No More Bingo, Comadre!

Book excerpt: It takes all kinds to populate Northern New Mexico, and this book has every one: from gypsies and gamblers to ranchers and criminals. Noted author Nasario García introduces us to some of these people and the challenges they face. The title character, Adelfa, flirts with the glamour of casinos and finds herself addicted to gambling. Sam “Spam” Austin, an inmate serving a long sentence for murder, is paroled, attends medical school, and becomes a doctor. The affable grandfather in “Yo Quiero Hacer un Lie ’Way,” a hard-working and honorable rancher, stuns the proprietor of a mortuary with his request to put a coffin on layaway.