Into the Fire

close by by Blake Pierce is Book 1 in A Kari Blackhorse Mystery.

Detective Kari Blackhorse has transferred "home" to the Navajo Nation Police Department from Phoenix, Arizona, where her record as a detective was both impressive and impeccable. Her mother Anna had died a year ago, and her premise for returning was to look after her grandmother Ruth who no more needed Kari to "look after" or "care for" her than she needed a third leg. Kari is staying in her mother's house during her return which she initially views as "temporary." Her regard for the Navajo culture of her mother and grandmother is mixed with her father's FBI history and the training he gave her as she grew up. For the most part, she views her police training as more valuable and evidentiary than the spiritual/cultural customs of the other half of her heritage.

That is until the brutal murder of an academic Dr. Harrington who defied using a guide to capture pictures of the geologic surroundings of an outcropping on sacred land known as the Monster's Hand at just the right moment during a full moon. The autopsy shows the extent of the injuries. There's a problem with the ceremonial posing of the corpse, mistakes made with arrangement of the herbs, etc. This lends itself to suspect a murderer who has knowledge of these things but no real experience. 

Since the murder occurred on federal land but managed by the Navajo Nation, when Kari and her partner Detective Ben Tsosie learn of the imminent arrival of the FBI, notably her dad's former partner Special Agent Daniels, they realize this investigation will require cooperation. No sooner do they arrive when a second murder is committed, again with mistakes made in the placement of the elements.   

The quickly ascertained profile by Daniels is off the mark which Kari asserts in no uncertain terms. Disregarding the disrespect, Kari and Ben continue their investigation from their perspectives and Kari's grandmother reminds her of what Kari's mother believed and studied. The spiritual side of these murders points to the supernatural, but Daniels refuses to consider the importance of the cultural and spiritual aspects. 

This is a very good mystery set in the desert where you can almost see the sun blazing on the rock structures and feel the forced realizations of supernatural interference.

I'm definitely heading into Book 2 of A Kari Blackhorse Mystery.

(Only one word of profanity.) 

My "epilogue": As a Christian, I believe in the supernatural. I don't believe in religion. I believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. And, yes, there is Satan and the demons who fell from heaven with him. The enemy of our souls' mission is to "rob, kill, and destroy" all that the Lord has made. He desires to possess souls and turn them against God, to defile the Truth, to deceive and cause wickedness in God's precious creation. Evil is evident and identifiable and the supernatural aspects of it cannot be denied or ignored. 

Father, thank you for being the source of all that is good and right, truthful and powerful. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.