The coroner's findings prove them wrong. He had been stabbed and was dead when the fire started. The second victim, a woman, is found in the fruit cellar below the building. This poor unfortunate young woman had been dead for some time - eleven years to be exact. Easily identified by her driver's license in her purse, Anna Marie Montoya had been reported missing to the Santa Fe Police Department.

Since the fruit stand is located in Lincoln County (rural Albuquerque), tentatively, Sheriff Paul Hewitt is the officer in charge. He quickly assigns one of the responding officers, Deputy Clayton Istee to be head detective on the case(s). Clayton identifies the first victim as Joseph Humphrey, a homeless alcoholic drifter who occasionally hit it big at the casino.

The fact that Montoya was the subject of a cold missing persons case under the jurisdiction of the Santa Fe Police Department sets up a curious interplay between the two investigating officers. The man responsible for the original investigation of Anna Marie Montoya's disappearance is Kevin Kerney, Clayton Istee's father. What is even more awkward is that only recently has Kerney learned of Clayton's existence.

The product of an affair with an Apache woman, Clayton was reared by his mother, who told him nothing about his father. Clayton is, in fact, resentful of his father's intrusion into his life at this late date, thus making the cooperation needed to facilitate the rapid solution to the crimes more difficult.

The two cases, initially thought to be unrelated except for the proximity in which the bodies were found, turn out to have several people apparently connected to both crimes. As Clayton probes into the personal history of Humphrey, he finds connections to the Montoya case. Shady politics, prostitution and gambling play prominent roles in the events that precipitated both murders. A number of wealthy personalities, protective of their lifestyles with the money and influence to make things happen, present a challenge to Kerney and Istee in their efforts to solve the cases.

The Big Gamble is the seventh of Michael McGarrity's successful series featuring Kevin Kerney. This entry, while logically following events which occurred in The Judas Judge, assumes prior knowledge on the reader's part. It is difficult to get much out of the interaction between Clayton and Kevin. Of course, the earlier books, beginning with Tularosa will offer additional help in comprehending the complex relationships between the lead characters.

The feeling of place and atmosphere of the Southwestern United States is not so evident in The Big Gamble as it is in McGarrity's previous novels. This book is much more plot driven than the others in the series. There is little character development beyond some growth in the father-son relationship between Clayton and Kevin. Kevin's wife, Sara plays only a cameo role. Keeping the staff of the two police departments straight requires some concentration unless one is very familiar with Kerney's staff from the previous books.

A bit annoying was the consistent reference to police department lingo as in “Roger That” or “Ten Four.” I don't doubt that police personnel really use these phrases, but they have been so overused in common parlance that it tends to be nerve grating. I'd rather they just speak English.

The Big Gamble is a bit too busy for my taste. I am a big fan of the series and read each entry as it is published. However, I don't think The Big Gamble is quite up to McGarrity's usual high standards. There is too much happening in too few pages to get all the events into some kind of order. Many books profit from a good bit of editing, but this novel could easily have been fifty pages longer and much more readable.

--Andy Plonka