Guest Post: Randy Attwood and Heart Chants

 Early on, I became enthraled with John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series, from The Deep Blue Good-byethrough The Lonely Silver Rain. I liked the books, not for the mysteries they contained, but because I wanted to spend more time with Travis. That's the kind of character I tried to create in Phillip McGuire and his mystery/suspense series. But Phil is no repeat of Travis. He's his own person with his own broken background, a burnt-out, foreign correspondent who leaves journalism to return to KU to own and run a bar. Intrigues come his way. Love comes his way.
First in the series Tortured Truths tells Phil's background and gets him settled into Lawrence, Kansas. The second, Heart Chants, finds Phil involved in protecting a Navajo student from Haskell, the American Indian, college in town where two other Navajo female students are missing.
I'm a pantser, not an outliner and when I realized I wanted the novel to begin with two missing Haskell student I researched the college and learned that the most represented nation was Navajo, or the Dinè as the call themselves, the People. So I started researching the Navajo and, wow, what I encountered. They have an amazing creation story. Not just one Great Flood, but four. I traveled to the Southwest. I spent a lot of time learning before I created a half-Navajo, half-white character who believes he is a witch and can reopen the Gates to the Holy People to gain new gifts that will help the Dinè deal with the White Man.
Reviews coming in show the research was well worth the years it took me to do and the years it took me to write Heart Chants.
The amount of research and knowledge of the Navajo poured into this story is incredible. Randy Attwood spared no expense, so to speak, as he lavishly and with great respect brings forth the mystical Navajo legends and thought. Attwood brilliantly entwines mystery and suspense with a twist of Native American history, which is truly the humble beginnings of American history unknown to most. Lisa, Amazon reviewer
We are involved in the richness of the Navajo. Randy honors the voices of his characters and their culture in a way few can match. The result is a mini education of the Navajo people from disparate viewpoints. Sean Bennick, Seattle author
Heart Chants is an intricately woven tale around the life, tradition, and wonders of the Diné people. It leaves you wanting to unravel more stories behind the people, place and creation of it all. I think for many (Navajo), it will be their first time reading the creation story. Bernina Gray, Navajo artist
Randy Attwood has done a gutsy thing. He has gone up against the legacy of Tony Hillerman in the second novel of his Philip McGuire crime series. Even better he wins the bet, not because his crime novel is better than any of Hillerman’s, although it might be and probably is, but because he has the good sense to play off Hillerman in a totally novel way. Steve Glassman, Florida author
Like all of Attwood's stories, this one is absolutely amazing. I kept having goose bumps from reading it. Highly recommended for those who enjoy a good story, especially if you are interested in Native American stories and culture. Katy Sozaeva, top 1000 Amazon reviewer
Master storyteller Randy Attwood scores again. This time, he’s traced an unexpected, jarring intersection of cultures and bruised mental states that leads the reader into the deepest shadows. Beliefs can sustain a people when all else fails. Sometimes, belief must be tempered with understanding. When that is lacking, evil seeps in. Heart Chants illustrates how even evil done for reasons of restoring harmony is simply, evil. His evocative descriptions of Southwestern vistas and his detail rich research into the Navajo culture, pay back in an absorbing reading experience. Richard Sutton, Direct reservation trader since 1985 in authentic Navajo art and fine crafts.
Amazon

Author BioRandy Attwood grew up on the grounds of a Kansas insane asylum where his father was a dentist and the State provided housing. He attended The University of Kansas during the troubled 1960s, getting a degree in art history. After stints writing and teaching in Italy and Japan, he had a 16-year career in newspapers as reporter, editor, and column writer, winning major awards in all categories. He turned to health care public relations and served as director of University Relations at The University of Kansas Medical Center. Attwood finished his career as media relations officer of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Now retired, he lives in Kansas City and pursues publishing his works of fiction and creating new ones. His Goodreads stats: 21 works with 107 star ratings averaging 4.36 and 56 text reviews. 488 users have placed at least one item on their to-read lists.