Bad Medicine: An Ella Clah Novel (Ella Clah Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]

Aimee Thurlo (Author), David Thurlo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1998 | Series: Ella Clah Novels

Set on the Navajo reservation packed with Native American wisdom, Aimee and David Thurlo's Ella Clah novels are written with a sharp eye for conflict between the traditionalist and modernist ways of life. Former FBI Agent Ella Clah is now a special investigator with the native police force on the Navajo reservation. Ella's brother Clifford, a Hataali or medicine man, says that her investigative skills are gifts from the spirits who guard and guide the Navajo, but Ella insists it's her FBI training that has honed her instincts.

When the daughter of Senator Yellowhair is killed in a suspicious car accident, the Senator accuses Ella and the tribe's medical examiner, Dr. Carolyn Roanhorse, of tampering with evidence and falsifying the autopsy results. An outbreak of meningitis leads to more trouble when many of those who are vaccinated begin dying from an unknown disease. Riots between Indian and White workers at the Navajo-owned mine stretch the resources of the tribal police even thinner.

Convinced that solving one mystery means solving them all, Ella plunges into her investigations despite threats from all sides and her suspicions that Navajo witches are somehow involved. Ella Clah has sworn to protect her people from all menaces--spiritual and physical--and she's not going to back off now.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

En route to a homicide scene--Navajo rights activist Stanley Bitah has been clubbed to death--tribal police officer Ella Clah stops to check out a report of a drunk driver, only to find that Angelina Yellowhair isn't drunk but that she'd been fatally poisoned even before her car crashes. The two apparently unrelated murders are an apt image for this overstuffed novel of Anglo-Navajo conflicts, suspicions, and animosities. Was Bitah killed by one of the fellow coal miners who resented his ties to the militant Navajo Justice Church, or is the murder the work of the white-supremacist Brotherhood, or of the Fierce Ones of the Navajo reservation? It's impossible for Ella to focus on that case, because Angelina's father, influential State Senator James Yellowhair, is leaning hard on Ella and her friend, tribal medical examiner Carolyn Roanhorse, to ignore forensic evidence that Angelina had drugs in her system and shut down that investigation. While Ella's struggling to balance her caseload without losing her cool with any of the dozens of hotheaded suspects, Angelina's tissue samples disappear; her poisoned organs follow; devastating infections break out among Carolyn's patients; and suddenly the medical examiner is on the way to being discredited, fired, and burned out of her home. To top it off, Ella's hated father-in-law is sending her taunting notes from beyond the grave. Where will it all end? Like Ella's two previous cases (Death Walker, 1996, etc.), this one is too much of a good thing; trying to sort out the suspects and subplots is like wandering for hours and hours in a museum filled with fascinating exhibits. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Suspenseful and appealing; An intriguing mystery set against--and deeply rooted in--a beautifully described Rez and the people who live there." -Diana Gabaldon on Death Walker

"A complex and satisfying mystery richly woven with Navajo culture and mysticism." -Tess Gerritsen on Death Walker

"The authors know and love the Navajo world to the great benefit of their readers." - Carolyn Hart

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books (October 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812564588
• ISBN-13: 978-0812564587
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,779,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Hillerman, but not bad, April 18, 2000

By 

BJ Little (Charlottte, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad Medicine: An Ella Clah Novel (Ella Clah Novels) (Hardcover)

Readers who follow the jacket blurb and go into Bad Medicine expecting a Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee mystery will be sorely disappointed.

First, the Thurlos don't have nearly the lyrical voice of Hillerman. You have much less of a feel for time and space and terrain in the Ella Clah books.

Second, the Thurlos spend much more time on external circumstances than on their characters' internal struggles. Even Ella's constant conflict over being a cop and not having time enough for her family seems forced.

Third, the Thurlos give far more play to the supernatural than Hillerman. Progressive though Clah is, her family and her enemies are not. If you're not willing to suspend disbelief, this book won't work for you.

That said, it's not a bad book. I enjoyed reading it, and found it a faster read than all but the most recent Hillerman (i.e. Hunting Badger). The characters are not as deep, but the action is paced well enough to keep the story interesting.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific work in the tradition of Tony Hillerman, September 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad Medicine: An Ella Clah Novel (Ella Clah Novels) (Hardcover)

Navaho tribal investigator Ella Clah is isolated form the Navaho community she is sworn to protect because of her FBI training and her family heritage of being vessels of powerful magic. Ella herself is torn between the traditional beliefs of her people and the scientific method employed in the Anglo world. When the Anglo miners form the Brotherhood, a group that preaches hatred and violence, several Navaho retaliate by forming a counter-group, spouting the same violent intolerance.

Both groups operate in secrecy, but when one of the miners is murdered, the escalated tension between the two groups is noticed by the police. Ella, who is in charge of the investigation, concludes that some powerful person, working behind the scenes, is manipulating events to further drive a schism between he two communities. Before the reservation explodes into more deaths, Ella must learn who the enemy is and why he has brought evil to the peaceful area.

This is the third book in the Ella Clah series and it is by far the best one to date, an amazing accomplishment since the first two novels were quite good. Readers feel a real connection to the heroine's angst as she struggles with an inner turmoil caused by having her feet straddle two worlds. It should not surprise fans of the terrific Thurlo twosome that this novel has a haunting quality reminiscent of Tony Hillerman and Louise Eldrich.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great work in a great series, August 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad Medicine: An Ella Clah Novel (Ella Clah Novels) (Hardcover)

Navaho tribal investigator Ella Clah is isolated form the Navaho community she is sworn to protect because of her FBI training and her family heritage of being vessels of powerful magic. Ella herself is torn between the traditional beliefs of her people and the scientific method employed in the Anglo world. When the Anglo miners form the Brotherhood, a group that preaches hatred and violence, several Navaho retaliate by forming a counter-group, spouting the same violent intolerance.

Both groups operate in secrecy, but when one of the miners is murdered, the escalated tension between the two groups is noticed by the police. Ella, who is in charge of the investigation, concludes that some powerful person, working behind the scenes, is manipulating events to further drive a schism between he two communities. Before the reservation explodes into more deaths, Ella must learn who the enemy is and why he has brought evil to the peaceful area.

This is the third book in the Ella Clah series and it is by far the best one to date, an amazing accomplishment since the first two novels were quite good. Readers feel a real connection to the heroine's angst as she struggles with an inner turmoil caused by having her feet straddle two worlds. It should not surprise fans of the terrific Thurlo twosome that this novel has a haunting quality reminiscent of Tony Hillerman and Louise Eldrich.

Harriet Klausner