Synopsis

Kevin Kerney is back in Santa Fe, newly installed as police chief, when a U.S. ambassador's estranged wife is found murdered in her multi-million-dollar home. Before he can mount a proper investigation, an FBI anti-terrorism team arrives, takes control of the inquiry, and forces Kerney to watch from the sidelines as the crime scene is sanitized, potential witnesses disappear, and the case is cleared with trumped-up evidence. Warned off, put under surveillance, and threatened with reprisals under the rubric of national security, Kerney balks at accepting the whitewash and begins a soft probe that points to a covert intelligence coverup with tendrils stretching from every known government spy shop to the South American jungles. Convinced that unscrupulous government agents are acting outside the law, Kerney begins his own clandestine hunt for a hard target that will lead him to the truth about the Terrell homicide, knowing full well he might not survive the chase.

"The hills closed in around him, hiding the mountains. Wooded slopes buried in fresh powder lined the small river that gave the town its name and hid the watercourse from view. He drove into the village and the valley widened to reveal a towering subalpine peak with gleaming ski runs glaring white under a full sun. The state highway cut through the town, spoling the spaghetti-Western motif of the buildings that had sprung up as the local merchants discovered there was more gold to be mined from the pockets of Texas tourists than from the veins of ore left in the mountains."

"Kerney topped out on the high plateau south of Taos where white-capped mountains dominated to the east and to the west the river cut a deep gorge in the high plains. Snow had rolled down the foothills, cloacked the rangeland, bathed the forest, and drifted against the brown adobe buildings lining the narrow main street that cut through the old part of Taos."

"Under the Color of Law" 2001

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Santa Fe

Reviews

Dedicated Lawman Takes On Conspirators in Taut Thriller

Each new Michael McGarrity novel about New Mexico lawman Kevin Kerney is better than the last. The latest, "Under the Color of Law" (Dutton, $23.95, 273 pages), is an amazing accomplishment that combines two usually disparate crime genres: the police procedural (non-urban variety) and the government-conspiracy thriller.

He does it with intelligence and heart-pumping suspense, without skimping on either characterization or local color.

In five previous books, the author has put his thoughtful, honorable hero through enough professional and personal crises to give Job pause.

Here, he ups the ante by returning Kerney to his hometown, Santa Fe, as the new chief of police at the precise time that an FBI anti-terrorism team arrives to cover up a local homicide using any means necessary.

Worse yet, their covert activities, which include falsifying evidence, torture and murder, are sanctioned by men at the highest levels of the government.

The bad guys (and one spectacularly bad woman) are as arrogant as they are unscrupulous, and they make the mistake of underestimating Kerney's dedication and resourcefulness.

They may have all the spy toys at their disposal--state-of-the-art surveillance devices, cutting-edge weaponry, computer tricks, even helicopters--but Kerney has a tactician's mind, a wife whose years in the military have not been wasted, and loyal, brave friends and co-workers.

The ensuing battle to the death, and the events leading up to it, form one of the most chilling and satisfying thrillers of the year.   ©DICK LOCHTE, Special to The Times, LA Times

About the only law-enforcement job Kevin Kerney (ex-sheriff's lieutenant, ex-Forest Service, ex-New Mexico State Police) hasn't held yet is Chief of the Santa Fe Police Department, and that's where this sixth case finds him. But before he can even get the normal trials of new leadership -- reallocating funds, cutting deadwood, learning the political ropes -- out of the way, he hits the ground running with the murder of Phyllis Terrell, the defiantly promiscuous estranged wife of a powerful US ambassador without portfolio. In minutes, it seems, an FBI task force is all over the case, and in the time it takes Kerney to question Phyllis's Mexican landscaper and turn him loose, task force head Charlie Perry has wrapped up the case. As Perry smugly tells Kerney, Scott Gatlin, who managed the ranch of Phyllis' wealthy father and warmed her bed along with dozens of others, has shot himself after obligingly leaving behind a full confession. This neat solution is chilling news, since it strongly suggests a government cover-up whose tentacles reach high and deep. Digging into the apparently unrelated killing of a Marymount priest, Kerney and a pair of trusted cops trace a nefarious plot that extends from legal maneuvering -- wiretaps, disinformation, court orders to turn over evidence -- to murder by government decree.

McGarrity (The Judas Judge, 2000, etc.) is just the writer to keep the high-octance conspiracy clear even though individual victims don't have time to leave much of an impression. Kerney's mind-boggling look at your tax dollars at work is his finest hour yet.  Copyright ©2001, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved

Booklist, June 1, 2001

After six novels, McGarrity's Kevin Kerney series has established itself as one of the most consistently satifying procedurals on the market. McGarrity, a former deputy sheriff for Santa Fe county, clearly knows police work, and his experience is reflected in precisely detailed descriptions of what cops do on and off the job. His respect for individual policemen and women is palpable, but so, too, is his hard-won understanding of governmental inefficiency and arrogance. The latter takes center stage here as Kerney, recently installed as Santa Fe police chief, must deal with power-hungry bureaucrats and lazy cops while trying to solve the murder of a U.S. ambassador's wife. When an FBI antiterrorist team attempts to shut the local police out of the murder investigation, Kerney smells cover-up and follows the trail to a maverick group of intelligence agents playing well outside the rules. McGarrity makes less use of his southwestern setting this time, but he handles the familiar theme of dedicated cop fighting the system with a masterful mix of realism (it really is a no-win situation) and suspense

Mostly Fiction 29 July 2001

... At the end of Judas Judge, Kerney seemed ready to retire. It's good that he's picked up energy as the newly appointed Chief of Police, however, McGarrity doesn't really ever address this inconsistency, except tacit assumption that Kerney's probably never going to retire since he really likes his job as much as the land. Fortunately at the end of this novel, there is no equivocating about it, Kerney plans to remain in the position to finish the job that he's begun.

I agree with Tony Hillerman's quote on the dust cover that "Michael McGarrity gets better and better," and recommend this book and the series to anyone who enjoys a strong police procedural with a good and credible plot or just likes to hang out in the Southwest.  © Judy Clark, 2001