David ThurloReseñas

A lot of potential, not only in this book, but suffers from a lack in editing. Engaging characters, and a good plotline, I just have a real problem with dumb errors. Like "gravel from a fiberglass roof"... WTF??

I found White Thunder to be on the boring side. The plot isn't half bad, and the writing isn't too bad either, but it was slow and repetitive and not overly interesting. And there was even a tie-in to the title White Thunder (and arrowhead in the story and featured on the cover), but at the end of the book I don't believe, or certainly can't remember, if it had anything to do with the story other than bits being thrown in for no good reason.

Long story short, a few sitting I only managed a page or two before I was so unengaged that I had to put the book down. Ella Clah doesn't do much except drive all over the place most of the time while the clues to various crimes fall slowly, oh so slowly, into place. The whole "white man doesn’t understand Navajo culture" wears thin too. Yeah, I get it, but you didn't have to rephrase that talking point 1,000 times. Oh well, maybe the next Thurlo novel will be better...½

Another good Lee Nez story, includes Diane Lopez, and a vampire gone mad, but driven there by a secret government agency.

I really like these books. The stories are original, the lead characters are understandable, and the baddies are really bad. Diane Lopez is not a fluffy, airhead woman TSTL, but a woman who thinks first, who is not afraid to ask questions and get info from Lee when she is in over her head. Lee Nez is a capable officer who tries to protect as many people as he can in dangerous situations. He may be a vampire but he has a heart, a conscience, and respects the old ways when he can.

Lee Nez is a New Mexico State Patrol Officer, Native American, and a vampire. He's one of the good guys. In this story he is going to work with the FBI, a human woman who knows nothing about vampires of skinwalkers. Lee has to keep her safe from the supernaturals he's out to stop, including the vampire who made him. I liked Lee Nez and Diane Lopez. They did as much by the book as they could but dealing with the baddies here blurred the lines a bit.

Navaho 1/2 vampire fights German vampire terrorist, As I recall, this was really a terrible, illogical book

Navaho case involving skin walker

Not horrible, but not terribly good either.

I bought several Aimée and David Thurlo books in the recent past, but this was the first one I have read. I don’t know what I expected other than better. Most or all of the characters came off being one-dimensional and rather boring. The story follows the same patterns of others in this genre, far too many in my opinion, whereby the hero or heroine solves most or all of the mystery / crime on their own and ends up in most or all of the tight spots all on their own. It’s the... I know everyone is out to kill me but I’m going to go in blind without backup because that’s what I do best!

The good was the Navajo culture and a few bits of history of the Navajo People that tracks throughout the book, and the problems that arise when trying to police crimes within in the modern or Western world; cultural behaviors and issues that most people would not know about. That said, the same themes were repeated ad nauseam every few pages... for 380 pages. I sort of got it the first time. I didn’t need the exact same thoughts repeated by every single person we met hour after hour, day after day during the investigation.

One problem I always seem to have with this type of novel is that you’re in a setting where everyone knows everything about everyone else... yet no one knows anything about the ones committing the crimes, or if they do they’re not saying, because, you know, somehow it’s part of their culture. Any mundane thing can happen anywhere on the reservation spread out over like a million square miles, and everyone everywhere knows everything about it within minutes. But a murder or two, and / or criminals trying to wipe the Navajo People off the map, well, that's a different story. Because of our culture we just don’t talk about that sort of thing... which is really helpful too since that allows the investigation to drag on FOREVER.

For me, as the investigation dragged so did the book. They threw in a few red herrings that didn’t deepen the mystery so much as to just reinforce what I thought was bad about all of the above. I hope the other books I picked up by the Thurlo’s are more enjoyable.

Two and a half stars, the skinwalker paranoia is getting old

Stolen jewelry, a car jacking ring, murder-all the elements of a good mystery with likeable characters. A very good follow up to The Pawnbroker.

Serial killings on the Rez and why in June in four consecutive years; create a puzzle for Ella Clah and her team to solve. Ella seems to be dodging bullets everywhere as she juggles work and her home life. The latter is about to become complicated as her daughter approaches her teen years. As always with the Thurlos, excellent insights into a Native American culture as she shares their language and life on the Navaho reservation.

