Murder in the Walls — Richard Martin Stern

Murder in the Walls is the story of a murdered prostitute and a cop determined to find the killer. Flora Hobbs owned one of New Mexico's oldest Spanish-style houses, and shared it with a bevy of beautiful working girls. When one of them turned up dead -- in a locked room -- Detective Johnny Ortiz followed a scent that went straight beneath Santo Cristo's respectable facade into a world of hustlers, profiteers -- and at least one killer. Welcome to the first Johnny Ortiz mystery, which was set in motion by Richard Martin Stern (The Tower) in 1971. The New York Times Book Review said, "The author knows the country and his people. There is a feeling of desert and mesa, open air, spaciousness ... The prose is lean, the characters convincing, the plotting impeccable."