Customer Reviews

Turquoise Girl: An Ella Clah Novel (Ella Clah Novels)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once again the Thurlo's have given us a great mystery. This book is a continuation of their great Ella Clah series and one of the best. If you like Tony Hillerman, Margaret Coel, and Michael McGarrity, then this series is for you. I strongly suggest that you start with the first book of the series and read them straight thru.

It is nice that the authors did research the Navajo traditional beliefs. However, since much of the story revolves around a Protestant church, they should have done just a little more research. I'm sure that had they done that, they would have learned that in a Protestant church, you will find an empty cross, not a crucifix, and that members of Protestant churchs do not make the sign of the cross. I would also question some of the terminology used in that Northern NM area. But I'm not quite sure I'm right. I'll have to do some of my own research into the other areas I question.

This was a very good - grab you from the first chapter - type of book. I read it in one day and received great joy from this story.

As usual the Thurlo's bring the modern Navajo (Dine) into perspective with the old melding in to give demension to the culture. The mystery was good as well. It is always a pleasure to read characters who have substance and who are so real you want to count them as friends.

Navaho Police Special Investigator Ella Clah feels down because her mother moved into her new husband's home while her place is being renovated and her daughter is staying with her father. She also has to live with her partner Justine and her roommate until the repairs are completed. Her professional life heats up when Ella prevents a riot from igniting as protestors try to halt construction of a nuclear plant. She notices a stranger wearing sunglasses on the site.

An anonymous call leads Ella to the home of Valerie Tso, who was tortured with her body garbed in church clothing while she was "baptized" in the bathtub with a note from the bible nearby. Besides the gruesome crime scene the homicide further disturbs Ella who is not sure why until she remembers she worked a similar case while working as as an FBI agent in California. She quickly links her current case to two other women dying in a similar horrific way with their children executed. Ella finds a link involving her father's church years ago that also means she and her family are in jeopardy from an unknown adversary with a religious grudge.

Aimee and David Thurlo has written some of the best contemporary Native American police procedurals on the market in recent years as readers over the course of the Clah series investigations obtain a taste of the Navaho culture while also being entertained. TURQUOISE GIRL lives up to those expectations with a strong whodunit and a look at the debate between the traditionalists and the modernization groups. Ella is at her best as her inquiries lead her moving deftly between the two opposing sectors when her case suddenly turns personal.

Harriet Klausner

I have enjoyed all of the Thurlo's books. I have been reading my way through the series the past couple of months. It's interesting. One of the primary characters, Wilson Joe, has been missing for about two or three books. Surprising, as he was such a close friend of the family, and played a big part in previous books. Hopefully, he will reappear. None the less, the books are a enjoyable read.

The book I received was in excellent shape.
I love the Ella Clah Series. I so enjoy books written by Aimee & David Thurlo.
I was very pleased with my purchase.

Another story where Ella Clah gets into deep danger. This case, the victim of the murder (a "bathtub drowning") is the daughter of one of Ella's mother's closest friends and the mother of the babysitter for Ella's daughter. Can't get much closer than that without getting into the family itself.

Naturally, there are the protesters who want to stop the construction of a new power plant, the Fierce Ones, religious conflicts and all of the standard people and relationships that seem to be cooperating to keep Ella from solving this case before someone else gets killed.

If you like the Ella Clah series of books by the Thurlos (and I do), then read this one. It is good.
A great airplane book.

This is the 12th installment of the series featuring Ella Clah, a Navajo Tribal police office on the reservation near Shiprock, Az. Ella always has her hands full of a murder investigation, plus family and tribal issues to deal with.

The writing by Aimee and David Thurlo is very detailed in the descriptions of the tribal mentality and attitude vs. the White man's way of doing things. Ella is constantly caught between two cultures and two ways of taking care of business.

There are always many suspects that need to be eliminated or investigated. The fact that the FBI has a hand in each investigation only enhances the assistance given to Ella and her fellow offices. It takes everyone involved, Tribal investigators, FBI, the Forensic teams, the CSI teams to solve the murder and bring justice/harmony back to the area.

These are fast-paced novels that give an insight into another area and how things are resolved in non-traditional ways. Although to the characters in the book, their ways are Traditional.