Penzler Pick, April 2002: In his accomplished first novel, Clinton McKinzie introduces an interesting, complicated protagonist in Antonio Burns, a special agent whose family was originally from Argentina. His grandfather owned a ranch (which is still in the family), and his father taught Burns how to climb. And, oh yes, Burns has a brother serving a long jail sentence in the United States. Burns has earned the nickname Quickdraw for shooting down three drug dealers before they could shoot him, and the investigation of that incident still hangs over his head. As the book opens he is in Laramie, Wyoming, attending the trial and sentencing of the Knapp brothers, who are accused of raping, torturing, and killing a young girl. The verdict would seem to be a foregone conclusion, as is the death penalty. Two years after the killers of Matthew Shepherd were spared the ultimate penalty, Laramie is anxious to show it can be tough on crime. When Burns is not at the courthouse, he is relaxing with his dog Oso at Vedauwoo, a difficult climbing region much loved by the local community. When a young woman falls to her death while climbing with a group, her death is ruled an accident because the young climbers were up on the rocks drinking and fooling around. But when Burns inspects the site of the accident and looks at the girl"s injuries, he begins to suspect foul play. As he gets to know the core group of climbers led by the charismatic Billy Heller, who takes an immediate dislike to Burns, he is even more suspicious because of the hold Heller has over the young female climbers. Burns also begins to get involved with one of the attractive climbers, something he immediately regrets when he meets Rachel, a reporter from The Denver Post. Burns has a complicated personal life, but he is a good cop and it soon becomes clear to him that the climbing death of the young girl, which is soon followed by other deaths, is connected to something going on in the climbing community and this, in turn, casts doubt on the conviction and sentencing of the Knapp brothers. McKinzie weaves a fascinating and very readable story here. With climbing scenes that are authentically exciting and very plausible characters, this is an impressive first novel. --Otto Penzler