Free Flight

A runaway balloon leads to a hidden body in this adventurous New Mexico cozy mystery.

When a gust tears a tethered balloon loose during a charity event, Teo Lucero is already in the air. A novice pilot and a frightened family are drifting toward the west mesa, and Teo has only her experience and a radio to help bring them down safely.

The rescue succeeds. Then Ballast makes a discovery at the edge of a remote wash, and the mornings relief gives way to a murder investigation.

The dead woman is an environmental surveyor who came to the valley for work and never made it home. Teo remembers something odd from above: a stretch of wash flattened where water should have carved its own way. On the ground, locked gates and unwelcoming landowners make the questions harder to ask.

As development pushes toward Río Alto, Teo follows a trail through changed drainage, hidden debris, and people with money riding on the future of the land. She can read the country from a balloon. Can she prove what someone has done to it—and why a woman died for looking?

Free Flight is Book 7 of The Rio Grande Balloon Mysteries, with a resourceful chase crew, small-town ties, and a continuing romance. Includes a feature on balloon chasing and Tío Ramóns carne adovada recipe.

For readers who love:

• A capable heroine whose rescue skills lead her into a new case

• Desert landscapes, rural secrets, and environmental intrigue

• A dog with a nose for trouble and friends who go the extra mile

• Evidence-driven puzzles with warmth, humor, and a romantic thread