This cozy was not a mystery of great importance. There was no blood, guts or gore. The writing was not great but the plot was sufficiently interesting. What it did have is a lot of Catholic rhetoric being presented by a very likable character who rides around on a motorcycle with her well trained and lovable German Shepherd named Pax in the sidecar. When she does not scoot about town on the motorcycle, she drives a battered station wagon called the Antichrysler (ok, THAT made me laugh out loud). Sister Agatha investigates stuff and solves old crimes. She is sunshine and daisies and I kept picturing Sally Fields as the Flying Nun revving up the Hog and wearing goggles.

Someone who wants a mystery without all the carnage that usually accompanies this genre, someone who wants a cozy liberally sprinkled with religion. That is who will love this book. The reason I continued reading has nothing to do with any of the above. What captured me is that the setting is the town in New Mexico where my father grew up, where his parents moved the family after my grandmother developed a lung disorder and was ordered to move to drier climates. I doubt many people have ever heard of Bernalillo but that alone was enough for me to keep reading. I don't know that I will go looking for any more of the Sister Agatha mysteries but if another found its way to me, I am sure I would take a look at it. Bernalillo is a neat place. (there's a great café there that serves awesome Huevos Rancheros)½

I chose this book as I have always enjoyed Tony Hillerman mysteries. I was completely won over by this book featuring Ella Clah, a Navajo Rez policewoman. She carefully tries to balance her life between her job, her young daughter Dawn, and her traditionalist mother Rose. Ella and her fellow Rez police officers are being run ragged due to a shortage of staff, lack of equipment, and a series of vandalism, bombings and murder. If that weren't enough, tensions are high due to the upcoming vote by the tribal council concerning allowing gambling on the Rez. Unemployment is high and the jobs are desperately needed. The modernists want the casino, but traditionalists like Rose think there are better ways to help their community. Ella's has to find out who is responsible for the chaos and put a stop to it. The FBI is called in, and Ella is also getting help from an unknown email source, calling himself Coyote. I enjoyed learning about Navajo customs while following Ella on her quest to bring order to the Rez. I look forward to reading more in this series.½

This was an okay story.

"Blackening Song," first in the series by Aimee & David Thurlo, is set on the Rez during a conflict between those committed to Navajo Tradition vs those who believe it is time the leave the culture, language and religious practices behind.

The story provides an interesting window into a world closed to outsiders, including those in the FBI who are responsible for capital crimes on Reservations. Context is everything and the story functions on multiple layers without becoming confusing.

I wanted to like this so, so bad, but it falls short in a couple key areas. First, it tries really hard to be authentic, but it makes a couple key mistakes that a real Dine person would never make. Second, it emphasizes points occasionally that it then does inconsistently. For instance, one chapter emphasizes how traditional members of the Dine avoid using people's names and have a predilection for nicknames. This is correct. But then the book doesn't actually do this except for one character. It's like the authors came up with one good nickname and didn't bother trying to avoid names for the rest of the characters. Inauthentic and inconsistent.½

Excellent beginning for this series. Josephine Buck and Ben Stuart are strong with a history and scars. Together they are stronger. Nice support characters.½

A little heavy on the procedurals. Hints that Glover is a supernatural of some sort in the blurb, but the book does not follow through on this. So is he? Or is he just human evil?

“A Time of Change” is a good murder mystery written by Aimėe and David Thurlo. The story takes place in southwest New Mexico. Jo Buck is an employee of The Outpost, owned by Tom Stuart. It is located just outside the Navajo reservation. Jo goes in early one morning at the request of her boss, Tom. She finds him dead in his home. The police come to investigate and call his death a suicide. However, Jo isn’t buying that. Tom’s son, Ben, is granted an emergency leave from the Army to come home for his father’s funeral. He doesn’t accept the suicide cause of death either. Detective Katie Wells doesn’t seem to be investigating Tom’s death very vigorously which is not normal procedure. After being threatened, robbed at the trading post, and having an intruder in her home during the night, Jo finds herself a target. Because the police do not seem to be doing their job, it falls to Jo and Ben to do a little investigating. Things become more and more dangerous for all concerned and the mystery builds right up to the end of the novel.

I enjoyed reading this book because it was a thrilling mystery. I recommend it highly.

