Death on the High Lonesome
Sheriff Virgil Dalton Mysteries, Book #2
By Frank Hayes
ISBN: 9780425274309
Author Website: www.frankhayesauthor.com
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie
Synopsis:
The author of Death at the Black Bull returns to the Southwestern town of Haywood where the onset of winter ushers in a new mystery for Sheriff Virgil Dalton…
Virgil knows that his sleepy hometown is starting to reflect the times, in good ways and bad. It still comes as a shock when his deputy is almost killed by the body of a woman falling from the highway overpass onto his car. A woman who had been fleeing for her life…
Then longtime resident Velma Thompson is found dead on her porch—her husband missing. To search for the man, Virgil saddles up and heads to the High Lonesome, the rugged mountains above their ranch. And on a wind-swept mesa, he’ll find the first clues that point to a killer whose body count has only just begun…
Review:
Sheriff Virgil Dalton is an enigma. In some ways he is the epitome of the small town sheriff who took an unplanned detour to his father’s office when his parents died in an accident One-half Native American, Virgil knows the sting of rejection by those racially motivated, and the pain of lost love. He has the rare blend of caring, wisdom, and courage required of a small town sheriff.
‘Death on the High Lonesome’ is a very well-written western that combines the charm and desolation of the old west with modern police benefits of computers and 4-wheel drive vehicles. There are at least two mysteries begging to be solved, opening with a dead woman falling from the overpass onto Deputy Jimmy Tillman’s new patrol car. No ID, no missing persons report opened on her. Then an elderly rancher disappears when going to the High Lonesome to drive back renegade cattle and their calves. When the sheriff’s office administrator went to see why the wife had not responded to successive phone calls, she found the rancher’s wife on the porch, dead. Maybe she passed peacefully while having her daily tea…or maybe the missing husband and deceased spouse were victims of something bigger…
Virgil Dalton has a depth of character that is not fully revealed in this novel; he is three dimensional but very well concealed behind the scars of his past. In contrast, some of the others in the Sheriff’s office are shown with lives that are almost open books. The men and women are overall very likable, hardworking people inherent in the small towns many of us love. My favorite is Rosie, a well-grounded woman who keeps the Sheriff’s office working well, then Virgil, his grandfather, and Dif, who provides much-needed humor just when it is most fitting.
The plot is a delightful maze of suspense and intrigue, twists and turns that could surprise even the most seasoned deputy or cozy reader. It resonates with rich descriptions of the town, the ranches, the hard working lifestyle of those one the ranches, and the wild desert of the southwest. This reader was pulled in from the beginning, and wasn’t let go of until the last page turned. While I did finally guess who the bad guy was, I was way off base from understanding the motive behind the crimes committed. It is a good read, yet if I could change one thing, is would be that the author would weave in the results of situations and relationships defined in the first novel in the series, ‘Death at the Black Bull’ much earlier. Those occurrences were as much a mystery until revealed, one by one, as the series of mysteries and deaths central to the story. Overall, I highly recommend ‘Death on the High Lonesome’ to those who enjoy well-written mysteries based in the great Southwest and the rugged ranching life. The small town setting is sweet, and well worth the visit; I certainly would want to return again in the future.
