Death Waits in the Dark

July 13, 2020
Langley’s somber sequel to 2018’s The Path of the Dead finds former Marine Arthur Nakai at a Farmington, N.Mex., funeral home attending a service for one of his Marine buddies from Afghanistan, who recently shot himself, yet another victim of PTSD. Then Arthur gets a call from an old flame, Margaret Tabaaha, who screams, “Both my sons are dead!” Readers know from the opening chapter that a military-trained sniper has murdered two teenage boys. When Arthur and his police captain friend, Jake Bilagody, investigate, the trail leads them to an oil company doing fracking in the huge San Juan basin, resulting in serious health problems for the local Navajos, who have also been harassed by members of the company’s sinister security firm. The action builds to a bittersweet ending. Descriptions of the starkly beautiful New Mexico landscape contrast with the poignant picture of the state’s poor and alcohol-stricken native peoples. Tony Hillerman fans may want to check this one out. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Agency.

June 1, 2020
A supreme blow to the life and sanity of his first love calls New Mexico not-quite-detective Arthur Nakai to the Navajo Nation for a second case. The call comes while Arthur, who commanded the 6th LAR Wolf Pack Marine Battalion in Afghanistan, is attending the funeral of Sgt. Joshua Derrick, the 12th member of the Wolf Pack to kill himself since returning home. Arthur and the five surviving members are all struggling with PTSD. So is Arthur's wife, Sharon, whose son was stillborn three years ago and who was rescued from a kidnapper by Arthur in Path of the Dead (2018). But their pain can't compare to that of Margaret Tabaaha, an Iraq War widow whose twin 18-year-old sons, Tsela and Tahoma, have been shot dead by a sniper. Even though he's still not a licensed investigator, Arthur can't say no to his childhood sweetheart. So he drives out to Margaret's home, gleans what information he can from Navajo Police Capt. Jake Bilagody, and begins asking questions on his own. As Sharon walks out on a Santa Fe therapist who specializes in PTSD and flirts incongruously with her husband in hopes of conceiving a second child, Arthur's search for Tiffany Maldonado and Jennifer Peshlakai, the missing girls who'd walked out on the boys minutes before they were shot, turns out happily but not very informatively, and his confrontation with his old nemesis Elias Dayton, whose Desert Patriot firm supplies the equipment to keep frackers safe from environmentalists, chills his blood. A disappointing mystery whose scene-setting and background details will still appeal to Tony Hillerman fans.

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