Trouble at the Red Pueblo

Who is Spider Latham? Think John Wayne meets Miss Marple. Liz Adair's style is a cross between Tony Hillerman and Agatha Christy, resulting in a cozy mystery with an edge.

When Spider is hired to do some private detective work for the Red Pueblo Museum, he doesn’t suspect it will cause a rift between his wife, Laurie, and himself.

Museum Director Martin Taylor is desperate, and his son, Matt, is angry. Some wicked, faceless organization is bent on destroying the museum financially, and it’s about to succeed. After Spider arrives, the situation turns deadly and then goes south from there.

Everyone has a motive for the murder, even Laurie’s handsome, rich relative who cozies up to her every chance he gets. The local Barney-Fife-type deputy arrests volatile Matt Taylor, whose only real crime is putting his trust in the wrong woman. Can Spider untangle the web of secrecy and lies surrounding the museum and save its Anasazi treasures before the Taylors lose it all? And in the process, can he save his own marriage?

Trouble at the Red Pueblo is the first in Liz Adair’s Spider Latham Red Rock Mystery Series set in Southern Utah’s spectacularly scenic canyon country. Liz is offering this ebook free to introduce mystery lovers to her hero, Spider Latham.

From InD’Tale Magazine (four-and-a-half stars):
Spider Latham has a new fan! This scrumptious story by Liz Adair is a marvelously easy to read mystery, seasoned with rich descriptions of the red rock area of Arizona and Utah. The author draws in the reader with uniquely realistic story lines involving existing businesses and landmarks in the area. The characters are complex—so fleshed out and genuine, one would expect to see them firmly ensconced at the Museum, the local diner, or patrolling the area in an orange Yugo with flames painted on it. Readers will love the bantering dialogue between Spider and Laurie, and they’ll pull for the Stetson wearing cowboy deputy from Nevada. Well written, well researched, and well done, Ms. Adair!

From Meridian Magazine:
Liz Adair’s new Spider Latham Mystery, Trouble at the Red Pueblo, captures the mystery and splendor of the red rock country and modern spirit of the west. In a style similar to that of Tony Hillerman and Clair Poulson, she mixes a solid mystery with a modern western. . .
Spider is far from the typical Western literary hero. There’s an honesty and realism to him that real westerners will recognize and love. He’s not a twenty-something quick-draw, but a man who has raised two sons, loves his wife, and values the land his ancestors settled as early pioneers. He’s a deputy sheriff who isn’t paid too well and has difficulty figuring out modern electronic gadgets like smart phones. He’s kind and compassionate to family, friends, strangers, and animals, but struggles to deal with assumptions and jealousy. His manner of speech and his thought processes ring true and endear readers to him.