Red Mesa (Ella Clah Novels) [Hardcover]

Aimee Thurlo (Author), David Thurlo (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ella Clah Novels | Publication Date: April 7, 2001

Navajo Police Special Investigator Ella Clah is on the run. Justine, Ella's cousin and fellow officer, disappeared after the two women argued publicly over Justine's new boyfriend. Human bones are discovered at the spot where the younger woman had told her family she and Ella were to meet late one night. Suddenly Ella Clah, cop, is Ella Clah, murder suspect.
Stunned by Justine's death, Ella has no time to mourn. Her former allies in the Navajo Police Department and the FBI are hot on her trail, using techniques she taught them to hunt her down. Ella has to find the real killers--and fast--before the Dineh act on a growing belief that Ella's mother, brother, and young daughter have become evil.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If it's tough being a cop, it's even tougher being a cop's relative, as shown in this fifth fine mystery about Navajo Tribal Police Special Investigator Ella Clah. In previous books (2000's Shooting Chant; etc.), we've seen Ella's father murdered, her mother almost killed in a car crash and brother Clifford also seriously threatened. This time out it's Ella's younger cousin and assistant, Officer Justine Goodluck, who has to suffer for being related to the star of an ongoing series. Not only does the troubled, increasingly unreliable Justine wind up dead on the titular New Mexico mesa, but Ella becomes the prime suspect in her grisly murder. Despite the possibilities for melodrama, the Thurlos maintain a firm hold on reality with convincing details of life and speech patterns on what Ella calls "the Rez"--the sprawling Navajo settlements around Shiprock. Although the heavies behind Justine's murder are introduced early, with ominous music on the soundtrack, the reasons for the plot against Ella are satisfyingly complicated as they unravel. And the moments that single mom Clah steals from her work to spend with her 18-month-old daughter, Dawn, are poignantly rendered. (Apr. 11)Forecast: This book should benefit from the release in March of the mass market edition of Shooting Chant, as well as from the strong reviews garnered by that title and from blurbs by Tess Gerritsen and Diana Gabaldon about previous Thurlo books. Handselling to readers who find the wait between Tony Hillerman books too long should also boost sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Ella Clah, special investigator with the Navajo Tribal Police (Shooting Chant), splits her time between cases and her toddler daughter. A recent puzzling convenience-store robbery, an enigmatic e-mail warning, a vengeful outlaw on the loose, a newly assigned Hopi FBI agent, and Ella's strange-acting police partner all underscore Ella's own intuitive sense that something bad will happen. When it does, she stands accused not only of murder but also of fulfilling a well-known family curse. The authors deliver an intense, spellbinding family drama in which the battle between good and evil affects both modernist and traditionalist Navajo. Prime reading for fans of Tony Hillerman and other Southwestern mysteries.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (April 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312870604
• ISBN-13: 978-0312870607
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,033,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A long running mystery where the heroine becomes the villain, February 18, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Mesa (Ella Clah Novels) (Hardcover)

Navaho Police Special Investigator Ella Clah and her cousin, police officer Justine Goodluck loudly argue in public over a recent incident. When a few days later, Justine's burnt bones are found partially buried on the top of RED MESA, everyone, including some members of her own family, conclude that Ella killed Justine. Even Ella's beloved mother believes her daughter has turned evil and wants to protect her infant grandchild from her.

While Ella flees to buy time and the truth behind Justine's murder, the law chases after her even more convinced she is an escaping killer. As the law gets closer to capturing her, Ella begins to unravel a plot to eliminate her. Will she be able to expose the dastardly scheme before her time runs out?

The fifth Clah entry is a great tale because the talented duo, Aimee & David Thurlo never lose sight of the scheme or the personalities of the cast. Even on the lam, Ella remains Ella, as fans know her. The plot works because the "plot" against Ella still retains plausibility even with the villains known early in the tale. The Thurlos talent resides in deep and thorough characterizations that lift their Native American police procedurals to a plane shared by the likes of Hillerman.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A pale copy of Tony Hillerman, December 11, 2009

By 

MJS (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Mesa (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read every Tony Hillerman novel and was looking for something similar. This is not it, even though its set in the same area. This is not the first book in the series, but it is the only one I have read. Almost all the dialog is unbelievable. The people in here say things MUCH too openly (when is the last time your lower status coworker who doesn't like you came right out and told you so?). The plot was not believable and was overly complex. I used to live in New Mexico and have been in the four corners area where these novels take place. You really don't get a very good feel for what the area is like from this book. For ex, I remember being in a McDonalds in Gallup, NM with very traditionally dressed Navajo women and Navajo men in jeans and cowboy boots. I think many people would find the area almost as different as a foreign country.

Won't be reading more of these - I will go back and reread some Tony Hillerman.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, December 12, 2001

By 

"sunnykissed" (Rolling Hills Estates, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Mesa (Ella Clah Novels) (Hardcover)

They don't come much better than the Ella Clah series. The authors keep this book on a personal level so that you feel you know and understand the character. You feel her pain and her joy. One isn't enough. Buy them all.