A small group of local protestors in the valley is hoping to force a reevaluation of the proposed land swap. Their leader is Kim Walsh, a beautiful lawyer with only one eye. She believes that the developer David Fast is going to ruin the natural beauty of the land and not bring prosperity to the area as he has promised. Fast is not going to allow anything to ruin his planned development. He has associated himself with hired muscle headed by Alf Burgermeister, called Rent-a-Riot.

Among the protestors is a young couple, Sunny and Cal. Cal claims to have discovered an ancient cave used as an Anasazi dwelling place. He is convinced that the swap will be canceled when federal authorities learn about the cave, but he is keeping its location secret. Antonio and his father try to keep a distance from the protestors, but they are forced into an inevitable confrontation with Fast and his bully Burgermeister.

A scream in the night leads Antonio and Kim to search for the cause. They see Sunny fleeing in a car and discover Cal’s body. Kim is convinced Fast and Burgermeister killed him.

The local sheriff arrests Roberto based on no more evidence than his criminal record. He refuses to believe Antonio’s assertion that Roberto was asleep near him and his father when the murder took place. Antonio knows that Roberto’s only hope of release is for him to solve the crime.

Point of Law is a prequel to author McKinzie’s The Edge of Justice. The question with a prequel written after a book that takes place later in time is which do you read first? In this case, it doesn’t matter very much. The Edge of Justice goes deeper into the narrator’s emotional state, but Point of Law provides significant family background. They both stand well on their own.

Point of Law demonstrates that writing can improve with practice - it’s a more evenly written book than its predecessor. Extraneous matters such as the narrator’s frequent rock climbing episodes consume more time in The Edge of Justice, and the central mystery doesn’t get going until well into the book. In Point of Law the action kicks in early and keeps rolling until the last pages. Onion-like, it has layers and layers of mysteries and subplots.

The central mystery - who murdered Cal - is not much of a mystery. It’s pretty plain that Fast and Burgermeister are the culprits. So rather than a whodunit Point of Law is a how-they-gonna-prove-it. Along the way there’s plenty of derring-do for thriller fans with one life-threatening peril after another. The rock climbing scenes are well integrated into the story line.

As in the first book, the real strength of Point of Law is the narrator Antonio Burns. Written in the first person, the reader sees all the action through his eyes and comes to know him well. Antonio is made of classic heroic material, but he’s also plagued by some inadequacies and doubts that humanize him.

A secondary but vividly rendered character is his brother Roberto. His role is larger in Point of Law, but he does make a cameo appearance in The Edge of Justice. It’s hard to believe, however, that he has a long life expectancy - he’s burning the candle at both ends and places in between. This isn’t the kind of guy one particularly wants to have in the family, but he provides the kindling for some dynamic scenes. Colonel Burns is a more perplexing character; he is obviously conflicted by the various pressures on him.

The male characters are more successfully portrayed than that of the female ones. Kim is written as a forceful character but never really comes alive. She has enough hang-ups for a whole crowd of characters (most readers will quickly guess her big secret), but her reactions seem false. She advances, she retreats, she smiles, she cries, all without much rationale. Similarly, Sunny is provided with a three-dimensional potential but remains a flat stereotype.

Readers who enjoyed the first Antonio Burns book will definitely want to read The Edge of Justice. Readers unfamiliar with the series might want to think about checking it out. A third installment is due out in another month in hardback so this might be a good time and a good book to start. Antonio Burns promises to be a high profile character.

--Lesley Dunlap