Burn Out, by Marcia Muller, $24.99. “Burn Out,” the latest from Marcia Muller featuring Sharon McCone, opens quietly enough as the famed private investigator flies to the ranch she and her husband own in the California high desert for an overdue rest. Confident their capable foreman, a Northern Paiute, a tribe often confused with her forebears, the Shoshone, will have the ranch in order, McCone looks forward to the private time she needs.
Yet there are still groceries and other supplies to buy, and she drives to the nearest town. About to enter the Food Mart, she notices a girl no more than 14 with long black hair and features of probably a Paiute. Dressed in only a thin cotton blouse and jeans despite the cold, she appears to be waiting for a ride. And when Sharon leaves the store, the girl is gone.
Yet something about the girl worries Sharon. But when she goes to Ramon in hopes he will have an explanation, she is surprised to learn that not only is the girl his niece, but also that there is no love lost among the family members.
The combination worries Sharon, and, despite the slim chances of finding the girl, Sharon abandons thoughts of solitude and returns to the familiar and all-too-often dangerous world of a private investigator.
Spanning a single month, the novel once again displays the author’s deft hand at mixing a smart, yet thoroughly believable sleuth and an intriguing cast of characters as she leads the reader around one dangerous curve after another.
Texas Sunrise, by Elmer Kelton, $24.95. The award-winning author of 24 historical novels set in the American West, Elmer Kelton now brings readers “Texas Sunrise.” It’s really two tales — “Massacre at Goliad” and “After the Bugles” — under one cover. The time: the Texas Revolution in the 1830s. The protagonists: two brothers, Thomas and Joshua Buckalew.
In the early years of the 19th century, men — a few with families — were beginning to stream across Texas in search of a fresh start and land of their own in Mexico. Though many are frightened off by Mexican soldiers, the hardy ones stay. Brothers Joshua and Thomas Buckalew and the gentle Muley Dodd are among the latter.
Though holding deeds given them by Stephen Austin, the brothers encounter Indians and local politics seething with unrest. Undeterred, they immediately get to the business of making something of the land. They become friends with the Hernandez family at the nearby ranch. Joshua falls in love with 15-year-old Maria.
The authorities — the Mexican government and Santa Ana — refuse to recognize the American presence. The newcomers form the Volunteer Army of Texas and tension heightens. The slaughter at the Alamo makes the two brothers and Ramon take arms and the terrible battle at Goliad ensues. But, instead of employing the customary segue into aftermath of the war, the author chooses to actually end the story and begin another, “After the Bugles.”
By now, the two brothers, along with their friend Muley and neighbor Ramon, have returned home, only to find their world changed. Newcomers seem to be everywhere. Relations become increasingly tense between the Americans bent on change and the Mexicans, personified by Ramon, who resent the intrusion onto what they consider their land, and trouble ensues.
Although the second book lacks the flow and tension of its predecessor, both reveal Kelton’s deep understanding of the history of Texas and its people that devoted readers have come to expect.
Sybil Downing is a Boulder novelist who writes regularly about new regional fiction.
