“Deadly Divide,” “Kickdown” and more

“A Deadly Divide,” by ausma Zehanat Khan (Minotaur)

Denver author Ausma Zehanat Khan has made a name for herself with a series of thrillers featuring Canadian cops Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty.

In this sixth novel, murder is personal for Esa. A group of Muslims gathered in a mosque are gunned down by a terrorist, and he and Rachel must team up to find the killer.

Esa is a Muslim, and so the hate crime comes close to home. At the center of the tragedy is Alizah, a religious activist who pushes to solve the crime. She is already known to the two detectives, who solved the murder of her sister in a previous novel. She’s in love with Esa, but he is in love with Sehr, also from an earlier novel. (If you haven’t read the series, the characters and situations can get confusing.)

Then there’s Maxime, who’s in love with Alizah, despite the fact he heads a white supremacist organization that targets her for harassment. The two cops work with a third Canadian officer, Inspector Christian Lemaire, whose loyalty they question. Rachel finds herself both drawn to and repelled by him.

Both the killer and the motive in “A Deadly Divide” are elusive. The suspects include not only those with a hatred of Islam, but also a Catholic priest and members of the mosque themselves.

The thriller is set against a larger background of racial ha- tred in Quebec and was inspired in part by the real-life story of Canadian killer Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed six people in a Quebec City mosque in January 2017. Khan writes that she was intrigued by how he was radicalized, partly by President Trump’s Muslim ban.

“A Deadly Divide,” with its surprise ending, is a chilling story of a divided province and the impact of religious hatred. “As Long as We Both Shall Live,” by Joann Chaney (Flatiron Books)

Remember Harold Henthorn, the Highlands Ranch husband convicted of pushing his wife off a cliff in the Colorado mountains? His first wife, too, died mysteriously.

Colorado author Joann Chaney uses that template for a grisly novel of murder and mystery.

In “As Long As We Both Shall Live,” Janice Evans died in a shooting and fire in her Wisconsin home in 1995. Police suspected her husband, Matt, who was wounded in the shooting, but pinned the murder on Janice’s boss, who apparently died by suicide.

Now, 23 years later, Matt claims his wife Marie has fallen over a cliff and into a river near Estes Park.

Police officers find something fishy in Matt’s story, especially after the body they pull out of the river days later is not Marie.

Chaney’s novel is filled with twists and turns, and nothing is as simple as it seems. Marie is no long-suffering housewife, and Matt, a successful businessman, is not as clever as he thinks he is.

The story is further complicated by the two detectives, a young woman trying to prove herself, and a crusty, foulmouthed veteran who is living with a secret of his own. A former partner shows up, convinced the detective himself is a killer.

It’s a well-crafted, if often raw, story.

“The Wolf Tone,” by Christy Stillwell (Elixir Press)

Recovering from a broken collarbone, cellist Margot Fickett is contacted by a young woman who claims her 3-yearold son is Margot’s grandson. Margot’s husband, another musician, is on tour. The son, a violin prodigy, is away at college. Margot is at loose ends because she can’t play an instrument for several months. So she decides to investigate the claim on her own.

The young woman, Eva, doesn’t want child support. She’s asking for just $5,000, the amount she needs to invest in her boyfriend’s Montana marijuana business. Eva’s goal is to make enough profit from growing pot to open a second-hand store.

After DNA tests show the boy is indeed her grandson, Margot gets involved with Eva as well as the pot business. Things go downhill from there. The boyfriend is legitimate, but his partner, Dutch, is shady. Dutch is also magnetic, and Margot falls for him. The attraction proves disastrous.

“Wolf Tone” — the title comes from a stuttering sound made by a cello or violin — is the debut work of Montana writer Christy Stillwell.

“Kickdown,” by Rebecca Clarren (Arcade)

When their father dies, sisters Jackie and Susan Dunbar find they must work together to save the rundown Colorado ranch he’s left them. Jackie leaves medical school, hoping it’s temporary. But she has to take charge of things, because Susan, who had stayed on the ranch with their father, is fragile and on the edge of a breakdown. “Crazy don’t run in that family,” a friend says. “It gallops.”

The ranch is bankrupt. Then Jackie is injured, and the two have to depend on old friend and sheriff’s deputy Ray to repair fences and run cattle. Ray is smitten with Susan, but he is married.

To make things worse, there is a controversy over energy development that pits neighbors against each other.

“Kickdown,” the first novel by Montana writer Rebecca Clarren, has an air of authenticity. Its dialogue, humor and sparse prose bring to mind the real ranchers of western Colorado, who fight to sustain a centuryold way of life. “Broken Field,” by jeff hull

(Arcade)

“Broken Field” is another contemporary Montana novel. Josie, 16, is helping with the family harvest when she meets a newcomer. Mikie is part Indian, a loner, who — unlike Josie — finds it difficult to make friends.

Josie, after all, is the most popular girl at school. She’s everybody’s friend. Her boyfriend, Matt, is captain of the football team. Their families believe the two have a future together, but Josie is restless and wants something more.

Then several members of the football team, including Matt, are accused of a hazing incident. The players claim they were only horsing around, and the victim doesn’t want to pursue the matter. Still, the coach and principal won’t let the incident die.

The coach, Tom, lives in a fog. His son is dead, and his wife has left him. His life now centers around the football team, which has a chance to win a championship. Crazy about the high school team, the town opposes any punishment for the players. “If I don’t play,” Matt says, “we lose.”

Set on Montana’s high plains, where ranching and high school football dominate, “Broken Field” tells of the tensions in a small town and the challenges that men — and especially women — there face.