With a new novel out, celebrated New Mexico crime writer Michael McGarrity talks about his work, his state, and his love for the American West.
As a former social worker and decorated cop, Michael McGarrity writes crime novels that ring truer than most, with authentic, flawed characters who are gripped by a constant emotional undercurrent, and the stress of the job, lack of sleep, and the cycles of gritty hope and despair burn like a low-grade fever.
The books also ring true for their Western settings and authentic observations about life — and death — in New Mexico. A longtime resident of Santa Fe, McGarrity routinely sets his stories in his home state. The hero in 14 of his books is Kevin Kerney, a brave and resolute police officer of unfailing integrity who toughs out his injuries to solve violent crime cases across New Mexico. The setting gives McGarrity the opportunity to eloquently describe a variety of stunning Western landscapes. It also allows for commentary on the loss of the American West to those who do not respect the land and instead sprawl across it.
Cowboys & Indians recently sat down with McGarrity to talk about his writing career, the retirement of Kevin Kerney, a new novel, and the author’s love of the American West.
C&I: People see places like New Mexico as wild and untamed, but that definition is changing as more people leave the cities for open space. What is happening to the American West?
Michael McGarrity: People tend to have a misconception about the West. They believe it still exists, when in fact much of the land is so developed that it is hard to recognize it as the West. They believe in what they think is a Western culture, when really it is more of a Western mythology — you can put on the cowboy costume but still be all-hat-and-no-cattle. Maybe that’s okay. My wife says life is a costume party. Unfortunately, she’s probably right.
C&I: Your novels often reference the demise of the American West, brought on by a newer population that does not respect its history.
McGarrity: Most people in the West live in a bifurcated world of reality and mythology. They embrace a worldview that isn’t urban, but it really is. Very few live outside the 21st-century concrete jungle. But the land of cactus and mesas, mountains and plains, valleys and river gorges — these are the places where true Westerners work the land to maintain their livelihoods. They stay connected to it and honor this heritage. But they often feel under attack from the ever-advancing suburbia and city dwellers’ misguided viewpoints about how to manage and use the land.
Authentic Westerners — pilgrims or natives — understand how their family histories are connected to the land and carry a deep appreciation of the people and cultures that are part of the West. It is a real place — not a movie set or a playground, or a beautiful backdrop for their lifestyles — with thousands of years of habitation and history, culture and art, tradition and spiritualism.
C&I: Speaking of authenticity, you spent your boyhood growing up in the country. Tell us a bit about your Western roots.
McGarrity: I have lived in New Mexico for 65 years. My mother was a rancher, a Montana cowgirl.
I grew up rural until my teenage years. Mom practiced tough love before it had a label. I was taught honesty and respect, to work hard, and to do as I was told. My mother’s family lost the ranch during the Great Depression, and they scattered to new places to begin again. The loss forever stayed with them, and it was just too painful to discuss.
C&I: Native Americans and their cultures are key parts of your books. How do you make sure your representation is accurate?
McGarrity: I rely on primary resources. For Head Wounds, I studied primary source materials on the Kickapoo Nation, particularly a University of Oklahoma Press publication, The Kickapoos: Lords of the Middle Border by Arrell M. Gibson.
The Kickapoo originated in the Upper Midwest but were driven westward, with one band of the tribe settling in northern Mexico, where they lived virtually forgotten for 150 years. The Kickapoo are uniquely compatible to the Apache in certain ways. Both have a strong tendency to turn inward, away from the prevailing culture of today, and try to maintain their culture and traditions in the face of the modern world.
Another key resource was Living Life’s Circle by Claire Farrer, who lived with the Mescalero Apache on their reservation in southern New Mexico for 15 years in the 1970s. Her work guided my description of the Apache ceremony in Head Wounds that celebrates the passing of the newly dead to the afterlife.
I also research the land, how it appears on the horizon, up close, far away in the distance, how it looks at sunset, in the fall, by moonlight. I study where my characters live and watch how colors and shadows shift as the sun moves or sets. I try to capture the drama and mystery of the land so it feels like the reader is actually touching it.
