Get swept away: Rosalie Rayburn's plucky New Mexico journalist returns in third Digger Doyle mystery

Welcome back, Digger Doyle.

She’s the lead character in “Windswept,” Rosalie Rayburn’s third mystery featuring Digger, a reporter now in a new job in New Mexico journalism.

Digger works for a skeletal online newspaper called The Searcher.

Get swept away: Rosalie Rayburn's plucky New Mexico journalist returns in third Digger Doyle mystery

Skeletal, as in one editor, the crabby Roscoe, and two reporters, the hard-charging Digger and the unreliable Ginny. The three work in a newsroom that had been the living room of a house a few blocks from the University of New Mexico campus.

The novel has multiple threads — criminal, political, personal — that intertwine.

One thread begins with the death of state Rep. Carmen Lawlor at a wind turbine facility in eastern New Mexico. Did Carmen accidentally fall to her death or was she pushed? Was her death related to her unbending stance promoting more renewable energy?

Or was her death related to the still unsolved disappearance of Julie Mondragon, a high school friend 25 years ago? Carmen was part of a group picnicking in the Malpais when Julie disappeared.

Digger thinks she can learn more details about Julie’s disappearance than the police have uncovered about the cold case. Answers may come if she can only find Billy Switzer, one of the picnickers.

Carmen’s death prompts Digger’s wife, state Rep. Maria Ortiz, to declare that she is taking over Carmen’s lead in pushing for passage of renewable energy bills in the New Mexico Legislature.

Maria is also calling for the state to quit relying on fossil fuels. Her stance pits her against the oil and gas industry, which is quick to remind her that the state’s economy relies heavily on revenue from the industry. The two sides become adversaries.

The story paints the character of oil and gas lobbyist Martin Granger as unsavory. Granger also hooks up with Danny Murphy, a land developer who opposes a solar array near his planned resort.

Digger’s job and Maria’s politics influence their behavior at home, for better or for worse. They may occasionally fight, but they inevitably kiss and make up.

Digger and Maria live in a tiny adobe home with Maria’s grandmother, known simply as Abuela.

Abuela is a warm, sympathetic woman, who happily cooks for them and keeps a watchful eye on Maria and Digger’s relationship.

A later chapter reveals Digger’s deep concern about Abuela’s health:

“Abuela would be 82 in a few weeks and she knew the clock was running down. One day they would lose her — but not yet, Digger’s heart said, please not yet.”

At one point, Abuela declares that she plans to give her house to Maria and Digger. Another chapter introduces another subject about Digger and Maria’s future together — wanting a baby.

Future homeownership and being parents seem like issues preparing readers for a fourth book in the series.

On the heels of Carmen’s unsolved death, Digger looks into the suspicious death of radio reporter Nancy Harford. A drug overdose is suspected.

Short descriptions of the New Mexico landscape frequently pop up so that it becomes a character in the story. Here are two vivid examples:

n “Already the flanks of the mountain were bathed in silvery light. A glow at the highest point of the crest grew brighter as they watched. A sliver of brilliance grew imperceptibly as if the rock itself were giving birth to a ball of pure light. The full moon crowned the ridge line of the crest, hanging above them huge and yellow.”

n “As if the passing of Halloween had signaled a change in the weather, the next morning dawned crisp and bitterly cold. A thick frost coated the juniper bush outside Digger and Maria’s bedroom window and the higher slopes wore a dusting of snow.”

“Windswept” is a satisfying airport read.

Rayburn worked as a journalist in Ireland, Norway and the United States. She is a former Albuquerque Journal staff writer.

“I miss being a reporter and I can live the experience again vicariously through my character Digger,” she said in an email.

In retirement, Rayburn lives in Tomar, Portugal, 10 months out of the year.