Mission to Sonora

Rating:
Summary: A must-read first mystery novel with NativeAmerican culture
Review: "The desert provides shelter for predators. The cactus wren builds its nest amid boughs of thorns to protect its young from pack rats and king snakes. The poisonous centipede wraps its soft tentacles around an unfortunate insect and fondles its victim in lethal foreplay. Even the ubiquitous roadrunner, famous of stage and screen, earns its supper by plundering the burrows of sand squirrels and by using its sharp beak to slash the throats of baby cottontails." Thus begins a novel of murder and intrigue that engages the tensions between differing cultural backgrounds and between those who would conserve the desert and those who would destroy it. Of Cherokee ancestry, Cramer's character, Linda Bluenight, quit her job as a forensic anthropologist in Kansas City and moved with her son, Matty, to teach Tohono O'odham ("Papago") children on the reservation west of Tucson, Arizona. Cramer introduces many interesting characters who represent different and sometimes conflicting cultural perspectives. In the tradition of Tony Hillerman, she intersperses snippets of knowledge about local Native American cultures in a manner that neither detracts from the plot nor impedes enjoyment of her novel. She also weaves some of the region's pressing environmental issues into the plot. I highly recommend Mission to Sonora to anyone who enjoys a murder mystery. I also recommend it as a supplement to anthropology classroom readings for its insights into important cross-cultural issues in the Southwest.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read first mystery novel with NativeAmerican culture
Review: "The desert provides shelter for predators. The cactus wren builds its nest amid boughs of thorns to protect its young from pack rats and king snakes. The poisonous centipede wraps its soft tentacles around an unfortunate insect and fondles its victim in lethal foreplay. Even the ubiquitous roadrunner, famous of stage and screen, earns its supper by plundering the burrows of sand squirrels and by using its sharp beak to slash the throats of baby cottontails." Thus begins a novel of murder and intrigue that engages the tensions between differing cultural backgrounds and between those who would conserve the desert and those who would destroy it. Of Cherokee ancestry, Cramer's character, Linda Bluenight, quit her job as a forensic anthropologist in Kansas City and moved with her son, Matty, to teach Tohono O'odham ("Papago") children on the reservation west of Tucson, Arizona. Cramer introduces many interesting characters who represent different and sometimes conflicting cultural perspectives. In the tradition of Tony Hillerman, she intersperses snippets of knowledge about local Native American cultures in a manner that neither detracts from the plot nor impedes enjoyment of her novel. She also weaves some of the region's pressing environmental issues into the plot. I highly recommend Mission to Sonora to anyone who enjoys a murder mystery. I also recommend it as a supplement to anthropology classroom readings for its insights into important cross-cultural issues in the Southwest.

Rating:
Summary: Rebecca Cramer's first mystery will win your heart.
Review: Rebecca Cramer, Johnson County College anthropologist, has penned her first novel, a mystery set in the modern world of the Native Americans on a reservation west of Tucson. Often called the Papagos,their name for themselves is the Tohono O'odham, and Cramer has researched them very thoroughly, even learning a bit of their language. An Anglo family dynasty has developed , centered around purchasing large tracts of land just outside the Tohono O'odham land and converting it into expensive homes, walling off access to the rugged terrain, archaeological sites,and magnificent views to all but the wealthy. Benton Brody, in the top echelon of that family, is murdered in the very reion he exploited. His body is found very quickly, much more quickly than the murderer intended. Teenager Matt Bluenight loves that country, and it is his observation of the circling buzzards which leads to the discovery. Linda, Matt's single-parent mom, teaches at the reservation school,but she left a forensic position to do so. She is called in for initial help, and of course is involved as Matt's mother as well. Linda, like the author who creates her, is of Cherokee ancestry. Ramon Morena,a Tohono O'odham youth of good repute, is charged with the murder when a tip leads the police to find Benton's credit cards in his room. Linda doesn't believe Ramon could have done it, and her feelings intensify when Ramon is found dead in his cell. The police are willing to call it a suicide, just what the killer planned.

Rating:
Summary: Rebecca Cramer's first mystery will win your heart.
Review: Rebecca Cramer, Johnson County College anthropologist, has penned her first novel, a mystery set in the modern world of the Native Americans on a reservation west of Tucson. Often called the Papagos,their name for themselves is the Tohono O'odham, and Cramer has researched them very thoroughly, even learning a bit of their language. An Anglo family dynasty has developed , centered around purchasing large tracts of land just outside the Tohono O'odham land and converting it into expensive homes, walling off access to the rugged terrain, archaeological sites,and magnificent views to all but the wealthy. Benton Brody, in the top echelon of that family, is murdered in the very reion he exploited. His body is found very quickly, much more quickly than the murderer intended. Teenager Matt Bluenight loves that country, and it is his observation of the circling buzzards which leads to the discovery. Linda, Matt's single-parent mom, teaches at the reservation school,but she left a forensic position to do so. She is called in for initial help, and of course is involved as Matt's mother as well. Linda, like the author who creates her, is of Cherokee ancestry. Ramon Morena,a Tohono O'odham youth of good repute, is charged with the murder when a tip leads the police to find Benton's credit cards in his room. Linda doesn't believe Ramon could have done it, and her feelings intensify when Ramon is found dead in his cell. The police are willing to call it a suicide, just what the killer planned.