Pen Press imprint: 679 books

Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is always busy, but now more so than ever. The sheriff is still not completely recovered from his stay in the hospital, and she is recovering from a hospital stay herself. After a long day at work, Estelle is happy to clear off her desk and drive home where her beloved...

"If what you're hiding is motive, Gastner will ferret it out and do what needs to be done. An outstanding mystery." --Booklist starred review Posadas Register reporter Linda Real barely survives her nighttime patrol with one of Undersheriff Bill Gastner's deputies. He is killed by...

The rugged Cat Mesa country north of the village of Posadas is hosting the first annual Posadas 100, a cycle-cross bicycle race that promises to attract more than 140 competitors. Despite enough injuries during the pre-race practice to promise a spectacular and dangerous race, Undersheriff Estelle...

Parked high on a side road on the flank of the second highest peak in the San Cristobal mountains, peacefully surveying what soon would no longer be his responsibility as a sheriff, almost-seventy Bill Gastner could think that the night would be without incident. He'd be wrong. He doesn't foresee...

Sheriff Estelle is called to teenager Carmen Acosta's home. When she arrives, Carmen's father, Freddie, is in police custody and an unconscious Carmen is on the way to the hospital "beat to a pulp." There has been a fight over a boy, but it is hard to believe that the also young Deena is...

A well seasoned sixty-nine, Sheriff Bill Gastner knows his Posadas, New Mexico, territory as well as he understands the foibles of the human condition. So when a backhoe crushes a man to death, it's more instinct than fact that leaves him feeling there's more to this "accident" than meets...

Another Posadas County mystery with Estelle Reyes-Guzman as the undersheriff, but with the ever more popular Bill Gastner peering out of the wings to which he dispatched himself upon retirement. Estelle's new job continues to be far from easy, and now she is faced the death of a young woman on a motorcycle--...

"Havill delivers an evocative tale of hard lives on the edge of society. His portly detective is a genuine low-key pleasure." --Publishers Weekly Aging Posadas County Undersheriff Bill Gastner has weathered his quadruple bypass and is taking a rare vacation up in New Mexico's northern...

"Gastner is an incisive investigator whose two most valuable qualities are compassion and insomnia. Unlike other fictional detectives who approach murder as a personal affront, Gastner sees himself as the victims' advocate, striving to even the scales of justice for those no longer able to do...

Bill Gastner, Undersheriff of Posadas County, New Mexico, is about to lose his valuable deputy when she goes to Minnesota with her doctor husband. Then his life becomes even more complicated when his boss, the sheriff, dies in a private plane crash piloted by his brother-in-law. Questions about why...

Former Chief Warrant Officer Sam Blackman lost a leg in Iraq and emerged from the V.A. hospital in Asheville, NC, as a bitter civilian without a job or a future. But when he solved a series of local murders, Sam found new meaning for his life. Now he and his partner, Nakayla Robertson, are opening...

The past is never past on the mean streets of Phoenix, especially when the mercury hits a hundred and it's only April. Half a century after the unsolved murder of an FBI agent, the missing badge is found on the body of a dead transient. The case seems a perfect fit for David Mapstone, history professor...

Former Posadas County Sheriff Bill Gastner, now a New Mexico Livestock Inspector, is enjoying a day on Herb Torrance's ranch - soaking in the sun, counting a small herd of cattle, and thinking about meeting an old friend back in town for lunch. But suddenly a light breeze stirs the dust, a horse spooks,...

What do you do when you inherit $330 million after taxes? If you're New Mexico rancher Miles Waddell, you build a dream. A flat-topped mesa and a third of a billion dollars equals NIGHTZONE, an astronomy-based theme park, complete with giant radio telescope, a bank of smaller scopes linked to a theater,...