It’s Halloween, Laido (The Sheriff Series #10)

Minerva Archer Hayes may no longer be sheriff, but she ends up in the middle of a mystery anyway, all be it sans portfolio. As Halloween approaches with its thin places, things are going weird. Is that Logdon fellow who just pops out of nowhere a man or a ghost? Two harmless old ladies are murdered for no discernible reason. Why them, for pity sake? House pets are disappearing in wholesale quantities, including the gray kitten of a cobbler who is stabbed in the back. Min, who is nowise enamoured of cats, finds herself fostering a tiny black kitten. And she’s on the team who disinters and reburies a newborn infant. Maybe the local pastor who so intensely hates Hallowe’en has a point.

Return to Laido (The Sheriff Series #9)

Minerva Archer Hayes, the sheriff of Laido County, has had it up to here with violence and death. She never wants to pull another trigger. To escape and find some peace, she and her astronomer bridegroom Chet travel to the village of Ushuaia in the tippy-tip southmost of Argentina. They intend to combine a honeymoon there with study of the south pole stars and constellations. Simple enough, except for the shipwreck that separates them, various insurgents fighting the government, and the explosion that robs Chet of his memory. Meanwhile, there’s Ben Peters up in Texas, dealing with claim jumpers. Does Min get her wish? Of course not.

A Farewell to Laido (THe Sheriff Series #8)

Half the town would love to murder the obnoxious Adele Slater, but who actually did? Who are the ninnies who went AWOL at Fort Davis, absconding with an old war-era Gatling gun? Chet Hayes, the new light of Min’s life, is still tight with his former lady friend and it appears the conniving bitch will win in the end. Also deeply troubling, profound changes are coming to the quiet little village of Laido, Texas in the Big Bend.

As 1889 looms a month or so hence, Minerva Archer finds herself beset, running out of options, and without recourse. Evil and misfortune are winning and the whole world is gang agley. But Min is still sheriff for a few days yet. Maybe she can pull something off.

Stargazers of Laido (THe Sheriff Series #7)

It is unusual for strangers to come to Laido, for Laido County lies at the remote southern tip of the Big Bend in Texas. Still, on the first of August in 1888, not one but three bevies of newcomers arrive at the same time. The evangelistic Dale Ministry promises wealth. An impecunious travelling puppet show has taken a wrong turn. And a field crew of astronomers from Chicago are here to study the heavens.

Our intrepid sheriff Minerva Archer tries to maintain peace, order, and the public welfare, but tain’t easy. And of course since this is a murder mystery, a murderer strikes. Sheer luck spares Min from being the killer’s next victim, but what will spare her from the raging passion of love?

Thief of Laido (THe Sheriff Series #6)

From pilferage to murder, thieves run amok in Laido and up in Brewster County as well. Are they one or many? Then Ben's bride of two months is taken hostage by bank robbers, and turmoil takes over. It doesn't help that in early June, it's hotter'n Hades as the sheriff and her deputy join the Brewster County sheriff to restore order. Maybe.

springtime in Laido (The Sheriff Series #5)

She was such a nice young bride. Nice. No better way to describe her. She apparently has no enemies, yet she dies in a blizzard—stabbed to death. The murderer strikes twice more, and county sheriff Min Archer, our aged heroine, is frightened and frustrated, for she cannot find him/her. Yet the culprit lives in Laido.

Tired of mooching a typewriter from the newspaper every time he comes to town, the circuit judge sends Min a typewriter. Infernal machine…. It’s a love-hate relationship from the get-go. The new newspaper editor/reporter, Ned Hammond is certain Min is sleeping around in order to get and hold her job and is constantly snooping about to find out who the correspondent is. Harry Heinlein, the town sot, goes a step too far, and rancher Cleve Jones insists his daughter return home to run the ranch. Yes, this is the young lady to whom deputy Ben Peters has taken quite a shine.

Min eventually uncovers the culprit, but she may be a minute too late.

Happy Christmas, Laido (The Sheriff Series #4)

Tis the season, but not all is merry and bright. In the Big Bend of West Texas, 1887, Sheriff Minerva Archer is not in the holiday spirit. She was recently widowed, she has several mysteries to unravel, and a man who may be innocent is headed for the noose. Christmas trees are just catching on back East, but this is still the land of posadas and nacimientos. Will St. Nicholas prevail, bringing cheer? Hint: never underestimate St. Nicholas.

The Doctor of Laido (The Sheriff Series #3)

Laido lacks a doctor. Always has. But then Dr. David Priest arrives. He is greeted by a brass band, folks are so happy to see him. He brings with him a ward, Silas, who is Trisomy 21. In that day and age Silas was called a Mongoloid Idiot, but an idiot he absolutely is not. The doctor treats patients in whatever room is big enough until the citizens build him an infirmary. Meanwhile, Min is deep into investigating the death of the county’s only banker, Sid Armitage, even travelling to the greatest city in Texas, Galveston. As a banker, Sid was such a crooked, grasping leech that everyone in the county is a suspect. Yes, Min too, whose guts he hated. She is pretty sure she didn’t do it, but finding who did proves vexing.

The Butcher of Laido (The Sheriff Series #2)

Parts of local smarmy goat Homer Toutle, whom nobody likes, turn up in Cutter Wash as the drought finally breaks. He was dismembered by someone who knows how to butcher. That’s just about everyone, since the ranchers do their own rendering. The widowed Mrs. Toutle finds Laido to be pretty darn friendly, decides to stay, and is as surprised as anyone that Min ferrets out Homer’s murderer.

The Sheriff of Laido (the Sheriff Series #1)

The schoolteacher, eighteen-year-old Amanda Willit, disappears. Min finds her remains by accident while returning from yet another bankruptcy sale. There’s a problem: neither she, nor deputy Ben Peters, nor anyone else in Laido has ever actually investigated anything before. It’s that quiet a backwater. What do they do? How do they proceed? Since Min is the protagonist here, she prevails, of course, with the aid of Amanda’s best friend.