Sounding Gabriel's Horn

It seems that back in the 1930s, bullfighting was a lot more socially acceptable than it is today. For in Todd Downing’s The Last Trumpet, Hugh Rennert (a retired U. S. Customs Service agent and Downing’s series detective) does not hesitate to be seen at a bullfight in Matamoras, Mexico. But the social excursion quickly turns into a serious business when bullfighter Carlos Campos dies horrifically, gored by a bull.

Only it seems that the death was not accidental. Before he succumbed to his injuries, Campos accused someone in the crowd of blinding him by shining a mirror into his eyes. The police attempt to make a search but they are thwarted in their efforts. But it’s a good thing Hugh Rennert was present – he undertakes the investigation and discovers that Campos was not the first casualty. Nor will he be the last…

Birds of Prey

The passengers on the train to Mexico City had plenty of reason to be nervous. Times are rough and there is a railway strike in Mexico at the moment. Trains everywhere are being tied up and delayed, and as if that weren’t enough, part of the journey takes the train through a region that has a rather bad reputation. And then there are the vultures flying overhead, like an omen of doom. With all that to deal with, the corpse was most certainly not needed.

But a corpse does pop up in Todd Downing’s Vultures in the Sky, and it is the corpse of a Mexican man. He has died under strange circumstances, which don’t necessarily rule out a natural death but which certainly makes the theory far less tenable than it might otherwise have been. If this is a case of murder, the killer acted swiftly and murdered the man under circumstances where the fellow passengers’ vision was impaired. But the killer didn’t count on one man on board: U.S. Customs Service agent Hugh Rennert.