Into Hot Water, A Four Corners Mystery by Judith Ann Isaacs

The second book I read for the Family50 was Into Hot Water, A Four Corners Mystery by Judith Ann Isaacs. Judith has written at least a couple of local guidebooks I have read, and all of them have been both straightforward to use and useful in their details regarding our local area. Given this, I was happy to pick up Into Hot Water.

Just a little background: For a few months after college I worked at a self-publishing book business in Bloomington, Indiana. It sticks in my mind for two reasons: I learned not everyone has a book in them, and if you are a small business owner, Indiana allowed you to let your workers smoke in the workplace. This was the primary reason at least two (yellowed, odoriferous, desiccated) employees worked there. Back to my first point - egads do some people write terrible, terrible books. It truly was a vanity press in the worst sense of the phrase. Given this background, I was pleasantly surprised with this book. The book layout, editing and story were all fantastic for not having been released by a major publisher.

But was it a good read? I will say this: I finished the book and never once thought of putting it down. It was a solid mystery with character development enough for me to care about the people in the story, adequate foreshadowing so that one did not feel the solution came out of left field, and just the right amount of filler to provide backstory but not boredom. In addition, I loved the local flavor.The land disputes, the culture, the small time police - all of this is alive and well in our part of the world, and I was happy to read a novel that captured the true flavor of New Mexico as I have experienced it. 

Recommended audience: Great beach read, New Mexico read, and mystery