Review by Booklist Review
At a chapel in Taos in 1935, where the ashes of D. H. Lawrence are about to be interred by his wife, Georgia O'Keeffe finds a body. It's her friend, the talented Navajo potter Flora Namingha, fiancée to the glass artist Mateo Chee, who designed stained-glass windows based on Georgia's artwork for the chapel. Mateo is immediately arrested, but Georgia is certain of his innocence. Meanwhile, Wallis Simpson is at Los Gallos, home of art patron Mabel Dodge Luhan, when she receives a bouquet of carnations and a card written in German. Sheriff Ryan McCaffrey comes to town from Santa Fe, and though he's pleased to see Georgia, that's not the only reason he's there. But he's not telling. Though the investigation into Flora's murder gets somewhat muddled by side plots involving Nazis and mobsters and the FBI, readers will be enchanted by the descriptions of the Southwest landscape seen through Georgia's artistic eye. Fans of historical mysteries that feature real-life people will enjoy this series, which started with Light on Bone (2022).
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The peace and inspiration sought by Georgia O'Keefe when she traveled to New Mexico in the 1930s is disturbed by a brutal murder. Georgia has come to stay in Taos with wealthy heiress Mabel Dodge Luhan after having designed the stained-glass panels for the D.H. Lawrence Chapel in San Cristobal. Her design was executed by talented Navajo artist Mateo Chee, whose fiancee, Flora Namingha, made the urn for Lawrence's ashes, which sadly ended up mixed with cement. Mabel's Taos home has long been a haven for an ill-assorted group of people, currently including the infamous narcissist Wallis Simpson, soon to be the Duchess of Windsor. After her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, cheated on her, Georgia was drawn to New Mexico lawman Ryan McCaffrey, with whom she finds balance and repose. When Flora is discovered murdered in the chapel, Mateo is arrested by two dimwitted and often drunk police officers. Since Ryan's away at a conference, the only one who can help clear Mateo is Flora's cousin Jessie Yazzie, a clever 15-year-old forensics expert. Coyote teeth found on the scene point to the Navajo witches called the Skinwalkers, but Georgia is sure that neither Skinwalkers nor Mateo killed Flora. Determined to find the truth, she begins an investigation that leads to a very mixed bag of motives and a Nazi spy ring. The Land of Enchantment is the perfect backdrop for a murder investigation among historic characters both artistic and evil. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
