One for the Money Two for the Sluice: A Fr. Jake Mystery

Fr. Jake Jakubowski a 70-year-old Michigan priest temporarily assigned to a New Mexican village helps Detective Sonia Mora investigate a fetus found in an irrigation sluice which prompts reopening a cold case about the death of a wealthy ranchers wife. The picketing of a soldiers funeral that turns deadly; a brash anthropologists excavation for Civil War Apache scout remains; and Mexican folk healing customs to cure a daughter of the debilitating effects of her fathers Prolonged Grief Disorder propel the plot amid a stunning landscape of contemporary New Mexico. In a sequel to The Ghosts of Glorieta Fr. Jake Jakubowski a 70-year-old Michigan priest is again embroiled in criminal activity at the fictional New Mexico village of Providencia. The discovery of a fetus in an irrigation sluice prompts Detective Sonia Mora to reopen a cold case involving the accidental death of a ranchers wife. His daughter Dulci struggles to escape the suffocating effects of her fathers Prolonged Grief Disorder and a Mexican folk healers treatments. A fundamentalist churchs picketing of a soldiers funeral twice turns deadly for the priest; a brash anthropologist purports to have found remains of an Apache scout in a Civil War forts cemetery; and a thwarted helicopter escape plan results in the establishment of a horse sanctuary that helps Dulci recover. Several village residents from Ghosts reappear amid a background of contemporary New Mexican secular and religious customs and locations.----There is much to enjoy in this compelling mystery novel: Noyers New Mexico setting is rich in descriptions with a central theme of an irrigation sluice (acequia) -- the life blood of rural residents livelihoods -- which is skillfully intertwined with bodies superstitions and drama. A well drawn plot represents fictional Providencias laborers ranch hands servants and townspeople with the haves miserable in their luxurious setting while the have nots including transplanted Michigan priest Fr. Jake are sustained by their work religion and customs. A fetus discovered in the sluice prompts the reopening of a cold case and engages an ongoing mystery until the very end. -- Carolyn Page co-author Bones of Contention: A Maine MysteryAfter reading the Prologue of the second Fr. Jake Mystery I knew something sinister would happen: under a blue September sky an Arabian stallion being loaded into a trailer abruptly rears up and kicks out its hind legs; both horse and the female equestrian owner die. This accident sets the direction of the novel which will engulf Father Jake thirteen years later. The author uses his skills to paint you into the New Mexico landscape making readers one with the 70-year-old priests parishioners in experiencing danger local history archaeological digs folklore customs contemporary Catholicism and final resolution. Excellent! -- Helen Robertson artist and designer of www.Robertson-art.com