Badlands by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

 

First Line: August 2020; Precise date uncertain. The woman paused and raised her head, looking over the wavering landscape toward the horizon.

It is a puzzling death in the New Mexico badlands. The victim went out into the desert, shedding clothes as she walked, and died a horrible death of heatstroke and thirst. When her skeleton is found, her bony hands are clutching two incredibly rare lightning stones, stones that the ancient Chaco people used to summon the gods. 

When FBI Agent Corrie Swanson is assigned to the case, she can't quite believe that someone would choose to commit suicide in that manner. With the presence of the rare artifacts, she calls in archaeologist Nora Kelly to help her investigate. 

Then a second body is found-- in exactly the same circumstances. Corrie and Nora pursue their investigation into remote canyons, finding haunted ruins and learning about long-lost rituals. They have awakened a dark power that will put their lives in danger.

~

I have been a fan of Preston and Child's Nora Kelly series from the very first book (Old Bones). I have learned so much about the landscape and history of New Mexico in reading the series, and Badlands is no exception. This fast-paced tale had me exploring remote areas along with Nora and Corrie and learning more about the Pueblo and Navajo cultures. (Never skip the Author's Notes at the end of the books.)

The progression of the lives of the characters has completely won me over. Corrie continues to grow as an FBI agent, and Sheriff Homer Watts, with his immaculate cowboy hat and pearl-handled six-shooters, tries his best to always ride in to save the day whenever his damsel, Corrie, is in danger.

I do have to admit that I did get annoyed with Nora, as she knowingly put herself in danger (what I call a TSTL Moment-- Too Stupid To Live), and her feckless brother, Skip, never ceases to amaze me. Is his luck ever going to run out? Especially when he becomes friends with the local law unto himself rich guy. 

As much as I enjoyed the characters, the story, and all the things I learned, I couldn't totally buy into what caused the women's deaths. It was a tad too far-fetched and had my suspension bridge of disbelief swaying wildly in the breeze. Is that going to keep me from reading the next book in the series? Of course not! I'm ready to read it right now.

Badlands by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

eISBN: 9781538765852

Grand Central Publishing © 2025

eBook, 362 pages

Thriller, #5 Nora Kelly & Corrie Swanson

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

At Ease With the Dead by Walter Satterthwait

 

First Line: Normally a Santa Fe summer is one of the blessings of the Weather Gods.

 

While out fishing, private investigator Joshua Croft saves elderly Navajo Daniel Begay from a trio of abusive rednecks. Never expecting to see him again, he's very surprised when Begay shows up in his office and wants to hire him. The case is unusual, and it isn't going to be easy. Begay wants Croft to recover the bones of Ganado, a Navajo warrior... and those bones have been missing since 1925.

Ganado's skeleton was stolen by an oil prospector on sacred Navajo land. Less than a month later, the prospector was killed, and the bones haven't been seen since. 

Making it perfectly clear that he probably won't be successful, Croft takes on a case which he believes to be hopeless but relatively harmless. He couldn't be more wrong. The deeper he digs, the more danger he puts himself and others in. From El Paso to the Navajo Nation, Croft's investigation puts him solidly in the sights of someone who thinks nothing of killing to keep long-buried secrets.

~

A few years back, I stumbled across a mystery, Miss Lizzie, in which Satterthwait made Lizzie Borden one half of a detective duo. I loved the story, and I loved Satterthwait's poetic writing style. I went looking for more written by him and came across his first Joshua Croft mystery, Wall of Glass. Since the series is set in Santa Fe and I'd fallen in love with the place after a visit, I read it and knew I'd be back for more. I really enjoy Satterthwait's descriptions of the New Mexican landscape, how he develops his characters, and his stories.

Croft works for (and loves) wheelchair-bound Rita Mondragon, an intelligent, beautiful, and stubborn woman who states, "I'll leave this house when I can walk out of it." Croft feels she's making a mistake, but he's willing to accept Rita on her own terms. 

The mystery in At Ease With the Dead (the title taken from a quote by Geronimo) is filled with danger, archaeology, oil prospecting, and humor. It's a "buddy movie" in which Croft often finds himself paired with the elderly Navajo, Daniel Begay. The old man has so many tricks up his sleeve that one day Croft looks at him and asks, "Are you really Batman?" This pairing provides much-needed levity in what could have been a very dark story.

