Taos Chill
After a scandal, Hugh "Chill" Blaines leaves his police job in California to wander the US. During his stop in Taos, New Mexico, his name is given to the town commission as possible sheriff. Chill likes this town so he accepts. Carmen Pollini is having a bad month. Apparently she has a bad temper and keeps getting involved in various misdemeanors ending in arrest by Sheriff Jim Dunn who, for some unknown reason, has it in for her. When the local R.E.D. driver is found dead on her front porch, no questions asked, Jim immediately arrests Carmen. When Chill encounters Carmen, he can't decide whether she's guilty of these crimes or an innocent bystander.The tension between them is a mix of sexual tension and guilty conscious which leaves Chill thinking Carmen really is hiding something important. But Taos is a small town and close proximity ramps up the sexual tension. Though this book is not touted as romantic suspense, it does have all the elements of such a book except the ultimate payoff. I will definitely be reading more Carmen and Chill mysteries.
