NOT YOUR AVERAGE (NAVA)JO (Backtrack series Book 1)

“What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories.” ~George Eliot

Allison has a gaping hole in her memory—one that she assumes will never be filled. Her birth mother died when Allison was a toddler, and in subsequent years she has remained relatively oblivious to her mother’s Navajo heritage. Consequently, Allison is more than a little surprised when she learns that the Navajo grandmother she’d been told was long dead is, in fact, still living…and wanting her granddaughter to visit. The invitation to travel to the Navajo Reservation is delivered in the person of Henry Roanhorse, whose own mother also met an untimely death in the drunk-driving incident that claimed the life of Allison’s mother.

“NOT YOUR AVERAGE (NAVA)JO” is a mystery that combines the story of a long-unsolved vehicular homicide with that of a modern-day murder. The protagonist (and narrator) of the story is Allison Larson, a young nurse who—though outwardly successful—has significant problems with self-esteem and her own racial identity. Allison’s “almost-fiancée” Charlie MacNalley unwittingly fosters this problem by routinely attempting to manage Allison’s life for her. The opening of the novel illustrates the uneasy dynamics of their relationship. Though Charlie has doubts regarding Allison’s proposed journey, Allison disregards them. She is determined to meet her long-lost relatives and catch a glimpse of the life her mother once led.
Allison and Henry’s arrival in New Mexico heralds the beginning of numerous adventures—and mishaps. One of Henry’s friends is found murdered, and the list of suspects includes Henry’s father, an infamous bootlegger there on the Big Rez. A possible witness goes missing; Allison and Henry become involved in the hunt to find him. In the process of their search for leads, the two amateur sleuths stumble upon a methamphetamine operation, and that potentially deadly discovery leads to multiple complications, which include dealings with a crooked tribal policeman, a violently jealous boyfriend, an infamous Navajo “witch,” a potentially fatal car crash, plus an out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere gun battle—at night, no less—that involves serious consequences to protagonists and villains alike.

This novel is the first installment in the “Backtrack” series, with stories set in New Mexico on the colorful, culturally diverse—and sometimes deadly—Navajo Reservation.