Solid police procedural set in rural New Mexico. A semi full of logs collides with a pickup hauling a horse trailer, setting in motion a series of unfortunate events and uncovering several other crimes. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, barely a month from retirement, is kept busy putting all of the pieces together.

Steven Havill is an expert at drawing the reader into the lives of Posadas County, New Mexico, law enforcement characters. I have been reading Havill books since the very beginning in 1991 with Heartshot, where we first met Undersheriff, William Gastner, who at 60 was nearing retirement. Over the many years and 27 books in the series later, Gastner’s deputy, Estelle Reyes-Guzman, is now the Undersheriff and set to retire in a few months in Havill’s latest book, If It Isn’t One Thing.

One thing I like about Havill is that he keeps the characters you grow to love involved in the series. Gastner is now in his 80’s but still available for advice for Estelle. Estelle’s husband is still the likeable surgeon in the county, and her two boys have grown into wonderful young men. The other sheriff’s department characters have changed positions, or moved on but are still in town, and you catch up with most of them in each of the books.

In If It Isn’t One Thing we ride along with Estelle as she goes through about 48 hours of incidents – a fatal road crash involving a horse trailer and loaded semi where the driver is not who anyone expects, a domestic incident turned deadly where who-shot-who first must be determined, and the thief of large machinery working at the fatal road crash where over the Mexican border finesse must be used. If it isn’t one thing, yes, it’s another.

The characters and the setting are the stars here. I especially love to read Havill on cold winter MN days when I feel the heat from New Mexico coming off the pages of his books. Though not a classic mystery, this police procedural has all the components of a thriller with plot twists and turns. Havill is such a satisfying read. Calming. Riding with Estelle as she goes from one problem to another, solving the issues with intelligence and wisdom, leaves the reader hoping that Posadas County has another Undersheriff coming up for us to ride along with when Estelle retires, like Gastner before her.

My rating: 4 of 5

This ARC title was provided by Netgalley.com at no cost, and I am providing an unbiased review. If It Isn’t One Thing will be published on March 4, 2025.

The only thing wrong with finishing the latest Steven Havill book is having to wait for the next one. If It Isn't One Thing was absorbing from the first page and the description of the highway wreck of a pickup truck and horse trailer, complete with injured horse, and a semi loaded with firewood, had me rereading it to try to make sense of the mess. Then most of the usual characters are here and they are still as interesting as when they were first introduced. This is one of the best books I have read this year and if unfamiliar to readers of good mysteries, I suggest starting with number one and bingeing them!

If It Isn’t One Thing… A Posadas County Mystery by Steven F. Havill is the latest read in the excellent and long running series. I have loved this series for decades now and a new read is always big time celebrated in this house. This one is another mighty good book and strongly recommended.

In a more far less traveled part of Posadas County, New Mexico, an 18-wheeler and a horse trailer have collided and the crash is very bad. Trapped in the mangled wreckage is what remains of a truck that was towing a horse trailer. In the crash, the horse was ejected and has a severe gash down a rear leg. The horse is hurt, but alive. The same can not be said for the driver of the truck who very clearly is dead. He was crushed in the crash and it is going to take a long time and a lot of work.

The 18-wheeler was hauling a full load of fire wood. That driver is clearly drunk as he wanders around the wreckage. A scene made worse by the fac that the entire cargo of firewood is now dumped up and down the highway.

Six miles north of the village of Posadas, New Mexico, the only thing really out there is the local landfill which closed hours ago. It is the middle of the night on a cold November night, so nobody should really need to come through on that road. But, thanks to police scanners and the local grapevine, folks are showing up in large numbers thereby making things far more complicated than Posadas County Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman expected.

So too is the backstory of what was going on with the vehicles and their drivers in the days leading up to the brutal and tragic collision. It wasn’t just the fact that one driver clearly ran a stop sign. There were dominoes that fell in order leading up to the crash which also soon caused a significant ripple effect beyond the fate of the two drivers. As the soon to be retired Undersheriff discovers, death was a part of things long before this grisly scene. The case will reach into the Dakotas, down into Mexico, numerous places in-between, and tax her and her small department in many ways.

This latest in the long running series is another great read. As I have said, this series has been a favorite of mine going back decades. As it was for my parents who were also major fans of it as they eagerly read every installment long ago. At some point, I know it will end, but I hold out hope that a series that has literally provided a comfortable escape from the real world, will continue for more books. I need them. We all need them.


My reading copy came by way of the publisher, Severn House, through NetGalley and with no expectation of a review.


Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Although this is book 27 in the series, this is my first reading of events in the Posada County Series and is a stand alone.
Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman really has her hands full when she has to deal with a fatal road accident, between a truck pulling a horse trailer and a truck loaded with wood. The driver of the horse trailer died and it turns out that nobody knows who he is. He is not the person who should be driving the horse trailer which had an expensive horse within. It also turns out both drivers were drunk. Then later a domestic disturbance turns fatal, but who fired the fatal shot???A good story line and lots of characters, I must admit getting to know them all was a big job. Also lots of police procedurals and everything is done by the book. A heavy read for me but persevered as I wanted to know 'who done it!'

