Carreta de La Muerte: Amazon.ca: Mari Privette Ulmer: Books

From Amazon

Christina Garcia y Grant, the heroine of Mari Ulmer's debut mystery Midnight at the Camposanto, is a multifaceted woman. She is formerly a lawyer, presently the proprietress of a charming bed and breakfast, and a hopeful author. She's also a young widow with her eye on a retired doctor who came to Christy's B&B on a sentimental journey (he and his late wife were frequent visitors before her death) and stayed on.

Christy's second, relatively bloodless, adventure begins with the disappearance of a young woman who is a gallery assistant and the discovery of a body during the height of the annual Taos Fiesta, which figures prominently in the story. While Ulmer's gifts at describing the magnificent New Mexico landscape, the multiethnic milieu, and the cultures and norms of Anglo, Spanish, and Mexican society are impressive, the pacing, drama, and suspense aren't yet quite as well developed. The mystery is less the centerpiece than the side dish of this nonetheless appetizing entrée. Fans of Tony Hillerman and other writers who've made this territory their own will be intrigued. --Jane Adams

From Library Journal

Author/lawyer/sleuth Christina Garcia y Grant tackles her second murder case, surrounded by familiar faces from Midnight at the Camposanto. Dr. Evelyn Bottoms, a charming newcomer to Taos (and self-proclaimed "recoverer" of local Spanish religious art) becomes a suspect when one of the employees at his gallery/museum is found murdered and another goes missing possibly with some sacred art. Christy defends Bottoms, whose attentions arouse jealousy in her tenant, Mac, who helps out at Christy's bed-and-breakfast hacienda. Exuberant descriptions of the changing indigenous culture, local characters, and New Mexico surroundings pervade an exciting plot. Recommended where Southwestern mysteries are popular.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Readers who enjoy soaking up New Mexico atmosphere and lore will find them in abundance here. Christina Garcia y Grant, a member of an old Taos Spanish family, has given up her law practice to run a bed and breakfast in her grandmother's hacienda. During the annual fiesta, valuable works of traditional folk art begin to disappear from local churches, and bodies turn up in the river. A museum curator who introduces himself as a famous artist, a mysterious British gallery owner, and some assorted lowlifes may be involved. Christina, her friend Ignacio, and her tenant, Dr. McCloud, step in when Ignacio's girlfriend disappears. The somewhat convoluted plot doesn't quite hold together, and, unfortunately, the characters are not fully developed enough to sustain interest, although Christina has the makings of a solid series heroine. Still, the evocation of Taos and of the enduring traditions of its old Spanish families is memorable. Give first-novelist Ulmer a chance; her debut is hardly flawless, but there could be a decent series here. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

This is a fascinating book filled with the atmospheric mystery of Taos in Northern New Mexico. It is an amalgam of the religious, cultural, family and community dynamics involving the change from a small inwardly turned community to a thriving tourist based economy. The mystery set against this evolutionary process is well thought out, intriguing and wonderfully intricate. Christina Garcia Y Grant is a widowed, retired attorney now running a bed and breakfast. Mac is a retired surgeon living permanently at the bed and breakfast. Together they sort out the theft of ancient treasures being stolen from chapels and churches along the Santa Fe Trail and the subsequent murders. The sense of family, the richness of customs dating back to the time of the Conquistadors and the sheer beauty of the area come through with every word written. I definitely recommend this book and look forward with great anticipation to the next in the series.

MyShelf.com Reviewer: Sue Bartroff

After her husband died, attorney Christina Garcia y Grant returns to her hometown of Talpa, New Mexico just south of Taos. Talpa is a small community where crime rarely happens and Catholicism is firmly rooted. At times there is a feeling of the mystical in the air. Christy, tired of the law, turns her grandmother's hacienda into a bed and breakfast inn that is gaining in popularity.

While the townsfolk prepare for Las Fiestas holiday, a clever thief systematically steals valuable artifacts from the local churches. Further complicating matters, someone burglarizes a gallery killing an employ with another missing, the girlfriend of Christy's protigi. The B&B owner and her close friends begin their brand ofsleuthing in hopes of stopping a crime spree but mostly saving the life of an innocent.

Mari Ulmer creates a story line that often reads like a ballad even though the tale is a regional mystery. The culture of an old fashioned town vividly comes to life in Carreta de la Muerte. Readers will admire the characters that star in this fresh and unusual series. There are some books that are so memorable they are unforgettable and this is one of them.

