ABQ Press

Damian Lucero is a US Marine. He survived combat in Iraq, though he carries the scars of that war in his on-going battle with post traumatic stress disorder. He is also a gifted artist and a victim of identity theft. In this exciting first novel, Lester Libo combines political and legal intrigue with the therapy of PTSD, the contemporary art world, and a love story in a plot that bounces between Albuquerque and Dallas.

In the second book of the Bob McGregor Mystery Series, the death of lawyer McGregor’s friend is no accident. From his mountain hideaway above the vast tomato fields and fractious populace of Calvin County, Tennessee, McGregor descends to join the DA’s homicide team, forfeiting precious writing time on his historical novel. The U-turn from novelist to detective hurls him down a dangerous road up against a philanthropic whiskey distiller, a nasty blackmailer, a murderous firebug, and a scheming car thief. But nothing detracts McGregor from the allure of local women. Sex and sexual intrigue careens him through the dark back-alley of self-deception until one captivating woman sets him on a path toward redemption and enlightenment.

When lawman Sam Taggart is killed by a long-range rifle shot, his two traveling companions, newly-minted schoolteacher Kate Shaw and Texas cowboy Monday Malone, survive. The shooter's tracks point toward their destination, the town of Warbonnet. Since she and the marshal were hired sight unseen, Kate asks Monday to assume Taggart's identity to find the killer.

Now these two greenhorns must survive long enough the find the murderer. Can they also endure the bitter secrets they carry in their hearts?

Hilarious and wildly offbeat, Hoot 'N' Holler is a rousing romp through the adventures of two appealing and feisty women who refuse to take retirement sitting down and become professional truck drivers. In 2009 Hoot 'N' Holler won the Truck Writers of North America Bronze Communication Award for book of fiction. Tom Claffey interviewed numerous truckers (men and women) while developing the story of Sally Tremaine and Dixie O'Donnell (aka Hoot 'N' Holler). In addition to spending time in a rig, he visited truck stops across the United States, including the famed Iowa 80 Truckstop. Tom and his wife Sylvia live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Every industry, profession or trade has its icons, its legends. Right up there, near the top of trucking legends, is C.W. McCall. Searching for C.W. McCall reads like a trucker’s canon: do what you love, stand by your friends, and honor the rules of the road. Santiago Lopez and his faithful dog, Sloan, depart the family ranch in Pecos, New Mexico, in an old F-150 pickup to search for Santiago’s hero of more than thirty years, C.W. McCall. They soon find themselves welcomed by a convoy of 18-wheelers traversing the roads and highways of southern Colorado. The characters in the story are people you would like to know. Some, most notably Sally Tremaine and Dixie O’Donnell, whose handle is “Hoot ‘N’ Holler,” appeared in Tom Claffey’s previous novel, Hoot ‘N’ Holler, which won the Truck Writers of North America 2009 Bronze Communication Award for book of fiction. Do Santiago and Sloan find C.W. McCall? Read the story of their journey and find out!

Dallas adman Ben Shilling receives a mysterious email accusing him of being a murderer! On our way to discovering what that email is all about we enter Ben's world of crazy clients, offbeat creative people and a host of other memorable characters.

Most of us weave the fabric of our lives with strands selected from the seven virtues and the seven deadly sins. Jennifer Murphy found another thread, and when it began to unravel, she left a man with a knife in his chest on her kitchen floor in New Mexico and a cry for help on Rainbow Porter's door.

Porter loved Jenny—in a way. At the very least, he had an affection and they had an accommodation, but the more he pursues the running woman, the deeper he digs into her past, the less he understands her as a woman or an artist, and the less he understands his attraction to her.

The cops want Jenny, Porter wants her, two ex-husbands want her, a killer is stalking her, and then two dubious figures from the intelligence community muscle into the chase. When Rainbow recruits Sharon Coulter, an attractive ex-cop and detective from LA, to join the hunt, they begin to close in on the central mystery of Jenny's past. But as Rainbow begins to understand Jennifer, he begins to understand Sharon too, and Sharon is damaged in some of the same ways he is.

