The Pawnbroker--A Mystery

November 18, 2013
This bracing series debut from the Thurlos (Ghost Medicine) introduces Charlie Henry, a reservation-born Navajo, and Gordon Sweeney, raised in a rough Denver neighborhood. When the two Iraq/Afghanistan vets decide to buy the Three Balls Pawnshop in Albuquerque, N.Mex., they hire Henry’s lawyer friend, Gina Sinclair, to pay the previous owner, Diego Baza, cash for the combination to the store’s big safe. During the exchange, Baza is gunned down and Sinclair badly wounded. Henry and Sweeney set out to avenge Sinclair, not trusting police detectives to solve the crime, though her lover, Sgt. Nancy Medina, helps with inside information. The pair engage in plenty of gunplay as their digging into Baza’s shady dealings leads to encounters with gangs, a pawnshop employee with a mysterious past, and a slippery, glib-tongued thief. Thurlo fans should be prepared for less Native American ambience than in the Elah Clah series. Agent: Peter Rubie, Fine Print Literary Management.

December 15, 2013
Two war veterans find that their special ops skills come in unexpectedly handy back stateside in Albuquerque, N.M. Only after purchasing the Three Balls pawnshop do Navajo Charlie Henry and his Anglo buddy Gordo Sweeney discover that former owner Diego Baza has wiped the computers. The records they need may be in a safe for which they have no combination or key. Charlie's high school girlfriend Gina, now an attorney, agrees to meet Baza and hand over money for the information. That's the extent of the good news. Charlie and Gordy watch from a distance as drive-by shooters take out Baza, with Gina as collateral damage. Gordy stays to help while Charlie races after the escaping killers. Gina's roommate, Nancy, a police officer, gives them inside information to help them track down the killers while Gina slowly recovers. Since Baza was obviously the target, accessing his records may help uncover a motive. He had been stripping the business of cash, selling guns illegally and shopping for plane tickets for two adults and a child to Costa Rica. One of Baza's former employees--a lovely woman with a young son and a reason to fly under the radar--has vanished. The dangerous duo soon become involved in gunfights with rival gangs as they track down the mystery woman and try to discover the motive for the pawnbroker's murder. Fans of the Sister Agatha and Ella Clah mysteries (Ghost Medicine, 2013, etc.) will find the Thurlos' new series kickoff more thriller than mystery, though there's still a touch of the trademark Navajo lore.

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January 1, 2014

Two Afghanistan war vets and best buddies, Charlie Henry and Gordon Sweeney, decide to try their hands at running a pawnshop in Albuquerque, NM. In an abrupt initiation to the business, they witness the former pawnshop owner's killing in a shooting ambush. Their friend Gina Sinclair is wounded in the same incident, and Charlie and Gordon vow to get to the bottom of the crime. Initially, they learn that an illegal weapons trade through the shop is one problem, but as they shoot their way through this case (and there's abundant weapons chatter and shoot 'em ups), the duo realize that a female employee is at the heart of the violence. When the employee's son is kidnapped, Charlie and Gordon's special-ops training comes in handy. VERDICT While sporting terrific diversity and an intriguing premise, this first entry in a new series from a popular duo (Ghost Medicine; A Time of Change) falls short of taking off. That said, Hawaii 5-0 set in the Southwest should make for a popular series.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2013
The Thurlos, who already have the Ella Clah and Sister Agatha series going, launch a new series, starring Charlie Henry, a Navajo who was formerly a special-ops agent in Afghanistan and Iraq. Henry returns to civilian life in Albuquerque, hoping for a quieter life as co-owner of a pawnshop with his best army, got your back buddy. Readers get a blast of action right away: Charlie's first love, Gina, now a lawyer, does him a favor by setting up a buy of files about the pawnshop's previous owner and is gunned down on the street, along with the seller. The entire novel moves at a breakneck pace through burglaries, stakeouts, and car chases, always aggravating Charlie's residual PTSD. The mystery centers on what is in the pawnshop that so many people are desperately searching for. Henry's hard-won street smarts and informal contacts allow him access to a detective within the Albuquerque Police Department, giving this book more authenticity and punch than if he worked alone. This is a promising debut for a very contemporary character.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)