17, 2014
Sarah Burke and her fellow officers look into an unusual police shooting in Gunn’s diverting fifth procedural featuring the Tucson, Ariz., homicide detective (after 2012’s The Magic Line). In a confrontation with a suspect, rookie cop Dan Spurlock kills a man taking wire from a power box who was acting as if he wanted to be shot. The thief turns out to be Ed Lacey, a former police sergeant who used to be the feared and respected training officer known as the Red Man. Burke discovers that one of Lacey’s uncles, Frank Martin, killed himself after being accused of embezzling funds from Old Pueblo Credit Union. Lacey’s ex-wife, Angela; his free-spirited mother, Luz García-Lopez; and other relatives all have their opinions, and all seem to be concealing something. A third suspicious suicide within the same family raises the stakes. The convincing interplay between Burke and her colleagues is a plus. Agent: Jane Chelius, Jane Chelius Literary Agency.

April 1, 2014
Tucson police detective Sarah Burke catches a case that may amount to suicide by cop. Sarah arrives on the scene to find Officer Dan Spurlock, who's fairly new to the force, in shock after he was forced to shoot a copper-wire thief who pulled a gun on him. The video record of the incident confirms that Spurlock had no choice. But why did the thief, who turns out to be an ex-cop named Ed Lacey, force the confrontation? Lacey was well-known as a Red Man, a police academy trainer, whose life suddenly went south when he started abusing drugs. Now, Sarah and her team must reopen the case of Lacey's uncle Frank Martin, who apparently killed himself after being caught up in a scandal. Ed had lived with Frank after his mother, one of the many children of the close-knit Garcia family, virtually deserted him. Frank was well-known for helping with many charitable causes. If, as he claimed, he never stole a cent from those charities, why did he kill himself? Sarah tracks down Ed's wife, Angela, who divorced him after he turned to drugs. Angela works for a charity store and lives in a tiny apartment while renting out the house they owned. When she's found hanging in her apartment closet, Sarah and her team become even more skeptical that the three deaths could all be suicides, especially since the stolen money has never been found. Could another member of the Garcia family be involved, or is someone else hastening to cover his tracks? A solid police procedural from Gunn, with enough twists and turns to make it altogether more gripping than her last (The Magic Line, 2012, etc.).

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May 1, 2014

Resorting to "suicide by cop," a former cop named Ed Lacey (aka Red Man) dies in a puzzling altercation. Remembering Lacey as one of her best trainers, Tucson police detective Sarah Burke digs a little deeper. She learns that Lacey's uncle--a man he had adored--committed suicide about three years earlier after he was accused of embezzling money from his job. The missing funds have never been recovered. Tragedies continue to befall the same family: Lacey's ex-wife is found dead, too, supposedly a suicide. This seemingly loving extended Latino family begins to show fissures under the increased attention. Sarah and her team try to think outside the box as they race to figure out who is pulling the strings and to stop the slew of deaths. All signs point to that embezzlement accusation. VERDICT Gunn's fifth series entry (after The Magic Line) moves methodically through an old-fashioned Southwest procedural that builds at a satisfyingly snappy pace. Partner with Carolyn Hart's classic Castle Rock, or Steven F. Havill's long-running New Mexico-set series.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
When an ex-cop is shot and killed while stealing copper wire from a warehouse, the officers who knew Ed Red Man Lacy wonder how such a once-respected cop could have sunk so low. Tucson homicide detective Sarah Burke is one of the officers assigned to the case. Sarah balances her commitment to her brothers in blue with her other familycop boyfriend, adopted niece, and an aging mother now all living under the same roof. Old-fashioned interviewing and smart dot-connecting help Burke and her able colleagues solve the case. A solid addition to a series that mixes procedural detail with domestic drama.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)