Gene Isaacs: 2 books

Lawyers show up at the home of a college professor and tell him that a Mexican ex-convict has died and left him property worth a fortune. He recognizes the name, but he had only known him for a short time in 1983. The complex solution to the mystery, the why of the bequest, involves hopes and dreams, conflicts of all kinds, bloody brutality, and, most importantly, enduring love.

The Pope sends a trusted Jesuit to reconnoiter the Mexican border before his visit. This involves a bloody crossing while masquerading as an illegal. The story dramatizes the complexities but doesn't take sides: the supposed saints are often bad; the supposed sinners are sometimes good. Everything,...