Heart of the Mustangs: An Arizona Borderlands Mystery

“This series is developing nicely – and I’m along for the ride as a forensic botanist helps solve murders in the Arizona borderlands. Loved this western mystery. Really liked this female sleuth. Can’t wait for the next one!”
—Marcy Birdweather, Marcy’s Musings

The fifth book in the Arizona Borderlands Mystery series.

An open-pit mine has blighted a small mountain range in the desert grasslands of southeastern Arizona. Deputy Sheriff Calvin Creede hates what the mine has done to his favorite view, but he has been told to avoid the controversy and stick to law enforcement. All that changes when two individuals associated with the mine are found murdered. In their relentless pursuit of the killer or killers, Creede and his colleagues discover high-level corruption and unearth a dark secret kept hidden for nearly a half-century. In this, their fifth Arizona mystery novel, the authors once again set their story amid the social and environmental issues impacting natural areas in American Southwest and the people living there.

Carl and Jane Bock are retired Professors of Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Carl received his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of California at Berkeley, while Jane holds three degrees in Botany, a B.A. from Duke, an M.A. from the University of Indiana, and a Ph.D. from Berkeley. Carl is an ornithologist and conservation biologist. Jane is a plant ecologist and an internationally recognized expert in the use of plant evidence in criminal investigations. The Bocks are co-authors of two ongoing series, the Arizona Borderlands Mysteries and the Florida Keys Mysteries.