The fiery midnight crash of a Stealth fighter on a New Mexico reservation and the disappearance of a young Navajo woman put psychologist Ben Pecos and tribal police officer Tommy Spottedhorse on a sinister and mysterious trail. Tribal police lock horns with air force personnel over jurisdiction and the right to search for the missing woman. The murder of a local park ranger and several livestock mutilations complicate the whole picture and take the case from strange to downright bizarre.When it appears the missing Navajo woman, Brenda Begay, may have witnessed what happened that fateful night and might still be alive, Ben and Tommy Spottedhorse race to connect the pieces of the puzzle. Because, otherworldly or not, something evil is out there in the desert, awaiting a final showdown among the ruins of the Ancient Ones.When it appears the missing Navajo woman, Brenda Begay, may have witnessed what happened that fateful night and might still be alive, Ben and Tommy...

It sounds like some work and mostly play when United Life and Casualty sends its investigator Dan Mahoney to Florida. Five greyhounds—all heavily insured—were lost in a fire at the Daytona dog track. So simple. Five dogs dead by smoke inhalation, bagged, tagged, and cremated. Papers all in order. Ashes in specialty urns on the desk of Dixie Halifax, track and casino co-owner. In jail, a young employee charged with arson to cover a murder he's blamed for committing. Then the body of kennel owner Jackson Sanchez is found face down in a pool of blood, a knife stuck in his back. But Sanchez didn't die from a knife wound. Someone has carved "thief" on his forehead. The blood pooled underneath his body isn't his. Should Dan be looking for a second corpse? And the one man who can answer questions, the track vet, dies in a motorcycle accident.Working this case is not as complicated for Dan as having his mother Maggie move into the FBI's favorite mob slob haven in nearby...

The coyote howled four times. Salvador Zuni laughed, realizing he was holding his breath, then waited for another long piercing wail—hoped for another...Salvador Zuni is a master carver of traditional Native American fetishes. He is also a cheat. He makes synthetic amber that rivals anything to be found in nature, complete down to the insects he places inside. His recipe is worth a fortune, and someone is after it.When Ben Pecos, the new resident Indian Health Services psychologist, arrives at the pueblo, he finds himself caught up in the investigation of the murder of a trader in native artifacts and fetishes. Someone is willing to kill and use the spirits of the tribes to drive Salvador out of his mind and into prison for the crime. But something smells odd to Ben, and as he begins to investigate, he treads deeper into the mystic and the list of suspects grows longer.Masterfully plotted and rich with the spirit and characters of the Southwest,...

Native American psychologist Ben Pecos has returned to the New Mexico pueblo of his birth as an intern with the Indian Health Service. Still struggling with the demons of his past, he is plunged into the nightmare rampage of a mysterious illness that is killing the residents of the pueblo, including his own grandmother.One of the victims, the powerful tribal governor, had made powerful enemies, and Ben suspects his murder was premeditated—but that doesn't explain the insidious killer now stalking the innocent. Undaunted, Ben digs deep into the motives of power and greed to root out a killer whose deadly agenda is spiraling out of control.Newly edited first e-book edition.Praise for The Pumpkin Seed Massacre:"... a gripping novel." –Tony Hillerman"This is a wonderful book with loveable heroes." –Library Journal"... Ben Pecos—raised far from New Mexico's Tewa Pueblo—could become as lasting a fictional...

A bank heist turns sleepy little Wagon Mound, New Mexico, on its ear. It's no straight-forward, "demand all the money at gun-point and hustle out the front door" kind of robbery. It's a sneaky tunneling that probably took months to complete and landed the thieves in a room of safe deposit boxes—not the vault with two million bucks for a ranch sale next door. Was this some mistake, or was the thieves' target the Tiffany-designed sapphire and diamond necklace belonging to eighty-five year old Gertrude Kennedy, a family heirloom from the days of the Titanic? The necklace is insured with United Life and Casualty for half a million. The company sends their ace investigator, Dan Mahoney, a Chicagoan still in New Mexico recuperating from events in Flash Food, and romancing the intrepid Elaine Linden, to the scene of the crime. Delayed when his Jeep overheats, Dan catches a ride and is the hapless passenger in a rollover that kills the driver and lands Dan in Santa Fe's hospital....

From award-winning author Susan Slater, the fourth installment in her critically acclaimed New Mexico Ben Pecos mysteries, which Booklist calls "a series to watch."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. The twists and turns in this complex plot will keep readers guessing to the very end!Praise for Susan Slater and the Ben Pecos series:"Solid, suspenseful narrative and colorful glimpses of Native American life ... strongly recommend." —Library Journal"A series to watch."...