To most people, hat pins are vestiges of the past, used now only by elderly ladies who don't leave home without a hat. But recently the notion store in Posadas county has been doing a good business selling hat pins to teenaged girls. There had been a fight--over a boy--and the other girl, Carmen Acosta, had been suspended. But her friends were still around, and Deena wanted something to defend herself with. Not long afterward Estelle is called to Carmen Acosta's home. When she arrives, Carmen's father, Freddie, is in police custody and an unconscious Carmen is on the way to the hospital "beat to a pulp." It is, of course, hard to believe that young Deena is responsible. Estelle has many other suspects to choose from, since the Acosta family holds the record for the number of domestic violence calls the police have received. The question is, which of the other four children or which parent is responsible? Or is it someone else entirely? Havill draws his readers into the life of this small border county in New Mexico. Estelle is not only an undersheriff, she is the mother of two delightful little boys, the wife of a warm and likeable surgeon, Mexican-American like herself, and the daughter of a wise old woman whose life has been spent south of the border. But the threats from Havill's fans would have been dire if he had dispensed with Billl Gastner, the dearly loved former sheriff. Bill may officially be retired, but he's quick to give Estelle the value of his experience when she needs it, and proud to have been chosen by the Guzman boys to be their surrogate abuelo --grandfather. This is an author who never puts a foot wrong.