Initially this book caught my interest quite well but after 1/4 of the way through with nothing else happening I just couldn't get into it. It was well written, just not fast paced enough for me. Lots and lots of procedural pages and not a ton of action.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader copy

Long-time readers of this police procedural series have been through the old sheriff, now retired, and Undersheriff Estelle, who is now thinking of leaving. She says she's had enough.

This story involves a fatal accident between a drunk semi driver and a pickup hauling a horse. The horse survives but won't load into a new trailer until they find a puppy in the wreck who was his traveling companion. It turns out the horse was supposedly enroute to Colorado for veterinary treatment but somehow wound up near the Mexican border. The owner has no idea what is happening and the foreman traveling with the valuable horse is missing.

Undersheriff Estelle is a strong character. She is tough, calm and smart and is bilingual and can navigate more than one culture.

The ending felt a bit weak and leaves you wondering about the future of the series. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was delighted to see that Steven Havill had written a new entry in this most excellent series. As Estella is months away from retirement, she encounters two very different and difficult cases in the same evening. As always, her wit and determination help solve the crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice. My only criticism of all of Steven’s books is that they are so good that I can’t put them down. So, one sleepless night and I am done. Now, I eagerly await the next one.

Thriller?

Review: I want to be very, very clear. This is not a mystery. If you are thinking of curling up and reading a mystery/thriller, and working your way through the catacombs of mental fuckery, this is not it. There are no covert connections in partial reveal to send you down the whodunnit road.

What the novel is, is pages and pages of police procedures with sudden infusions of how cutesy grandkids are, and how giving and overworked the Guzmans are, and how beautiful Estelle is and how brilliant their kids are. Blah dee blah blah. Oh sure, I wanna read about dinner around the table and little scamps making chocochip cookies. Yes, he wrote "chocochip".

This novel will leave you frustrated and angry that you wasted your time on complete blather. OR, you can get into well written scenarios, flip through the familial shjt as it has no bearing on anything, and admire well crafted characters. Your choice.

I received this ARC for an honest review.

2.7/5

If you like small town police procedurals, but haven’t been reading Steven F. Havill’s Posadas County Mysteries, you’re missing out. If It Isn’t One Thing… is a carefully plotted mystery featuring Undersheriff Estelle Reyes Guzman and her understaffed team. As with other small town mysteries, there’s an emphasis on limited resources, and juggling several cases at the same time.

Posadas County New Mexico has a dedicated team of professionals, even though they’re forced to fall by the wayside due to injuries at times. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes Guzman knows how dangerous a domestic dispute can be, but she’s forced to leave one she’s dealing with a little earlier than she would like. There’s a major accident blocking the highway after a pickup truck pulling a horse trailer collided with a semi. One driver is dead; one is seriously impaired, and the horse was lucky to survive to wander off and graze. But, now Guzman’s team has to figure out how the accident happened, and who was responsible, with a truck that came out of Mexico, and a dead driver who shouldn’t have that horse trailer.

While her team investigates, they’re harassed by the horse’s owner, who seems more concerned about the horse than the dead driver. And, the County Manager is interested in the horse as well.

But, Guzman can’t forget that domestic dispute because she gets a call that it escalated overnight. Raul and Mindy Cardonas are still fighting, but the Undersheriff isn’t the first of her team on the site, and it only gets worse. Between a stabbing, an officer down from a shooting, and an unusual crime scene, she has her hands full.

Havill has aged his characters in the course of the series. Readers are familiar with the police and many in the community who are related to each other. Guzman and a county lieutenant are both within a month of retirement. At one time, Undersheriff Bill Gastner was the protagonist while he trained Guzman. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens with the series with Guzman wanting to retire and spend more time with her family. But, I’m just thinking about that with a series that has been well-written with characters that are connected.

As I said before, if you’re a fan of small town police procedurals, you should be reading Steven F. Havill’s books.

I could not get interested in this book. I read over a third of the way in and there was nothing that grabbed my attention. I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book for my honest review.

Although the crime rate is high, Posadas county in New Mexico sounds like a nice place to live. If It Isn't One Thing by Steven F. Havill is another great book featuring Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman. The only downside to this book is that former sheriff Bill Gastner has a very small role in it. I just love this and have ever since I read the first book in this series many years ago. I have said it before and I will say it again, I am a sucker for small town stories. Havill is a master storyteller and I hope we get many more books from him in the future. In this book we find out that a tragic road accident can be so much more and involve large parts of northern America and parts of Mexico as well. Well written as usual and even some humor thrown in. I really recommend this series and author. A big thank you goes to Severn House and Netgalley for supplying me with this great advance copy. The book hits the shelves in early March 2025.

I really enjoyed this as a mystery novel, it had that plot that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall feel of this. The character worked with the storyline and was hooked from the first page. It had what I enjoyed from the Posadas County Mystery series and enjoyed how good Steven F. Havill wrote this.