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Published Oct 2015
352 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Winner of the Tony Hillerman Prize
In John Fortunato's Dark Reservations, Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Agent Joe Evers still mourns the death of his wife and, after a bungled investigation, faces a forced early retirement. What he needs is a new career, not another case. But when Congressman Arlen Edgerton's bullet-riddled Lincoln turns up on the Navajo reservation - twenty years after he had disappeared during a corruption probe - Joe must resurrect his failing career to solve the mysterious cold case.
Partnering with Navajo Tribal Officer Randall Bluehorse, his investigation antagonizes potential suspects, including a wealthy art collector, a former president of the Navajo Nation, a powerful U.S. senator, and Edgerton's widow, who is now the front-runner in the New Mexico governor's race. An unexpected romance further complicates both the investigation and Joe's troubled relationship with his daughter, forcing him to confront his emotional demons while on the trail of a ruthless killer.
Joe uncovers a murderous conspiracy that leads him from ancient Anasazi burial grounds on the Navajo Nation to backroom deals in Washington, D.C. Along the way, he delves into the dangerous world of black market trade in Native American artifacts. Can he unravel the mystery and bring the true criminal to justice, or will he become another silenced victim?
"Starred Review. Fortunato spins an intricate tale, overlaying multiple story lines with a galaxy of characters, some of whom have much to hide. Readers who relish mysteries against the backdrop of the Southwest and who are fans of Tony and Anne Hillerman will savor this page-turner." - Library Journal
"Though Joe must navigate too many trails in his quest for the truth, he proves a resourceful hero." - Publishers Weekly
"For those who like quirky crime novels starring offbeat protagonists ... this one's a must." - Booklist
"A fine debut from Fortunato, an FBI special agent who knows his way around police work. Plenty of red herrings, dark horses, and quirky characters hold your interest from beginning to end." - Kirkus
"Fortunato hooks the reader from the very first page with this twisty tale of murder and redemption. Reminiscent of Tony Hillerman, he uses the Southwest setting to maximum effect. I couldn't put it down!" - Victoria Thompson, bestselling author of Murder in Murray Hill
"Read this book for the writing; the characters, the sentences, every morsel. Fortunato knows a lot, but what he knows best, and practices best, is writing." - Thomas Lipinski, Shamus Award-winning author of Death in the Steel City
"John Fortunato sets a modern mix of crooked politics, dirty cops, Native activism, and the blood sport of artifacts dealing. With Dark Reservations, Fortunato shows himself a worthy practitioner of the Hillerman tradition." - Gwen Florio, author of Montana
"John Fortunato's Dark Reservations is a terrific debut novel. It's intriguingly plotted, fast-paced, and has a full, unruly population of convincing people, who have reasons to act up. And Fortunato's fights read the way real fights feel. Very highly recommended." - Thomas Perry, author of A String of Beads
"For readers who like a hard-edged mystery, the authenticity of a police procedural, and the humanity that comes from a character-driven story, Dark Reservations should be placed at the top of your reading list." - David Thurlo, co-author of the award winning Ella Clah Mysteries
"There is humanity here, along with a world-weary tolerance of weakness and temptation; and something of the clean pure wind-driven strength of the best frontier fiction; which is to say the best in the English language. Would I not know better, I'd suspect him of being the lovechild of Willa Cather and W. Somerset Maugham." - Loren D. Estleman, author of The Sundown Speech
"Provocative and convincing.... The best mystery writing about Native American culture since Tony Hillerman. John Fortunato delivers compelling insight into the human condition, and a rare peek into the evil that men do as only an experienced FBI agent can." - Patrick W. Picciarelli, author of Undercover Cop
This information about Dark Reservations was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
John Fortunato was a captain in the U.S. Army who worked in military intelligence and served at the Pentagon during the early part of the global war on terrorism. He is now a special agent with the FBI and has earned an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. A native of Philadelphia, he currently lives in Michigan with his wife and three daughters. Dark Reservations is his first novel.
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