Rich Curtin

February's Files: a Manny Rivera Mystery (Manny Rivera Mysteries) Rich Curtin

Even small towns have secrets worth killing for...       A corpse buried in a makeshift stone grave is discovered on a remote bluff overlooking Labyrinth Canyon in southeast Utah. Cause of death: a bullet to the back of the head.

The victim turns out to be a controversial investigative journalist from New York City who moved to Moab a few years earlier for some peace and quiet. That's what he found, but only for a little while. He couldn't shut off his investigative instincts and began probing into a dangerous situation about which the town folk were totally unaware. He got too close to a well-kept secret and that eventually cost him his life.

Manny Rivera, a Grand County deputy sheriff, is assigned the case. In pursuit of the murderer, he takes the reader on a journey involving a tragic fifty-year-old accident, a talented computer hacker, an abandoned cemetery with an octogenarian caretaker, a botched canyon-country search by the FBI, and the mind of a cold-blooded psychopathic killer.

Time is of the essence, as an unsolved murder in the backcountry will inevitably inhibit tourism, Moab's sole economic driver. To solve the case, Rivera must unravel a series of four puzzling questions. In the end, he is torn by a moral dilemma, testing his commitment to the letter of the law.

February's Files contains plot twists which will challenge even the most avid mystery reader. It's a fast moving story with a fascinating cast of characters. Curtin's vivid landscape descriptions provide the reader with a strong sense of place.