Jemez Spring (Sonny Baca Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Rudolfo Anaya (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sonny Baca Mysteries | Publication Date: March 30, 2005

When the governor of New Mexico is found drowned in the Bath House at Jemez Springs, Albuquerque private eye Sonny Baca is called in to investigate. As he soon learns, murder is only the beginning of the evil that Sonny must sort out. Someone has planted a bomb in the Valles Caldera, not far from the Los Alamos National Laboratories, and it is set to detonate in just a few hours. Is this the work of terrorists or is Sonny's old nemesis, Raven, mixed up in the plot?

In a race against the clock Sonny encounters ghosts and sorcerers, beautiful women and environmental activists, and developers and politicians who are quarreling over the state's most precious resource, its water.

"An extraordinary storyteller."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Anaya takes the reader beyond detective fiction. . . . His mysteries fall into the criminal and the spiritual, which makes them both inspiring and electrifying."--St. Petersburg Times

"Sonny Baca is a fascinating hero with rough edges that serve to add to his charismatic personality."--Edmonton Journal

"Anaya, godfather and guru of Chicano literature, proves he's just as good in the murder mystery field."--Tony Hillerman, author of The Sinister Pig

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An extraordinary storyteller." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Anaya is at his best when writing about the people of New Mexico, their traditions, and their lives..." -- San Antonio Express News, February 27, 2005

"[Anaya uses] words and images so rich ...that it is almost as if he's invented a language of his own." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review, March 6, 2005

From the Inside Flap

Rudolfo Anaya's latest Sonny Baca mystery eerily reflects current events: it involves terrorists, environmental activists, and water rights in the Southwest.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (March 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826336841
• ISBN-13: 978-0826336842
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #847,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rudolfo Anaya is professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico. He was one of the first winners of the Premio Quinto Sol National Chicano literary award. Winner of the PEN Center USA West Award for Fiction for his novel Alburquerque, he is best-loved for his classic bestseller Bless Me, Ultima. His other works include Zia Summer, Rio Grande Fall, Jalamanta, Tortuga, Heart of Aztlan , and The Anaya Reader. He has also written numerous short stories, essays, and children's books, including The Farolitos of Christmas and Maya's Children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointed faithful Anaya reader., March 30, 2005

By 

author: www.wrparkbooks.com - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jemez Spring (Sonny Baca Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Who among us dares dispute that Professor Rudolfo Anaya's words flow with the poetic cadence of a pristine clear New Mexico mountain stream? That fact, he is guilty of! Just as he is equally guilty of perpetrating a disservice to Sonny Baca--his fictitious character who has served him well during the first three excellent novels. Jemez Spring utilizes this final Baca tome as a vehicle to extol a personal vendetta/cause as well as demonstrate his command of stimulating prose and history of long-dead cultures.

There are times when an author belches forth far too many meaningless words and details unrelated to the tale being told--that not only are they distracting--they border on nonsense and are disruptive.

Without an actual count, it is estimated that sixty-percent of pages are devoted to a number of subjects other than those that directly relates to Sonny Baca's current dilemma: The creeping and steady erosion of land and culture of the people of the southwest--which I personally sympathize with; throughout the book the reader is also subject to a number of unrelated ancient history lessons from exotic places; and while I've never been accused of being a prude--the professor emeritus' constant reference to sexual innuendo was excessive, unrelated, and unnecessary in this reader's opinion.

With approximately forty-percent of pages devoted to Sonny's final adventure--he is surely obliged to consider authoring PI Sonny Baca a make-up novel. A novel totally devoted to the adventure. One that Anaya owes those he terms, faithful readers, and Sonny.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Better Way to End a Career, October 22, 2005

By 

Daniel Olivas (West Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jemez Spring (Sonny Baca Mysteries) (Hardcover)

With Jemez Spring, Rudolfo Anaya brings to a close his quartet of novels centered on the literate and spiritual private investigator, Sonny Baca. All the elements of a great hayride are present. First, we have a corpse. But not just any dead body. Sonny is beckoned to crack the mystery behind the death of New Mexico's governor whose bloated, half-cooked body is found in the Bath House at Jemez Springs.

Second, we have something worse than a dead governor: someone (al-Qaeda?) has planted a bomb in the Valles Caldera, not far from Los Alamos National Laboratories, where it apparently is set to blow in just a few hours.

Third, enter the crooked politicians and greedy developers who might be behind the murder and bomb in order to secure water rights and make a fortune. And the evil, powerful Raven (Sonny's nemesis and polar opposite) might be mixed up in all this, too. Finally, there's a troubled love interest: Sonny and Rita adore each other but she is healing (emotionally and physically) from a miscarriage and needs space.

But Jemez Spring is not your typical mystery. We can't forget that this is Anaya's world. So, in addition to the murder and ticking bomb, the mystical otherworld is as real as anything else. Sonny enjoys extended dialogues with the spirit of his late mentor, don Eliseo. Sonny also wears the powerful Zia medallion which Raven desperately wants to possess. Sonny's one-eyed dog, Chica, dreams which eventually leads to a heated and protracted debate in the community. Even a group of European intellectuals debate the question of the dreaming dog in a hilarious send-up of ivory tower literary analysis: "But you can't deconstruct folk memory! Does the dog wag the tail, or the tail wag the dog? You are going in circles. The essence of the dog dream lies in the artist as myth-maker. Which leads directly to the myth of Aztlán and its use as an identity in the Weltanschauung of the Chicano." You can almost hear Anaya laughing as his "intellectual" character spouts such pretentious and overwrought opinions.

Included with all this are Anaya's poetic and loving descriptions of New Mexico mixed in with plenty of digressions on religion, politics, sex and culture. Anaya's characters are fully-realized portraits, people we see and know. Sonny Baca couldn't have asked for a better way to end his career. But he'll be sorely missed.

[This review first appeared in Southwest BookViews.]

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jemez Spring, May 22, 2005

By 

Anne K. Edwards "AKE" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jemez Spring (Sonny Baca Mysteries) (Hardcover)

A tale that will appeal to any reader with an interest in the American Southwest and its culture, both past and present. Not just a mystery, but a tale of supernatural, myth, and cultural history. Sonny Baca is drawn into amurder of ther governor of New Mexico when his body is found in a tub at the Jemez Springs and four black feathers are found with him. His enemy, The Raven, is back. Sonny communes with the ghost of Don Eliseo, his mentor, who accompanies him and Chica, the dreaming dog, into the investigation. A fascinating read from the beginning through Sonny's encounter with The Raven to the last pages. In Jemez Spring the reader will step off the edge of what we call reality into a world where many things we do not understand lurk, places consigned to myth and superstition by modern man, yet known to the older generations and considered as part of their world. Do they exist or not? To answer that question, I recommend settling into a comfortable chair and taking the tour of Jemez Spring with Sonny and Chica. This is a multi-layered mystery with a case of well drawn characters, a great comgination of the old and the new. Enjoy the adventure. I certainly did.