Reservations by Gwen Florio

An opening that male readers of a certain age (like me) can identify:

"The day that would see Ben Yazzie transformed into shreds of flesh in too many evidence bags began with a rare strong and satisfying piss. Ben leaned back against the stream, a veritable Niagara, not his usual dribble and hitch that put youth farther in the rear-view mirror every day."

The peeing part, not the blown up part. But the entire passage sets a strong hook.

Lola Wicks is a former war correspondent in Afghanistan, soured on the process and accepted a position out in Montana at the Magpie Daily Express where she met and married Charlie Laurendeau, a Blackfeet cop and are raising their 7 yo daughter Margaret and the 3-legged border collie Bub.

Charlie is mostly estranged from his brother Edgar who lives in Arizona on the Navajo Reservation with his lawyer wife Naomi and daughter Juliana. Charlie, Lola and Margaret are taking a 'honeymoon' of sorts by visiting Arizona and hopefully get the brothers back in good graces with each other.

Ben Yazzie is/was a Navajo tribal elder who gave tours of dinosaur tracks. After said piss, he sat down in the shade of a billboard to wait for the tourist. Then the bomb shreds the billboard and Ben Yazzie. Most everyone believes that the billboard was the target, not old Ben. 

The billboard belonged to Conrad Coal. The huge multinational that operates a mine on Navajo land. To those who cherish the old ways, the mine is an offensive affront to their legacy and ancestors. To the newer generation, it represents jobs and a real world salary with benefits. So maybe it was just a statement . . . 

. . . until another bomb detonates destroying a truck full of raw coal and its Navajo driver.

Naomi is a Navajo prosecutor with no love for the mine. Edgar is also a lawyer who actually works for Conrad Coal. From where Conrad sits, Edgar is proof of the company's commitment to hiring locals for all levels of position. From where Naomi sits, Edgar is her link to what's going on inside the mine. 

The multiple bombings light Lola's journalistic fire and starts asking questions where she probably shouldn't. And as she digs deeper, the clues start to appear to have some basis in the family Charlie left behind. 

This is #4 in the Lola Wicks legacy. Regular readers (who pay attention) know I like mysteries based in the west with a Native American connections. Think Tony Hillerman and Craig Johnson among others. While Hillerman told his stories through the eyes of two Navajo Tribal policeman, and Johnson's vehicle is a white sheriff and his Cheyenne best friend, Florio presents Lola as a distinct outsider in her hometown and when vacationing in Arizona. Navajo mysticism is presented, but mostly as told by the Navajo. No matter how hard Lola tries and despite being married to a Blackfeet cop, she is still an outsider. And in large part, that is what drives Lola, her desire to be accepted by the extended family (which extends beyond blood connections) she so willingly joined. 

Flora comes by her presentation of Lola's journalistic thirst honestly. Per her cover bio, Florio has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somolia. Stateside, she covered the Columbine shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing trials, and the Miss Navajo contest where contestants have to slaughter a sheep. Reservations is an excellent combination of an environmental mystery, investigative journalism all with a Navajo sensibility. 

Available March 8, 2017.

ECD