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 Jimmyβs death is part of something larger.
Ella finds she must use Navajo lore, not FBI cryptography, to decode Jimmyβs message. Tantalizing clues link Jimmyβs death to his military serviceβbut what could the medic have seen in Iraq that would make him a target for murder back home?
Ellaβs personal life seems just as complicated as her case. Her mother, Rose Destea, marries her long-time beau, Herman Cloud. Then the father of Ellaβs daughter, Dawn, asks for a change in custody arrangements that will reduce Ella to a weekend motherβa much easier fit with her workload but something that will take a terrible toll on her heart.
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