Croft has a smart-alecky wit that I really appreciate. Satterthwait has developed a strong cast of characters, and he certainly knows how to construct a mystery that keeps readers guessing as well as bringing his setting to life. He also has the knack of including sentences that can make you stop and think. "Guilt is sometimes a secret sort of self-esteem" or "If you see the world as an organism, a single entity, which of course it is, then you can't help but see the human race as a kind of virus on its surface, actively engaged in  killing off the host."

Story, setting, language, characters, Satterthwait's Joshua Croft is an often thought-provoking mystery series that I will certainly be returning to.

At Ease With the Dead by Walter Satterthwait

eISBN: 9781453251287

Open Road Integrated Media © 2012

Originally published 1991.

eBook, 248 pages

 

Private Investigator, #2 Joshua Croft mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Navajo Autumn by R. Allen Chappell

First Line: Just outside Farmington, New Mexico, the San Juan River swings in close to the highway to pick up a tributary at the mouth of a wide, nearly dry, streambed-- La Plata, it's called-- not much more than a trickle usually, though it can be more if they get any rain up-country.

When the body of BIA investigator Patsy Greyhorse is found under the La Plata Bridge, law enforcement believes they have an open-and-shut case. Right next to Patsy they found Thomas Begay, a well-known drunk, who-- from all appearances-- is sleeping off a bender of a murder. But the police underestimate the groggy Navajo, and Thomas manages to escape. What he needs right now is a friend who's capable of helping him out of this mess, and that friend is Charlie Yazzie, fresh from law school and itching to bust out of his bottom-rung reservation job.

With the deserved success of Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee mysteries, other aspiring authors hustled to find their own place in this new niche. Some were good, many were not. What always makes the difference in this or any other subgenre of crime fiction is the writer's storytelling ability and his knowledge of his setting and his characters. R. Allen Chappell has all this in abundance.

Chappell grew up with the Navajo, went to school with them, worked with them, and built enduring friendships along the way. It shows. He knows the landscape. You're not going to find any of his characters jumping on the interstate outside of Kayenta as I did in a book I read a few months ago. (People unfamiliar with the area can see the glaring error by looking at a map. Those who have been there will roll their eyes, laugh, and keep an eye out for the next mistake.) Most of the action in Navajo Autumn takes place out in the back country of the Four Corners area. It's a land with plenty of nowhere, a land that few people will enter to find someone unless they know the area well themselves.

In addition to his lyrical description of the landscape, Chappell excels in his straight-shooting depiction of the Navajo people, their customs, their beliefs, and their way of life in this remote area. The setting and the cultural aspects of this novel alone are well worth the price of admission.

This first novel (and first mystery) does have a couple of problems. The characterizations of Charlie and Thomas can be a bit inconsistent. Charlie is first seen as a young man totally focused on his career-- in this behavior more white than Navajo. Then he rapidly changes into an altruistic soul willing to risk life and career to help his friend. I have a feeling that this was meant to to show how being in the back country amongst his people brings him closer to the values and traditions he grew up with, but the change was abrupt and a bit jarring. Thomas, too, once he's out in the back country, quickly changes from a full-blown alcoholic to someone who doesn't seem to notice that he hasn't had a drink in days.

Patsy Greyhorse's murder took a backseat for much of the book, and I feel that if her investigation and a few government machinations had been woven throughout the story more, Navajo Autumn would have been even more suspenseful and engaging. As I said earlier though, this is a first book and a first mystery, and the things I brought up can be easily fixed. What's important is that this author kept me engrossed in his story throughout, and he left me wanting more of Charlie Yazzie and Thomas Begay. I'm really looking forward to his next book, Boy Made of Dawn. 

Navajo Autumn by R. Allen Chappell

ISBN: 9781482393187

CreateSpace © 2014

Paperback, 168 pages

Native American Mystery, #1 Navajo Nation mystery

Rating: B

Source: Purchased as an eBook from Amazon. 

Saturday Snapshot: Navajo Tapestry Walls

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home With Books.

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

 

Denis and I were first introduced to Navajo tapestry walls when we took a boat tour of Lake Powell. "Navajo tapestry wall," a term used to describe the multi-colored streaks in high canyon walls on the land of the Navajo Nation, are caused by metals and mineral deposits in the rock which have been exposed to air, light, and water. They can be very beautiful, and with a little imagination, it's easy to see pictures in them. I thought I'd share a few photos I took at Lake Powell and Canyon de Chelly. You can click any photo to see it in a larger size in a new window.

Tapestry wall in Navajo Canyon, Lake Powell

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly, the only place I've seen this blue.