C&I: It might surprise people that, as a writer of fiction, you read a lot of nonfiction books. What sorts of nonfiction do you enjoy?
McGarrity: I especially like the personal and family stories that tend to be overlooked in larger-scale narrative nonfiction but that can be even more revealing. For example, Robert M. Utley’s Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 1848-1865 gave me the idea for a secret stash of Army goods stolen by the Apache, which became a pivotal plot point in my first novel, Tularosa. Other favorites are Don Lohbeck’s Patrick J. Hurley, the life of the 19th-century Oklahoman who was Hoover’s Secretary of War, and Don Höglund’s Nobody’s Horses: The Dramatic Rescue of the Wild Herd of White Sands.
I do not read a lot of mystery. I have written 17 books about one New Mexican family, which are known both as crime novels and historical fiction, but as a whole they constitute one family’s saga over more than a century. I tend to stay away from mysteries because I do not want other writers’ voices in my head when I am working.
I do not have cable or satellite TV, therefore I have not watched Longmire, Yellowstone, or Deadwood. My favorite films are Dances With Wolves, Little Big Man, and Tom Horn, which was Steve McQueen’s last western movie.
C&I: How did you get started as a writer?
McGarrity: After I got out of the U.S. Army I was accepted at the University of New Mexico. I was surprised because I had always been told that I wasn’t very bright. As an undergraduate, I needed an easy three-credit course and took a short story creative writing class, knocked out three stories, got a good grade, and thought maybe I could be good at it someday. However, as I worked my way through college, I put that idea on the back burner.
Years later, after I received my master’s in clinical social work, I began writing journal articles, grant applications, and reports. I took a summer off to start working on a novel, but it wasn’t easy. I had to learn a whole new craft. It took me 14 years to see my first novel, Tularosa, in print. Even though I had to go back to work during the time I was writing it, I realized that if I was to become a serious writer, I had to either keep trying or fold my hand and give up. Luckily the decision was easy: I am married to an absolutely wonderful woman who told me to go for it, and I did.
McGarrity's Five Favorite Westerns
We asked Michael McGarrity for his top 10 favorite westerns. He said, “How about five?” We’ll take it! Herewith, from the famed New Mexico crime writer, three books he loves and two movies he says are standouts that are often overlooked.
Pasó Por Aquí. by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. “A great story. Rhodes was the real deal and most popular western writer of the early 20th century. He defined the genre. Don’t know of anybody who has filled his boots. Read the book to find out more.” The story, one of his most anthologized, was filmed in 1948 as Four Faces West, starring Joel McCrea in the lead role and Charles Bickford as Pat Garrett.
Lonesome Dove. by Larry McMurtry. “Jump ahead to the late 20th century and we have McMurtry’s classic. What a wild romp, even with his tendency to overwrite. No synopsis needed.”
Hondo. by Louis L’Amour. “The man was a born storyteller who didn’t waste words, and he sure wrote a lot of them. A L’Amour classic. John Wayne made the movie. The book is better.”
Hombre. “Starring Paul Newman and one of my favorite villains, Richard Boone. Written by Elmore ‘Dutch’ Leonard, who went on to forge a brilliant career as a crime novelist. A stock western, with a strong message about racial prejudice that carries throughout the film. And it’s Newman. What’s not to like?”
Open Range. “Starring Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall. Costner at his best not being Costner. A gunslinger escaping his hidden past is reluctantly forced to return to violence and finds love in return. A western with some real touches of romance. Amazing.”
— C&I Editors
C&I: How do your firsthand experiences in social work and law enforcement enrich your books?
McGarrity: As a clinician and cop, I learned all the skill sets I needed to conduct successful interviews and interrogations and also had many opportunities to use my knowledge of psychopathology. That, along with all the necessary real-world tools required to operate as a police officer and investigator, have informed my stories since the very beginning. The most gratifying compliments I receive come from lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement professionals who tell me that I got it right.
