Jimmy Blacksheep, a Navajo member of the New Mexico National Guard recently returned from Iraq, is killed in what appears to be a carjacking gone wrong. But when Navajo Police Special Investigator Ella Clah receives a mysterious package in the mail, she begins to suspect that Jimmyโs death is part of something larger.
Ella finds she must use Navajo lore, not FBI cryptography, to decode Jimmyโs message. Tantalizing clues link Jimmyโs death to his military serviceโbut what could the medic have seen in Iraq that would make him a target for murder back home?
Ellaโs personal life seems just as complicated as her case. Her mother, Rose Destea, marries her long-time beau, Herman Cloud. Then the father of Ellaโs daughter, Dawn, asks for a change in custody arrangements that will reduce Ella to a weekend motherโa much easier fit with her workload but something that will take a terrible toll on her heart.
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