cover image Turtle Truths

Turtle Truths

Cecil Dawkins. Fawcett Books, $5.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-8041-1433-2

Dawkins, author of such Santa Fe mysteries as The Santa Fe Rembrandt, combines murder mystery with melodrama in New Mexico and the West Indies. Struggling artist Reuben helps actor Anthony Quayle, who's hurt his leg while riding horseback. Quayle then invites Reuben to stay in his home and use his car, in exchange for occasionally playing chauffeur. In fact, Reuben is soon busy ferrying what seems like the entire credit list of Quayle's next film. When one of the visitors is found dead, Reuben is the leading suspect. And, Quayle simply disappears, leaving Reuben unable to prove his alibi. There's a lot of local Santa Fe color here but the characters are unpleasant and seem merely to appear on the same page rather than actually interact. (Nov.)