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BAD MEDICINE
by Aimee and David Thurlo
Forge Books, April 2005
352 pages
$14.95
ISBN: 0765311372


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Ex-FBI agent, now special investigator for the Navajo Tribal Police Force, Officer Ella Clah is called to two emergencies on the New Mexico Reservation. A body has been found, bludgeoned to death and a car has been reported to be traveling at a high speed, veering wildly over a lonely road. Before she can stop the car, it crashes and the sole occupant is killed.

The driver, Angelina Yellowhair, turns out to be the daughter of an influential Navajo Senator who is well known to be more intent on saving his reputation than keeping to the truth. When Ella gets to the second crime site she finds a well-known Navajo activist, Stanley Bitah, beaten to death. Are the crimes related? Ella is called on to be the lead investigator.

Many factors are muddling both crimes, making it hard for Ella to get to the truth. The dead girl's father, State Senator James Yellowhair, wants to make certain no information about his daughter's death is revealed, even when it looks as if she's been poisoned. He also has a long running conflict with the tribal medical examiner, Carolyn Roanhorse, and her working on his daughter brings his ire up to the boiling point.

At the same time Bitah, the murdered activist, has been involved with radicals on both sides of Navajo issues. Either friend or foe could have killed him to make political points. And no one is talking to the police.

Making Ella's job even harder is her ongoing personal battle to balance her life, respecting the traditional Navajo ways but still incorporating the newer ideas of her FBI training. She's well aware that she's looked on as an outsider both by her fellow cops and by the community that raised her. Unfortunately, Ella's constant ongoing inner conflict is stated over and over again until boredom can't help but rear its bland head.

The differences between Navajo culture and the ways of the outside community are well detailed in this book, everything from the polite way of dealing with death, the right way to point, all the way to the foods that are popular on the Reservation. I found all of that fascinating.

Ella is also perpetually getting feelings of oncoming danger, supposedly a supernatural gift that was given to the members of her family. But when she finds herself in the middle of a perilous moment, yet again, and she escapes without any harm to her person once more, the story slows down and the readers are left itching for something different to occur.

I liked a lot about this book. The location and the police procedures are nicely explained and Ella and her extended family are well-crafted. Unfortunately the middle of the story seemed to be wandering, as if the writers were searching for a way to finish the book. The overall story needed to be tightened and the pace speeded up.

I can't say I really enjoyed BAD MEDICINE, but I can't bring myself to suggest that anyone interested in Native-American mysteries skip it. BAD MEDICINE isn't bad; it's just not terribly good.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, May 2005

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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