Whitestone Books Reviewer: Harriet Klausner

...Exuberant descriptions of the changing indigenous culture, local characters, and New Mexico surroundings pervade an exciting plot. Recommended where Southwestern mysteries are popular.

Library Journal

...Mari Ulmer's debut mystery, Midnight at the Camposanto, introduced the mystery-reading public to a fresh new protagonist whose life is defined by family, her ties to her people and her love for the region. Christy Grant embodies many of the qualities most readers like to see in a female amateur sleuth - determination, strength, and above all, believability. Her strong ties to the Talpa community show up in various ways, always tying her to the strong religious beliefs, a mixture of Catholicism and an almost pagan reverence for the land and the people. This theme, as well as the themes of family and friendship, continue from book one and woven throughout the storyline of Carreta de la Muerte, firmly planting the character in a realistic setting. Ulmer's narrative beautifully sets each scene, giving readers a local's-eye-view of the town, allowing each reader to peek in and feel as if he or she were truly a part of the action...

Ulmer's writing strength is mostdefinitely her ability to create a true fictional world, peopled by real characters, with the same actions, passions and faults as real human beings. She completely captures the dichotomy of being an educated Latina in the Southwest, with the commitments of family and tradition often warring with the realities of the 21st century... Mark down this author's name - she's definitely worth a few more reads.

BookBrowser.com Reviewer: Maria Y. Lima

...an endearing tome that makes you feel like a Taos local just by reading it. ...if you've got a predilection for soft Southwestern mystery fiction set where pickups rumble down dirt roads, then Mari Ulmer should join your shelves of Judith Van Gierson, Sinclair Browning, Walter Satterthwait, Michael McGarrity and Tony Hillerman.

The New Mexican Reviewer: Wolf Schneider

Book Description

Enjoy Taos as it celebrates its sacred and secular festivals. It's murder. Ole!

The warm portrait of New Mexico's Hispanic community recalls Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me Ultima (0-446-60025-3) or John Nichol's Milagro Beanfield War (0-345-41016-5).
The Taos Festival mysteries continue with Las Fiestas! Christina Garcia y Grant's lovely old hacienda, converted from her grandmother's gracious abode to a B&B so that lawyer Christy can pursue a writing career, is bursting with guests. Not all of them are welcome. Meanwhile, the Friday night La Fiestacita summons la gente, the people. Though they have come to party, the presence of La Doqa Sebastiana, Death, is a reminder that life is only worth living if Death is close at hand. "It's the edge, the risk, that gives color."
La Doqa Sebastiana does summon someone to her death cart before the night is over, only the partygoers don't know it. Newcomer Evelyn Bottoms, a suave Englishman, is unaware that his gallery El Museo has been burglarized and Bobby Mascarenas killed. Missing is Cindy, Bobby's co-employee and the date of lawyer Ignacio Baca, who spends La Fiestacita looking vainly for her. The next morning reveals the grim story.
Christy, moved by Iggy's grief and willing to help her new friend, Dr. Bottoms, queries her primo, Police Chief Garcia, and learns that her cousin has little to go on. Aided by her more-or-less permanent boarder (and suitor) Mac McCloud, a retired surgeon, and her old friend La Doqa Abogado, New Mexico's first woman lawyer, Christy queries the local arts community and learns that someone is stealing priceless art from local churches. Is there a link between the robberies and the murder? And there seemto be a lot of newcomers to town...

From the Publisher

Enjoy Taos as it celebrates its sacred and secular festivals. It's murder. Ole'. The warm portrait of New Mexico's Hispanic community recalls Rudolfo Anaya's "Bless Me Ultime" (044660025). As la gente (the people) start Las Fiestas with the Friday night Fiestacita, Lady Death is present at the party. Life is worth living only if Death is close at hand. "It's the edge, the risk, that give color."

From the Author

CARRETA DE LA MUERTE crosses the boundaries of race, age, gender nd ethnicity as Christy takes the reader behind the scenes of the Arts Community as well as inside the vivid ancient tradiitons of the Spanish, a part of Taos the tourist never sees. The suspenseful and intricate mystery ends with a thundering white water chase and fight for survival in the powerful Rio Grande.

From the Inside Flap

La Dona Sebastiana summons someone to her Death Cart before the night is over. A grief stricken friend draws Christy into the mystery. They learn someone is stealing priceless art from local churches. Is there a link between the robberies and the murder?

About the Author

Mari Ulmer was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and went on to graduate from the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law. She has lived in Missouri, Oregon, Georgia, and California before making Taos, New Mexico her home in 1979.

Carreta de La Muerte [Hardcover]

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