San Juan Solution

San Juan Solution, R.E. Derouin, Western Reflections Publishing, 2000

David Dean, retired Pennsylvania police detective, his new wife, Cynthia, and Fred O'Connor, his stepfather, have just opened a bed and breakfast in the town of Ouray, Colorado. While the building is still being renovated, and while David and Cynthia are away, Fred signs in their first two guests, an older man and a young woman, traveling separately.

Things get very interesting when, the next day, the man, whose name is Glick (but not really) is found in a car at the bottom of a ravine, quite dead. The woman, named Claudia, is found by the Dean's living in the woods by herself, with a story that she was almost forced into the trunk of that car.

The bed and breakfast, called Bird Song, is suddenly invaded by a very motley group of characters. Claudia's mother lived in a small Midwestern college town. She was the sort of person who would go to bed with practically anybody. An entire frat house full of guys was happy to oblige, so Claudia doesn't know who her father really is. Claude, the man who probably was her father, wrote a will making her heir to an electronics company which may be worth nothing or 100 million dollars, an amount in which Claudia is extremely uninterested. There are a couple of pompous attorneys from back east. Of course, a second will is found, with totally different instructions for the money. A conniving older woman named Veronica, with three sons who can charitably be called jerks, has found another young woman who she loudly proclaims is the real heir to the company. Add in a male gigolo, and the Dean's and O'Connor have a very confusing mystery on their hands.

At times, one needs a scorecard to keep track of everyone in this book. Derouin does a fine job throughout. It's an interesting tale, the settings are well done, and it's an excellent mystery. Well worth reading.

Time Trial

Time Trial, R. E. Derouin, Western Reflections Inc, 1999

Pennsylvania police detective David Dean is spending time in present day Ouray County, Colorado, recovering from a gunshot wound received in the line of duty. One day, his quiet convalescence is shattered by the sudden arrival of five unwanted and eccentric individuals. They seem to have a strange interest in a place called Byrd's Song, an old homestead high above the ghost town of Sneffels.

Among Dean's "visitors" are Dorrie Briscoe, a woman who is less-than-picky about her choice of sleeping partners, and whose teenage daughter, Natalie, brings new meaning to the word "precocious." Neil Archer is a history professor and old friend of Dean's with a taste for much younger women, like Natalie. The group is led by Henry Whitcomb, an obnoxious millionaire whose wife and son were murdered two years earlier.

Whitcomb claims to have a found a device, worn on the head, called the Klaxton Turban, that will send the mind of the user back in time. He is convinced that he was in Byrd's Song over 100 years ago, and is obsessed with finding out for sure, one way or the other. A trip to present-day Byrd's Song brings up many clues that tend to support Whitcomb's memories of his journey. Could this be a sort-of time machine, or something more mundane? Dean doesn't believe it for a second, but. . .

I really enjoyed this book. Derouin does a very good job with the characters and
descriptions of the Colorado landscape. The mystery part was also well done. I'm looking
forward to the next David Dean story.