Into Thin Air

I have so enjoyed my discovery of Thomas Zigal's Kurt Muller mystery series this year. I read them backward (the latest one first, etc.) until I reached his first one, Into Thin Air. Ten years ago the Rabid Skunk Party, "angered by the rampant greed of real-estate developers and back-room chicanery in city government," formed to take back Aspen, Colorado. They didn't have much luck, in fact they lost every seat but one: sheriff. Kurt Muller not only won the seat but has been re-elected ever since. He runs the Pitkin County Sheriff Department with a less-than-iron fist. Still, everyone adores him. Attending the Global Unity Conference are Argentina journalist Omar Quirfgo and Dr. Garciela Rojas. Quirfgo turns up dead; Rojas is missing. Now the Feds have showed up to stick their noses into the sheriff's case. The Feds hit a house full of illegal Latino immigrants and that's when all hell breaks loose. Originally published in 1995 (and re-printed by The Toby Press in 2005), Zigal explores the problems of illegal immigration years before it was brought into the national consciousness. Into Thin Air filled in the missing pieces of the puzzle that I didn't have since I started with Pariah, then moved to Hardrock Stiff. Interesting and surprising information came out about why Kurt's wife abandoned their marriage and their five-year-old son, Lennon, and details about the death of Kurt's older brother, Burt. The ex-wife is nobler than I imagined. On the other hand, there are some bombshells that are forcing me to re-think how I feel about Kurt's thinly-disguised hero worship of his big brother. Here we get the most of the details about Burt's death. One thing that sent me to the Internet to do a little research was the mention of the Ted Bundy case. I remembered that he had been executed in Florida in the 1970s, but I had forgotten the Colorado connection. Colorado was in the second wave of Bundy killings, and he managed to escape from an Aspen jail-a piece of American crime history that could have used a little more information. Armchair Interviews says: An excellent series, best read in order to have the full backstory.

What a great adventure. A great true tale

Unlike the shopper from Carpenteria (reveiw below or above). I really enjoyed the book. I love mystery novels and had never read a Kurt Muller mystery prior to In To Thin Air. This book is easy to get into and I thoroughly enjoyed the "hippie" sheriff. Try it you might like it. I did.