"Dead Man's Tunnel"

"Dead Man's Tunnel" is the third book in the Hook Runyon mystery series -- out of a set of four written by Sheldon Russell (www.sheldonrussell.com).

The setting:  near the end of World War II after an atomic bomb has been dropped in Japan.  Hook finds himself banished to the high desert area of Arizona trying to find some copper thieves stealing from West's Salvage Yard while still attending to other railroad business.

Nearby is the Johnson Canyon Tunnel which has been guarded throughout the war by two military men but no one (at least outside the army) knows why -- including Hook.  When one of the guards ends up run over by a train on the tracks in the tunnel, Lt. Allison Capron is sent by the Army Transportation Department to investigate.  Hook and the Lt. form a loose team trying to decide if this was an accident, sabotage, or murder.  In the meantime, the other guard disappears and becomes a suspect in a series of robberies.

As usual, Hook gets himself in some scrapes inside and outside his job as a railroad Yard Dog but he also is instrumental in solving the mystery of the dead guard.  I'll miss the Hook Runyan books because I am pretty sure I have now read all that have been written.  pazt