As we've come to realize in three previous books -- Mexican Hat,
Serpent Gate, and Tularosa -- Kerney works as a police officer to make
the money he needs to buy a cattle ranch like the one he grew up on.
In Hermit's Peak, that dream comes closer to reality when a woman
painter leaves Kerney a large portion of her own property on a mesa
northeast of Santa Fe. McGarrity describes this land with the keen
simplicity of natural poetry. Reality (in the form of a huge
inheritance tax bill) darkens the picture. But the discovery of a
very rare cactus plant and the unexpected arrival of Sara Brannon
(the career army officer with whom Kerney had a romance in an earlier
book) let in a few rays of sunlight. Meanwhile, Kerney and a tough
local cop have to deal with a rape and murder, plus enough everyday
crimes to keep them seriously busy without busting the boundaries of
believability.