Night Owl Reviews sent a free print copy of this book in return for my honest review. You can find this review on my blog at http://wp.me/p2pjIt-7D

Detective Ellah Clah and her crew investigate more homicides on the reservation, and it appears that skin walkers are involved this time as one victim's corpse was mutilated. The Navajo police agency suffers from internal turmoil caused by a threatened reorganization of the force. Clah's mother, her husband and her daughter Dawn surprise her by their reactions to these problems. As usual, gunshots are fired. The big question at the end is whether this is the end of the series or a new beginning. The writing style seemed a little stilted. Do Navajos really speak so stiffly to each other?½

This marks the beginning of a possible new series for the Thurlos although it could be a stand-alone. The owner of a trading post, Tom Stuart, is murdered. Instead of leaving the business to his son Ben, he left it to an employee named Josephine. Ben and Josephine alternate between being bitter enemies and cooperating to try to find the identity of the murderer who threatens both of them and the remaining employees. The book also veers between being a steaming romance and a murder mystery. It does better with the mystery genre than it does with the romance genre. Unlike the other Thurlo books that I have read, this one seemed to have obviously been written by two different people who possibly could not quite agree where they wanted to go with it. While it's still a good read, the Ella Clah series is the better choice of reading from these authors.½

The book this seemed to start off so slowly, then all of a sudden, I couldn't put the book down. Now I can't wait to the next book in the series.

"Fresh Meat" by Vanessa Parker for Criminal Element

In my search for novels featuring Native American characters, I was given the opportunity to read Black Thunder, by Aimee and David Thurlo. While it is the sixteenth novel in the mystery series featuring Navajo Police Special Investigator Ella Clah, it was my first book in the series. I am an avid reader of Native American culture, both fiction and non-fiction. I have read all the Wind River Reservation mysteries by Margaret Coel, a bunch of Tony Hillerman tales, as well as a number of non-fiction titles.

One of the things I look for when I pick up a novel with Native Americans as the main characters is that I learn new things about their culture and history. Since Coel is a historian of Native Americans, I know when I pick up one of her books I’ll learn about the Arapaho tribe. Now, with the Ella Clah books, I’m looking forward to having the Thurlos introduce me to the Navajo tribe.

(Read the rest at http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2011/10/fresh-meat-aimee-and-david-thurlos-... )

Sister Agatha worked in journalism before becoming a nun so when the priest is murdered in the chapel and the nuns become suspects the Reverend Mother asks Sister to work with the police of course this means working with the sherif with whom she had a love affair while at university.

While the book is set in a nunnery and most of the characters follow their faith this book is not out to convert you - the investigation and the sister's spiritual journey in coping with the fact that murder has been committed on their own turf is very interesting. The back stories are very good and my suspects were many, usually wrong. When who dunnit was revealed it made sense and I was glad my main suspect was innocent :)

This is the first in series.

Aimée and David Thurlo are prolific authors, having penned over 50 books together during their 40 year marriage. Black Thunder was ther first book I'd read by this pair.

Black Thunder is the 17th book to feature Ella Clah - a Tribal Investigator for the Navajo Police. A local construction crew working on the rez uncovers a body. Cause of death - 2 bullets to the back of the head. But when more bodies are found and county lines crossed, other law enforcement groups are brought in. Ella has to deal with rival agencies, warring personalities and honouring Navajo beliefs while trying to find what looks to be a serial killer.

The Thurlos have lived in the New Mexico area for many years and David grew up on the Navajo reservation. This intimate knowledge of their settings shows in their work. Descriptions are detailed and accurate. More fascinating though is the exploration of Navajo customs and life - Traditionalists vs Modernists, not using someone's name and much more. I learned quite a bit via Ella Clah.

"Ella took a deep breath. Death and police work went hand in hand. Yet deep inside her, the little Navajo girl who'd been taught never to wish anyone dead out loud because that could have the power to kill, and not to put her shoes on the wrong feet because it could call death, still respected the old beliefs. They whispered a different set of truths, but ones that were as much a part of her as the badge she wore. For years she'd fought against that duality, but she was a product of two cultures and both deserved respect."

A subplot involves Ella's personal life - her teenage daughter, her mother and a boyfriend. This adds a personal note and makes Ella even more likable. Aimée Thurlo also writes romance under the Harlequin Intrigue imprint. At times I found Black Thunder to have undertones of the romantic mystery genre. The plot is good, but it really wasn't difficult to suss out who the killer was. Sometimes the coincidences that lead to the next step or clue were a bit too pat. I do prefer my murder mysteries a bit more complicated.

This is a solid series featuring an appealing lead character, a great setting and believable situations. Fans of Tony Hillerman would enjoy this series.½