A world globe revealed a cluster of Pacific Islands, one of which is named Viti Le Vu.

"That sounds like a cartoon!" this author exclaimed. Thus Viti Le Vu was born.

In the early years, Viti was youthfully slender, but with menopausal mischief, her waistline presented a problem. Marsha's belly mimicked Viti's distress, with Marsha taking on Viti's shape, all of which led to this book.

Switching constantly between the long running tea party which, for some, was Victorian England, and the perilous landscapes of the American Southwest, Benarty, a prosperous young Englishman, is beset by the memory of his last weeks in London, during which he has step by step divested himself of fiancée, family, friends, servants and career. His protected life has been disturbed by the arrival on his doorstep of a mysterious young American, who sneers at Benarty’s conventional life. Bitterly jealous of Tam’s far-flung adventuring and enviable certainties, there is something in Benarty which welcomes this upheaval, without which, he suspects, he would have passed his days attempting to plaster over the mutinous cracks in his well-ordered existence. He uncovers Tam’s true identity in a startling conclusion.

Rather than check in at hotels or B&B’s on his travels round Scotland tending to plants in offices, Billy, akward in the company of his kind, secretly spends his nights on the very premises he has been servicing during the day. He tries his best not to be a loner, but his attempts at sociability always seem to go awry.

When he does eventually fall in love, it is with a house a the edge of the sea, which he has rescued from the encroaching sands. The two women who have managed to enter his life soon put paid to that however, and Billy discovers his life a loner is not so easily shed.

In the first Claire Reynier mystery the librarian/sleuth investigates the theft of a rare book collection. Her investigation takes her into a remote and beautiful area known as The Blue.

A Romantic Times Top Pick

Nominated for Reviewers Choice Award

Southwest Book of the Year

One of IMBA (Independent Mystery Booksellers Association) best selling paperbacks for 2000

“Van Gieson’s back and better than ever.  Don’t miss The Stolen Blue.” 
Tony Hillerman

“A captivating and absorbing, highly readable, stay-with-it-till-you’re-done mystery.” 
Fred Harris

“Masterly work . . . A fascinating heroine.” 
Library Journal

A Claire Reynier mystery inspired by the story of Everett Ruess, a talented artist and writer who disappeared in the Canyonlands of Utah in the ‘30s. His disappearance was one of the West’s great unsolved mysteries until it was (or was not depending on which DNA expert you believe) solved in the spring of 2009.

A Romantic Times Top Pick

“A classy new mystery series . . . Moves confidently from one reasonable plot development to the next, incorporating in the action a nice sense of place.”
Arizona Daily Star

“Van Gieson invokes the desert beauty of New Mexico with meticulous care.”
Publisher’s Weekly

Claire becomes a victim of identity theft.

Bravos Award for literary excellence

“Van Gieson combines solid character development with a fascinating plot, ambient New Mexico atmosphere, and a surprise ending.  This series deserves a wider audience.” 
Booklist

“Van Gieson has created a heroine that most women will want to emulate because she is so bright, honest and likable . . . Multi-layered and complex . . . Entertaining and informative, a real treat.” 
Midwest Book Review

Inspired by the story of the Crypto-Jews in New Mexico. Claire’s investigation takes her back to the time the Inquisition was practiced in the New World.

Mystery Guild selection

“The whodunit is fascinating, but it is the mystery of the past that holds the reader’s attention.” 
Midwest Book Review

“A shimmering showcase of Southwestern mystique.”  Santa Fe New Mexican

A homeless woman is found dead in the basement of Zimmerman Library with an illustration stolen from the rare book room.

