A flat-topped mesa and a third of a billion dollars equals NIGHTZONE, an astronomy-based theme park, complete with giant radio telescope, a bank of smaller scopes linked to a theater, five-star dining in a restaurant with retracting dome ceiling, a hotel/resort, tram car access, and a narrow gauge steam locomotive to carry tourists to the mesa top. Glorious. And too ambitious for many residents of Posadas County.

The 22nd Posadas County Mystery, is a prequel to the prequel of the series, One Perfect Shot. It explores the younger Gastner, introduces Sheriff Eduardo Salcido, and traces the development of series stalwarts.

"Good cops have no use for coincidence When a driver slams his pickup truck-twice-into a tandem bike being ridden by Carlos Guzman and his fiancaee, Tasha, in Briones, California, it's more than a simple hit-and-run; the driver clearly intended to harm them. Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman gets the call with the news of her son's accident and wastes no time racing to his side. She is greeted by Police Captain Eddie Mitchell, formerly of Posadas...

The Posadas High School girls' volleyball team is on a hot winning streak, exciting everyone. But then the coach, Clint Scott, is found gunned down in the girls' shower room, the victim of four bullets, one fired nearly point blank into his heart. Dead for hours, he was killed soon after the end of last night's game. And, last night, a homegrown Banksy tagged several sites in town before he apparently began work on a section of wall outside the girls'...

"Former Posadas County Sheriff Bill Gastner, now a New Mexico Livestock Inspector, is enjoying a day on Herb Torrance's ranch--soaking in the sun as he counts a small herd of cattle and thinking about an upcoming lunch with an old friend back in town. But a light breeze stirs dust, a horse spooks, and Bill finds himself ferrying a broken cowpuncher in the back of his SUV, headed out to meet an ambulance. Moments later, Bill's day goes from bad to...

Recently named the new undersheriff of Posadas County, Estelle Reyes-Guzman investigates the disappearance of a local insurance broker and the death of a young single mother whose fatal motorcycle accident may have been caused by a vengeful local cop.