Margaret Coel; “The Accidents”; “The Last Suppers”

Man Found Dead in a Park By Margaret Coel (A.S.A.P.)

Last year, Margaret Coel called it quits in her Wind River mysteries series after publishing the 20th book. Well … sort of. The Vicky Holden-father John mysteries may be a thing of the past, but Coel resurrects Vicki for a novella set in both Denver and Wyoming. Joining Vicki is Catherine Mcleod, the protagonist of a Denver mystery that Coel wrote some years ago.

Catherine, an Arapaho raised by a white family, is called in by a fellow newspaper reporter when a man is found dead in a park frequented by Indians. The paper thinks neighbors will open up to her because she’s an Indian. Catherine discovers not only the identity of the dead man but also finds out that he is a meth dealer from Mexico who is using an Arapaho to help him distribute drugs on the Wind River reservation.

Just a day later, the body of the Arapaho is discovered in Wyoming, and a local Indian addict is arrested for the murder. Holden, an attorney, agrees to defend him. She is convinced he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So Holden and Mcleod team up to find the real killer.

“Man Found Dead in Park,” published in a limited edition, is illustrated with drawings that, frankly, are a little weird. It also contains paeans to Coel by Western mystery writers Anne Hillerman, Craig Johnson and Keith Mccafferty, all of the remarks well-deserved. As a novella, “Man Found Dead in the Park” lacks the depth of a full-scale novel, but it shows that Coel is still at the top of her game.

The Accidents By Caleb Hannan (Amazon)

Is there anything more to say about Harold Henthorn, the Highlands Ranch husband who was convicted of shoving his second wife off a cliff in Rocky Mountain National Park and might well have killed his first wife 17 years earlier? After all, the murder and subsequent trial not only made local headlines but also were investigated by national television journalists for “Dateline” and other you-arethere murder documentaries.

Turns out there is more. Colorado journalist Caleb Hannan interviewed scores of friends, family and stakeholders in his fact-filled biography of a murder.

Henthorn, whose first wife, Lynn, died in a freak accident after a Jeep fell on her, was controlling and narcissistic, and after he married his second wife, Toni, he separated her from her family. Whenever Toni’s family phoned, Henthorn was on the line. He interfered in Toni’s medical practice, and he insisted on always getting his way, wearing down his wife when she objected. He claimed to be a wealthy and successful church fund-raising consultant, but in fact he was cheap and his business was a sham. Instead of traveling to see clients one day a week, as he claimed, he spent the time at Panera.

When Toni died after supposedly falling off a cliff, those who knew Henthorn, as well as law officers, thought something was fishy. He didn’t act like a grieving widower, and the details of Toni’s death changed every time he told the story. He tried to control what Toni’s family told the police. It took two years of digging by family and authorities before Henthorn was finally indicted.

In “The Accidents,” Hannan details the behindthe scenes story of Toni’s murder and how Henthorn was finally apprehended. The legwork makes for an absorbing crime drama.

The Last Suppers By Mandy Mikulencak (Kensington)

As the cook at a Louisiana prison, Ginny Polk not only is in charge of feeding inmates but also works with condemned men on their last meals.

Those suppers are not exotic fare but comfort foods from childhood — clabber cake, spoonbread, fruitcake, fried chicken. Ginny prepares them to show compassion to the convicts in their final hours. Ginny is drawn to the prisoners not only because she is compassionate but also because she has a history at the prison. Her father, a guard, was murdered there, and as an 8-year-old she watched the execution of the man found guilty of killing him.

Ginny’s life is wrapped up with the prison. She lives in the female employees’ quarters but spends her nights with her lover, Warden Roscoe Simms, who was her father’s best friend. Theirs is a complicated relationship, due to their age difference and to secrets. Ginny remembers her father as a loving person but, probing into his past, she discovers he was a volatile man given to wild outbursts, and his death is something of a mystery that Roscoe refuses to discuss.

Set in the 1950s against a background of prison violence and racist politics, “The Last Suppers,” written by Colorado author Mandy Mikulencak, is a layered book of hidden stories and revelations.

Snow By Mike Bond (Mandevilla Press)

In his latest thriller, Colorado author Mike Bond tells of two long-time friends off on their annual hunting trip to

Montana.

Both appear wealthy, but in fact, they have fallen on hard times. Zack is a former football pro whose second career as a sports announcer is waning. Meanwhile, he owes a couple of million bucks to some Las Vegas heavies. Steve, a big-spending financial wizard, has just discovered the securities he bought for his clients are worthless. Zack’s entire portfolio was invested in them.

Fortune seems to smile on the pair, however, when they come across a downed airplane loaded with cocaine. The plane is deserted, so the two men swipe the drugs and set off on a trek back and forth across the country in an attempt to sell them.

But unloading the drugs isn’t easy. They are pursued by the drug cartel that was transporting the cocaine, by Montana cops and DEA agents, even by the hunting guide they hired, since they appropriated his horses and truck. Zack’s Aspen connection fails to show up and Steve’s buyer robs and nearly kills him, and then a snowstorm nearly does them in.

“Snow” is an actionpacked adventure, but it is also a morality tale of what happens when two men who should know better get entangled in a crime from which they can’t escape.

The Elephant’s Grip By Raymond Lowrie (Wild Rose Press)

At the height of the Colorado gold rush, young Jeremy heads west to Mountain

City with his greedy if clueless uncle to find his fortune. In this adventure story,

Jeremy runs into every hazard known to gold-seekers, from river crossings to Indians, buffalo to grizzlies, claim jumpers to mountain fever, even a steamboat malfunction, a run-in with slave catchers, and love with a couple of women. He’s a busy young man, but then Colorado was an exciting place back then, and author Lowrie certainly hits the high points.