Native Mystery Fiction

Ben Pecos has the opportunity to work in Albuquerque on a research project for the Indian Health Service, and his fiancée Julie Conlin decides to join him when she snags an invitation for the couple to stay at the lavish home of an old family friend, Connie CdeBaca, who is the head of a family of successful land developers. But Connie harbors a deep secret she has never told anyone. Ben and Julie are hardly settled when people begin dying, and they find themselves swept into the midst of another mystery.

Strange lights are spotted over the high desert of northern New Mexico. Unmarked helicopters fly to and from Archuleta Mesa on the Apache Reservation. A ranch foreman is found dead. And, after nearly a decade, livestock are being killed and mutilated, again. Deputy Cliff Lansing is running for his first term as sheriff. In the midst of his campaign, the one-time rancher has to deal with divorce, the loss of a friend, and the gaggle of UFO enthusiasts who have descended on San Phillipe County.

Sheriff Zeb Hanks has his hands full when sociopath Jimmie Joe Walker, recently released from an Arizona state prison, masterminds a devious plan to make himself filthy rich. His plan involves Ángel Gomez, a down-on-his-luck half Mescalero Apache/half Mexican. Ángel's alcoholism and far-fetched dreams make him an unwitting dupe in Jimmie Joe's plans, which end up endangering Ángel's own life, as well as the lives of those he loves.

Zack Tolliver left the FBI to spend more time with his family and is at home when Libby's sister calls, worried about her daughter Pru in the wake of the horrific murder of a high school classmate. Libby goes to Kanab, Utah, to offer her support and discovers Pru's life truly is in danger. Zack calls an old colleague and learns the murder may be tied to some old bones hidden in a cave on the summit of Canaan Mountain. Alarmed by what he has learned, Zack sends his friend Eagle Feather to Kanab to gather information. When incidents escalate, Zack joins Libby and Eagle Feather. Soon the investigation into a single murder begins to point to a much larger conspiracy.

Métis journalist Leo Desroches has just been released from jail. Fortunately for him, he is re-hired at the paper to write a popular column about crime. It’s summer; the city is hot and buzzing with mosquitoes, and it’s on track for a record number of homicides. Called to the scene of an apparent overdose of a young Native man in the inner city, Leo witnesses some rocks falling out of the body bag, and he picks them up. At first he believes they are crack cocaine but discovers that the rocks are really rough diamonds.

The safest place they know is about to become the most dangerous… Marcella's husband, Quinn "Black Eagle" Hollister, severed ties to his family and friends on the Seneca reservation years ago. He rarely mentions his past-until his young cousin Kitty collapses on the couple's doorstep in the dead of a rainswept night. After two Seneca men break into their home with intent to kill, the Hollisters flee with the mute and injured girl to Tall Pines, their cabin in the Adirondacks.

They say you can't go back home, but Marin Sinclair, end-of-life doula, never felt she had the right to call the Navajo reservation home, and she certainly never expected that answering a plea for help from a long ago friend would put her life in jeopardy. Dinetah, the Navajo Nation, holds some dark memories for her, but what about her life then would make anyone want to kill her?

A world-class scientist goes missing while consulting on a high-stakes project, the construction of an electric storage battery in the deserted pits of the old Kaiser Iron mines. Did this eccentric world-renown hydrologist simply wander off? Or was his fate more ominous? FBI Supervisory Agent Janice Hooper assigns Zack Tolliver, FBI, to the investigation. When someone plants a bomb in his Jeep the day he arrives, Zack realizes there is more at stake than anyone knew. Soon, he finds himself in a desperate duel with an unknown assassin who may very well be more than his match.

Spirit Pass tackles an all-too-real issue that gets all-too-little attention - the disappearances of young women on Native American reservations. This concept alone ensures plenty of emotion for the piece and the novel does a good job of showing the full scope of those affected. This is especially poignant when we see old friends Agnes and Bernice, who find themselves possible rivals following Claudia’s murder. That there are so many suspects for this killing is also a nice touch - this keeps us on our toes and guessing until the reveal in the climax.

