I'm not sure this book would be of interest if you aren't from Las Cruces, but it was pretty interesting overall. I'd never heard the story of Cricket Coogler, and it was eerie how many of the names in this book I recognized, and how many landmarks are still there. A chilling read. ( )

Ovida "Cricket" Coogler, named such either because of the sound of her ever-present high-heels or because of the speed and zest of her childhood personality, could easily have been the long lost sister of Elizabeth Short. Indeed, there lives and brutal deaths are so similar as to suggest such a connection.

Cricket, a native and resident of the sleepy Southern New Mexican town of Las Cruces, was just eighteen when she disappeared, only to be found murdered and buried in the desert. She, like Short, was often engaged in unusually high risk sexual and social behavior, a sad fact whic contributed to her death. She was a waitress who is said to have been available for liaisons with politicians, law enforcement officers, and the budding gambling element in the region. Many people saw and interacted with her on the night of her disappearance, most eager to use her in some way. Few helped, aided, or looked out for this young, lost girl.

Cricket's death garnered attention primarily in the lack of honest and truthful investigation. The list of suspects included many of the very people who should have been responsible for looking into the case, including the local sheriff, Happy Apadoca. Apadoca, a policeman more interested in the use of his power to coerce sex from innocent young girls, was seen with Cricket on the night of her disapperance. Later, Apadoca would be imprisoned on a federal conviction for his part in toturing a suspect in hopes of obtaining a false confession to the crime. A special grand jury was convened to look into the Cricket's death because of the lack of police attention. Their work resulted in convictions of several highly place politicians for crimes related to gambling rings and payoffs.

Sadly, the end of all of the investigations provided no more closure to the crime than the cold, shallow grave in which Cricket's body was found abandoned. Her murder, though it incited political and social upheaval in the state, stands as one of the most mysterious, unsolved crimes of the West.

Paula Moore does this story a great honor in mapping out all of the contradictory facts of the case in painstaking and excrutiating detail. In her effort to do the crazily twisting story justice, she exposed herself to my main criticism. The characters in this story are introduced one at a time, described, not in a chronological way, but in a complete way, using information from both before and after the crime. This doesn't allow the reader enough time to slowly and comfortably get a feel for the characters before being confronted with the facts and details of the crime and its consequences. A slower, more time oriented narrative style might have served the story better, allowing the reader to get the feel and tone of the characters, the place, and the time. With such a style, Moore would have also risked less confusion, as she tended to jump back and forth in time to provide information to the reader.

All in all, this was a good book. It was terribly interesting from a local interest angle, providing a rich look at early New Mexico politics and corruption. The book also serves as a wonderful who-done-it, leaving the reader free to make up their own minds, as no one has ever been conclusively linked to the crime. In this end, Moore also provides an honest look into the world of crime and murder, leaving the proper, if frustrating, impression that many crimes go unsolved and many victims never receive proper justice. ( )