Finalist for the Barry Award for best paperback original

Winner of the Zia Award for best work of fiction by a New Mexico woman

“A gripping crime novel . . . A likeable heroine, compelling story line and vivid descriptions make this book a winner.”  Albuquerque Journal

“An involving read at an irresistible price . . . Superb.”  Santa Fe New Mexican 

It's a 104-degree day in Albuquerque when attorney/sleuth Neil Hamel gets a call asking her to go to southern New Mexico to help a wolf advocate who calls himself Juan Sololobo. Juan, who attracts trouble wherever he goes, is visiting the town of Soledad to give an educational program featuring his wolf, Sirius.

After someone lets Sirius out of his pen, a federal official is murdered and Juan becomes the prime suspect. As Neil defends him she finds herself immersed in a deadly conflict between ranchers and environmentalists over wolf reintroduction.

“Crisp, taut and utterly compelling.” Entertainment Weekly

Imagine growing up in a place where people around you die on a regular basis, some from known and others from more mysterious causes. Such is the case for Anthony "Tony" Ervin, a young man with mental retardation who lives at the Oak Valley State Training Shcool and Hospital in East Tennessee. In 1978, when murders begin happening back to back and innocent victims experience no reprieve from the brutality that pervades their lives, Tony finds himself thrust into the role of amateur sleuth. Uncertain of whom to trust, with violence and deception escalating, and viewed by those who run the institution as incompetent, Tony nonetheless discovers clues that lead to multiple suspects and motives. As Tony plunges into a week that will change his life, his movements as the mail boy for Oak Valley begin to have a profound impact on all whose path he crosses.

"Protagonist Tony Ervin, a resident at Oak Valley State Training School, is a highly unconventional, yet deeply moving and believable sleuth, who manages to remain aware and kind in the worst of circumstances. You can't help but root for him as he defies the expectations of those in power while struggling to solve the crimes taking place at Oak Valley and attempting to restore order to the only world he's known..."
-- Judith Van Gieson, author of the Claire Reynier and Neil Hamel mysteries.

"As Beckwith pulls aside the veil that shrouds Oak Valley, we are threaded through all the intrigue and politics of this labyrinthine place in our search for a killer. She leads us through the many rooms, halls and grounds and allows us to listen to both the caretakers and residents -- each with their own brand of human frailties -- one can become strangely enlightened and satisfied at the same time."
-- Robert Perske, Author of Circles of Friends, Unequal Justice and Deadly Innocence.

Nick Cowan lost his innocence and his wife in the Sea of Cortez. A small town in west Texas took a gamble on the future and lost everything. Paula Stafford lost her brother to Helen Daws, who never lost a thing in her life, and all of them are heading for a bloody rendezvous on the shores of the Sea of Deception.

Ten years of wise and witty reflections on what it's like to be a modern woman by Lloyd Olivia Davis whose award-winning column Uppity Woman appeared regularly in the Topeka Capital-Journal and in other publications.

PRE-ORDER at present.

When the Reverend Richard Catesby’s younger brother Willy disappears in his yellow Volkswagen convertible, the local sheriff does not believe there is enough evidence to warrant an investigation. But Catesby, convinced his brother has been murdered, puts aside his vows as an Episcopal priest and prepares to avenge Willy himself. His friend Stan, worried not only for Richard’s safety, but also bout the morality of his crusade, tries to reason with him. Richard however, finds himself growing fond of his role as a samurai. He devises an intriguing revenge, and Stan reluctantly finds himself caught up in its web.

Tomato Boy is the first book in the Bob McGregor series set in Calvin County, Tennessee. McGregor, a lawyer, plans to kickback in this farmers' paradise known for its delicious tomatoes. His goal is to write an historical novel while managing the affairs of the wealthy Roland Poteet, a former professor, friend and mentor. McGregor thinks he has settled into lawyer's heaven, free from the stresses of urban practice and free from entanglement in local affairs, but he soon learns that an upcoming election is taken very seriously in Calvin County. First McGregor is threatened; then a prominent citizen is murdered. McGregor's lawyer skills pull him into the action as he tries to solve one murder and prevent another.