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Novels
Ella Clah series
Blackening Song
Death Walker
Bad Medicine
Enemy Way
Shooting Chant
Red Mesa
Changing Woman
Plant Them Deep
Tracking Bear
Wind Spirit
White Thunder
Mourning Dove
Turquoise Girl (March '07)

Sister Agatha series
Bad Faith
Thief in Retreat
Prey for a Miracle
False Witness (June '07)

Lee Nez series
Second Sunrise
Blood Retribution
Pale Death
Surrogate Evil (Nov.'06)

Works-in-Progress
Turquoise Girl (March '07)
False Witness (June '07)
Ella Clah untitled '08
Ella Clah untitled '09

Ella Clah Series

Available Now

"Even readers unfamiliar with the Native American subgenre will be intrigued by the richly complex Ella and her fight to bring integrity to her work and personal life."

--Connie Fletcher, Booklist Starred Review

"Once again, the intelligent and sensitive Ella Clah makes a terrific guide into a complex world where nothing is quite what is seems. RED MESA is an engrossing mystery as intricately woven as a fine Navajo rug. It kept me guessing to the end."

--Margaret Coel, NY Times Bestselling Author of The Spirit Woman

"Red Mesa is the 87th Precinct on an Indian reservation, a murder mystery laced with mysticism, politics, and social commentary. Navajo Special Investigator Ella Clah is a self confident and skilled detective who balances her professional duties with single motherhood and a fierce devotion to her people. She's a formidable heroine, and this time, she's facing her most difficult challenge yet."

- Lee Goldberg, Edgar Nominated Executive Producer of Diagnosis Murder

Click here to read an excerpt from Red Mesa

In this story, tensions between traditionalists and modernist Navajo have risen due to vandalism, thefts of livestock, and murder. A break-in at the health clinic doesn't help matters, especially when the police reveal that records of pregnant Navajo have been stolen. Have the pregnant women been exposed to whatever is causing the rise in birth defects among the livestock? Special Investigator Ella Clah has more than herself to protect, and she has lost her greatest ally. Her brother, a medicine man, has sided with the traditionalists, even if that means there will be no justice.

Click here to read an excerpt from Shooting Chant

"The Thurlos mix social commentary with plot-twisting suspense in a well-developed and unsentimental tale."
- Publishers Weekly

Order online from Page One Books


Now in Paperback

"Rarely can a reader pick up a book in the middle of a series and feel comfortable with knowing what's been going on... Shooting Chant is well-written, descriptive, entertaining... It will provide readers looking for a suspenseful read with a lead character who is intelligent, dedicated, likable, and quite appealing." - Albuquerque Journal


Recent Books by the Authors

Enemy Way  cover Enemy Way is the fourth mystery in our Ella Clah series. This time, the Navajo Police force is strained to the limit. Gang violence, drunk driving, and the murder of the loved one of an old friend create headaches for Ella as her investigative skills are needed everywhere at once. When her mother is seriously injured in a car accident, Ella takes on family responsibilities that threaten her career just at a time when her old enemies, the skinwalkers, make their presence known once again.

The School Library Journal says of Enemy Way: "The story starts with tremendous energy and never lets up. A book for fans of Tony Hillerman as well as readers who enjoy Nevada Barr's strong female characters."

Bad Medicine Bad Medicine is the third mystery of our highly acclaimed Ella Clah series. Ella's best friend, Dr. Carolyn Roanhorse, is accused of murder. Stories on the Rez suggest that the M.E. has been contaminated by the earthbound spirits of the dead - the chindi, and is spreading this contamination to The People. Ella must prove Carolyn is innocent before attempts to kill her finally succeed.

Order online from Page One Books

Death Walker Death Walker

Click here to see an excerpt of Death Walker

Here's what the critics have said about Death Walker:

Death Walker is suspenseful and appealing; an intriguing mystery set against--and deeply rooted in--a beautifully described Rez and the people who live there. I grew up in Flagstaff, near the reservation; I recognized the people in the Thurlos' pages at first glance."
- DIANA GABALDON, NY Times bestselling author

"Mystery readers who like their murders solved by applied intelligence will love Ella Clah, the Thurlos' tough, believable and brainy entry in the Sherlock Holmes field."
- TONY HILLERMAN, NY Times bestselling author

"The pace never slackens in Death Walker. The authors know and love the Navaho world, to the great benefit of their readers."
- CAROLYN G. HART

Order online from Page One Books

 Blackening Song

Blackening Song
Forge
October 2001, Trade paperback
ISBN 0-765-30256-X

Blackening Song marks the debut of Navajo FBI agent Ella Clah, who returns to the Navajo Nation when her father, a minister, is murdered. The ritual nature of the killing makes Ella's brother, a hataalii or medicine man, the chief suspect. Breaking FBI rules and jeopardizing her career, Ella stays on the reservation to investigate.

Ella must uncover and penetrate the depths of the struggle between traditionalists and modernist forces among her own tribe to find her father's killer. But, before she can find the truth, Ella discovers that she too is torn between the old ways and the new. She also finds that there are mysterious forces at work on the reservation that neither logic nor her scientific FBI training can explain.

Ella must combine ancient wisdom with her law enforcement experience to uncover a deadly plot that threatens not only her family, but the entire Navajo Nation.

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