C&I: You took a 10-year break (2006 to 2016) from Kevin Kerney to write the sweeping three-volume American West Trilogy Hard Country, Backlands, and The Last Ranch , which explores the history of the Kerney family from 1875 through World War II. What compelled you to pursue this decade-long quest?
McGarrity: Kerney is a mixture of modern cowboy and lawman, two strong Western traits that have an undeniable pull on me. As my protagonist’s backstory in the Kevin Kerney novels evolved, I became increasingly interested in exploring his antecedents, particularly because of his strong ranching history. The trilogy is the beginning of the Kerney family saga in New Mexico, and it was a story I absolutely had to write.
Vestiges of frontier life still exist on ranches throughout the West. Hard work, love of the land, fierce independence, strong family ties, loyalty to friends, and a helping hand to those in need are all attributes still prevalent among the families who by choice continue to farm and ranch. Let’s hope they endure and prosper.
C&I: You have told the world that you are finished writing about your main character, Kevin Kerney. What led to that decision?
McGarrity: With the Kerney novels, I had a template: what the characters did, how they acted, and the locations they experienced. I had all the supporting characters I could use when needed. I began relying on my past body of work too heavily. I ended the series because I was eager for a challenge to do something new and different. I also wanted to conclude the series on my terms. I did not want to be one of those writers whose writing chops start to diminish as their plots and characters become redundant and formulaic.
C&I: Tell us about your new novel, The Long Ago, due out July 4. The action moves from New Mexico to Montana.
McGarrity: The Long Ago is set in the 1960s with a scope that sweeps from Montana grasslands and mountains to the California cities and its rural inland valleys and high country. Much of the book draws on my own experiences during that era of turmoil. It is a story of a brother and sister, Montana born and raised, each separately trying to escape their troubled pasts and start anew. When the brother returns from the Army, he discovers his sister has vanished and starts to search for her. This book is actually a new and different type of Kerney spinoff: this time a history of Kevin Kerney’s wife’s family. It is a story about consequences and the impacts they have on their lives.
C&I: When you aren’t writing, how do you spend your spare time?
McGarrity: I read, go on dates with my bride of 60 years, play with my dog, and poke around hidden corners of New Mexico sniffing out inspiration and story ideas. I especially enjoy working on my small plot of paradise — a few acres outside Santa Fe — landscaping with native plants, trees, and grasses that are drought-tolerant.
C&I: You once described New Mexico as one of the most sun-scorched but beautiful places on Earth. Do you still feel that way?
McGarrity: I sometimes find myself at parties in Santa Fe, mingling with the rich and famous. They often talk about the lovely time they had in Vienna or Hong Kong. They live here, but they travel often to see fantastic places around the world. For me, it is far more interesting to see all of what New Mexico has to offer, its rich history and landscapes, historic villages, ghost towns, Native culture, and architecture. I have seen far more of New Mexico than I have of the world. I was once asked if I’d ever been to Paris, and I said, “Not yet, but I have been to [Wild West ghost town and Billy the Kid hangout] White Oaks, New Mexico.” I still have not been to Paris.
The Hillerman-McGarrity Writing Scholarship
Michael McGarrity and his good friend and fellow novelist Tony Hillerman established the Hillerman-McGarrity Creative Writing Scholarship at the University of New Mexico. "I met Tony when I was student at the university, and later, when I became a published novelist, he was extremely supportive," McGarrity says. "Later on, I approached him with a suggestion to start a creative writing scholarship in his name. He said he wouldn't do it unless it was in both of our names. It has been a huge honor to be associated with him in this way."
Endowed to foster growth of creative writing in New Mexico and awarded to graduate and undergraduate writers who have made the state their home or integrated the Southwest thematically into their work, the scholarship supports as many as four creative writing students annually. McGarrity also helped establish the Richard Bradford Memorial Creative Writing Scholarship at Santa Fe Community College and the N. Scott Momaday Creative Writing Scholarship at the Institute of American Indian Art.
— Mark Crawford
This article appears in our August/September 2023 issue, available on newsstands now or through our C&I Shop.