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MOURNING DOVE
by Aimee and David Thurlo
Forge, March 2006
320 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0765311755


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Native American National Guardsman Jimmy Blacksheep, who had just returned from Iraq, is found dead on a New Mexico road in what looks like one of a series of carjackings that have plagued the area.

Ella Clah, Navajo Police special investigator, is called to the case but she doesn't think that murder is consistent with the other carjackings. In the other incidents no other person had been killed and the make of the car was all wrong. It weighs on her that a man who served his country in a war should come home, only to be killed weighs on her, and she delves deeper into the crime.

Working the case, along with her partner Justine and her friend FBI agent Blalock, she finds more than a few suspects for his murder. Blacksheep's comrades in Iraq said he was aloof, unfriendly, stubbornly irritating and was disliked by all. Ella finds hints that something unsavory was being done by his unit but she can't find out the details. Meanwhile back home Jimmy's brother, policeman Samuel Blacksheep, had an affair with Jimmy's girlfriend and things were bad between the brothers.

One important clue is the manuscript of a children's book using mythical Indian characters that Jimmy had been writing. He had mailed the book to Ella and she feels that if she could somehow manage to understand his clues, she'll get an insight into what happened to the young soldier. She calls in all the cryptographers she can but finally realizes that the Navajo Wind Talkers of the Second World War might be able to figure it out.

This is the 12th of the Ella Clah series. When the book describes the Indian way of life, the cultural ideas, the old traditions and the taboos, this book shines. But the mystery section lacks tension. Even in the middle of a shoot-out, all the characters have full thoughts so there no feeling of danger and it falls flat.

Ella is a single mom with a daughter and in almost every chapter she goes on and on about not having enough time to give to her job and to her daughter. This is discussed again and again until it becomes repetitious and boring.

A potential romantic match for Ella is introduced here. He's a preacher, but a mystery man, who just happens to posses the self-defense abilities of a professional and a high government-protected identity that no one can infiltrate. At their first meeting he asks Ella if he can let people think they are dating, to keep the matchmakers away from both of them. It's all done with a rather heavy hand, reeking more of romance than the mystery genre.

As usual I enjoyed the location and getting to know more about the Navajo nation, its culture, foods and history, but the mystery aspect is slow and the insertion of the romance line and the constant discussion about being a working mother slowed the pace to a crawl.

If you're a fan of the series you'll want to read this book, but I felt that MOURNING DOVE disappointed and never took wing.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, April 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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