Michael McGarrity
Encyclopedia
Michael McGarrity is a New Mexican
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 author and former law enforcement officer. He has written a dozen crime-suspense novels about New Mexico. As deputy sheriff of Santa Fe County he founded their Sex Crimes Unit.

McGarrity has a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

  in English and Psychology from the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...

 and a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in clinical social work, from the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

, and is a graduate of the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy. In addition to law enforcement work, he has been an investigator and caseworker for the New Mexico Public Defender's Office. He worked on rehabilitating prison programs after the New Mexico State Penitentiary riot
New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot
The New Mexico Penitentiary Riot, which took place on February 2 and 3, 1980, in the state's maximum security prison south of Santa Fe, was one of the most violent prison riots in the history of the American correctional system: 33 inmates died and more than 200 inmates were treated for injuries...

 in 1980. McGarrity has taught at several colleges and universities as well as the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy. As a social worker he published a number of articles in professional journals on a wide range of topics, ranging from therapy programs for children, to program assessment and evaluation, and drug treatment interventions.

Western novels

All of McGarrity's western novels take place in modern New Mexico, with law enforcement officer Kevin Kerney as the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

. The settings are vividly evoked and range from the Tularosa Basin
Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States.-Geography:...

 and Lincoln County
Lincoln County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*85.1% White*0.5% Black*2.4% Native American*0.4% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.5% Two or more races*9.1% Other races*29.8% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

 to Hermit's Peak
Hermit's Peak
Hermit's Peak is a mountain in San Miguel County, in northern New Mexico, United States.The peak is named for the Italian religious recluse John Augustiani, who lived there in a cave he had dug into the earth around the time of the U.S. Civil War...

, although many take place in Santa Fe.
  • Tularosa (1996) - White Sands Missile Range
    White Sands Missile Range
    White Sands Missile Range is a rocket range of almost in parts of five counties in southern New Mexico. The largest military installation in the United States, WSMR includes the and the WSMR Otera Mesa bombing range...

    , Tularosa Basin
    Tularosa Basin
    The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States.-Geography:...

  • Mexican Hat (1997) - Gila Wilderness
    Gila Wilderness
    Gila Wilderness was designated the world's first wilderness area on June 3, 1924. Along with Aldo Leopold Wilderness and Blue Range Wilderness, the wilderness is part of New Mexico's Gila National Forest. The wilderness is approximately from north to south and east to west...

     in southwestern New Mexico
  • Serpent Gate (1998) - Mountainair
    Mountainair, New Mexico
    Mountainair is a town in Torrance County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,116 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area...

  • Hermit's Peak (1999) - Hermit's Peak
    Hermit's Peak
    Hermit's Peak is a mountain in San Miguel County, in northern New Mexico, United States.The peak is named for the Italian religious recluse John Augustiani, who lived there in a cave he had dug into the earth around the time of the U.S. Civil War...

     and Las Vegas, New Mexico
    Las Vegas, New Mexico
    Las Vegas is a city in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities both named Las Vegas, west Las Vegas and east Las Vegas , divided by the Gallinas River, retain distinct characters and separate, rival school districts. The population was 14,565 at the 2000...

  • The Judas Judge (2000) - Jornada del Muerto
    Jornada del Muerto
    The Jornada del Muerto in the U.S. state of New Mexico was the name given by the Spanish conquistadors to the Jornada del Muerto Desert basin, and the particularly dry stretch of a route through it.The trail lead northward from central Spanish colonial New Spain, present-day Mexico, to the farthest...

     and central New Mexico
  • Under the Color of Law (2001) - Santa Fe
  • The Big Gamble (2002) - Lincoln and Santa Fe counties
  • Everyone Dies (2003) - Santa Fe
  • Slow Kill (2004) - California, New Mexico and the East Coast
  • Nothing But Trouble (2005) - the Bootheel
    Hidalgo County, New Mexico
    -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*85.3% White*0.6% Black*0.8% Native American*0.5% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*1.8% Two or more races*11.0% Other races*56.6% Hispanic or Latino...

    , extreme southwestern New Mexico
  • Death Song (2007) - in Lincoln County
    Lincoln County, New Mexico
    -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*85.1% White*0.5% Black*2.4% Native American*0.4% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.5% Two or more races*9.1% Other races*29.8% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

     and Santa Fe
  • Dead or Alive (2008) - in Lincoln County and Santa Fe

Awards

McGarrity has been nominated for various awards, including two nominations for the Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America, founded 1953, promotes literature, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional western fiction, the more than five hundred current members also include historians and other non-fiction writers as well as authors...

 Spur Award
Spur Award
The Spur Award is an annual literary prize awarded by the Western Writers of America. Founded in 1953 with only four categories , the award today has expanded to include the following categories:...

for Best Western Novel.
  • 1980, McGarrity was named a New Mexico Social Worker of the Year
  • 1987, McGarrity was honored as Santa Fe's Police Officer of the Year
  • 2004, McGarrity received the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts — Literature

External links

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