James C. Mitchell

Protagonist: former Border Patrol agent and now P.I. Brinker
Setting: present-day southern Arizona

First Line: "'Silent Night', crackling from a loudspeaker across the border, drifted north through the cold, brittle air."

Brinker left the Border Patrol after an shooting incident that almost killed him. Now a private investigator, he finds himself taking the case of a wealthy Tucson car salesman whose wife was abducted and murdered. Months later, the police still haven't found the killer, and now it's Brinker's job. I enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting, the mystery kept me guessing, and I liked the glimpse, not only of life on the Border Patrol, but life on both sides of that imaginary line south of where I live.… (mere)