Bag Limit

{{short description|2001 novel by Steven F. Havill}} {{for|the hunting and fishing law|bag limits}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox book |  | name = Bag Limit | image = Bag Limit.jpg | caption = First edition | author = Steven F. Havill | country = United States | language = English | cover_artist = | series = Bill Gastner #9 | genre = Crime novel | publisher = St. Martin's Press | release_date = 17 November 2001 | media_type = Print (hardback) | pages = 336 pp | isbn = 0-312-25183-1 | dewey= 813/.54 21 | congress= PS3558.A785 B34 2001 | oclc= 47237670 | preceded_by = Dead Weight | followed_by = Scavengers }}

'''''Bag Limit''''' is a mystery novel written by Steven F. Havill, published in 2001.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Zaleski |first=Jeff |last2=Cannon |first2=Peter |date=October 29, 2001 |title=Bag Limit (Book Review) |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=5446716&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |access-date=2025-08-24 |work=Publishers Weekly |via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> It was the last of nine crime novels featuring Bill Gastner, the reluctant sheriff of Posados County, who had previously appeared in ''Dead Weight'' (2000).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shuman |first=R. Baird |title=Guide to Literary Masters & Their Works |date=January 2007 |publisher=Literary Reference Plus |chapter=Steven F. Havill |chapter-url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=164519434&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |via=EBSCOhost}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Plot summary== Sheriff Bill Gastner hopes his last few days in office will be uneventful, but this is before a local 17-year-old named Matt Baca drives drunkenly into his cruiser. Baca stumbles drunkenly into the night as Gastner confronts him. He is later arrested passed out at his home. After kicking open sheriff Gastner's temporary cruisers window, he is transferred to a local Border Patrol unit. The transfer turns fatal when Baca pushes himself away, accidentally into a delivery trucks path. The plot thickens as the dead teens father is found dead in his kitchen the next morning. Thus bringing Gastner into a confusing set of clues to lead him to why Baca kept fighting his arrest, where is and where did he get his fake I.D., and who was involved in the struggle with Matt Baca's father leading to his death.

== Reception == A review of ''Bag Limit'' in ''Publishers Weekly'' said, "Unfortunately, crime fans with even the slightest taste for action are going to be fidgeting after the first hundred sluggish pages."<ref name=":0" />

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:2001 American novels Category:American crime novels Category:St. Martin's Press books Category:2000s mystery novels