The subject of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls fails to get the attention it deserves. Facts show that Native American women and girls are twice as likely to be assaulted than any other race, and their third leading cause of death is injury. And out of nearly 6,000 missing and murdered cases, just shy of 200 are in the national law enforcement databases. We need to do something about this epidemic.

In the latest novel in the highly acclaimed contemporary western thriller series, a mysterious Native American pleads with Nick Drake to find her missing six-year-old twins. At the same time, an arsonist goes on a rampage. As Nick mounts a desperate search for the children, he is forced to fight fire with fire when the pyromaniac targets the people and land he loves.

Maggie Tall Bear Sloan, half Irish, half Yurok, and 100 percent gutsy, is a retired criminologist who shape-shifts into the Pukkekwerek, the Yurok nation’s monster-killing raven. After she brings down a cannibalistic child murderer possessed by a manitou, Maggie, and her lover, Jake Lubbock, a former sheriff, move from the mountains in Northern California to a desert town in Southern California. All is well for Maggie and Jake until the local sheriff shows them photos of a dentist, his wife, and teenage son, roasted over separate fires on spits, their flesh cannibalized.

The nightmares never cease. Ever since I was a child I have struggled to deal with them. Each night a different horror takes shape, and I see it as if I was there. I wake from these terrifying dreams of another world in which I am running from the strangest visions of evil. Visions that can only exist in nightmares, yet they are all too real to me. Christian Sands is an FBI agent with a unique ability. When his ViCAP unit takes on another serial killer investigation, they soon find themselves in deeper than they bargained for. The killer seems to be ahead of them at every turn.

Axe Killian was a Knuckle Dragger, ex-military, now undercover FBI with a Harley, an attitude, and a secret. After an undercover assignment in Montana's vast Yaak wilderness, Axe and his superior, Special Agent in Charge Manny Costa stumble upon a five-year old cold case abduction. Axe is coaxed to accept the assignment with the cooperative assistance of Sheriff Jim Buchanan.

Fish and Wildlife State Trooper Gabriel Hawke encounters a hunter with an illegal tag. The name on the tag belongs to the Wallowa County District Attorney and the man holding the tag isn’t the public defender. As Hawke digs to find out if the DA is corrupt, the hunter’s body is found. Zeroing in on the DA, Hawke finds he has more suspects than the DA and more deaths than the hunter.

Fish and Wildlife State Trooper Gabriel Hawke's job is to find a missing family in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. After finding the parents murdered, can he find a little girl on the run? Hawke is an expert tracker, but he isn’t the only one looking for the child. Even leaving the mountain, the girl isn’t safe. The murderers are looking for something - something they believe the child possesses.

Dr. Rachel Bisette is drawn to the Four Corners area in the American Southwest to lead the search for a vaccine against a lethal pandemic. One elusive indigenous woman, Eva Yellow Horn, carries the gift of immunity. In her search for Eva, Rachel discovers power beyond science, the secret of an environmental disaster, and the truth of her parents' death.

Prepare for thrills and chills as three acclaimed authors unite in Twisted Fate, a spine-tingling collection of stories: Hunted by Traci Hunter Abramson; Death House by Gregg Luke; and Haunting Reminders by Stephanie Black.

In 1950s Louisiana, a priest, a rabbi, and a Choctaw Indian share a miracle that affects several tween-age, Jitterbug enthusiasts. Even the Vatican sends a proxy to investigate the rumors of angels having visited Troubled Waters Bayou. Henri Thibadeaux, our 19-year-old protagonist, accompanies his two childhood friends to a Catholic, Cajun, outdoor fish-fry dance. Henri, maimed by the albino alligator, Rougerou, as a child, struggles with his first time on the dance floor with Ms. Rebekah Molieneire. To date her, he must attend her church....

Sam Cloudstone is a full-blooded Comanche in today's world. He's an author, a songwriter, a photographer, a bartender, and a bounty hunter. One day he accidentally crosses paths with Melissa Steinhardt, a beautiful and impetuous "damsel in distress", and his life changes forever! Attempting to help her involves him in a 70-year-old mystery that pits the two of them against the FBI, the CIA, and a billionaire drug lord. They end up in a chase across Texas, each new destination dictated by solving the riddle preceding it.