The Charmstone

by C.C. Harrison

After her archaeologist father is killed in a mysterious car crash on the Navajo Indian Reservation, lapsed socialite and museum designer Amanda Bell travels to the remote deserts of Monument Valley to fulfill his last wish—deliver and archive his Southwest literary collection, a gift to the fledgling Navajo Cultural Center.

To Durango Yazzie, the Center's intensely driven Navajo director, her arrival is unexpected and intrusive. For one thing, she sticks out like a tall cool glass of lemonade in an espresso bar. For another, she's a daily reminder to an uneasy community of the fiery car crash in the desert and the body still out there never properly put to rest.

Amanda is unprepared for the culture shock of reservation life, a culture Durango is recommitted to preserving after having turned his back on his heritage in his youth. Bitterness had chased him from the reservation, but it was the hard lessons he learned outside that sent him back. Now he wants only two things: to teach Navajo youth the importance of preserving their heritage—a heritage he once denounced—and stop a neighboring landowner from claiming Yazzie land.

Amanda's days spent cataloging dusty journals, diaries and books are interlaced with threats, rumors of scandal, sullen and secretive teenagers who spend too much time in the desert, a scheming small town newspaper editor who knows everything but tells nothing, and a menacing presence watching her every move. Does an ancient charmstone really have the power to protect her from unseen enemies?

This story of mystery, history and love carries the reader deep into the breathtaking landscape of Monument Valley and provides a glimpse of Navajo culture. Readers will be swept along as Amanda and Durango unearth unsavory truths and come to grips with where they belong in the world.

303 pages, Hardcover

First published April 18, 2007

About the author

I knew I was going to be a writer when my mother took me to the library for the first time as a child. Since then I've written five award winning novels. My newest book, a cozy, mystery "Death by G-String, introduces the Coyote Canyon Ladies Ukulele Club whose first place win in a folk music competition is jeopardized when their star player is strangled to death with a ukulele G-string.

I like writing books in small towns, the kind of small town people run away to or hide out in. The secrets and misbehaviors are so much more interesting. I know. I've lived in them.

My newest book "Death by G-String" is a 2019 Colorado Humanities Book Award winner, an American Fiction Award finalist, a Colorado/New Mexico finalist, and was short listed for a Mystery and Mayhem Book Award.

With no previous musical training, I came to the ukulele later in life and fell in love with it instantly. I now own five ukuleles, two guitars, and two dulcimers. I made my coffeehouse debut and I play at all my book signings. So now I can honestly say I WAS BORN TO BE A ROCK STAR, BUT I WRITE BOOKS INSTEAD.

Currently I'm at work on a new mystery, "Death of a Two-Timing Man" and book two of the Coyote Canyon Ladies Ukulele Club series, "Don't Fret the Small Stuff."

I'm also a reviewer for the New York Journal of Books. When I'm not writing, I can be found in the desert, the mountains or some far-flung corner of the Southwest.

I love to hear from readers. You can reach me at ccharrisonbooks@gmail.com. Check out my website, too. I'll be updating it soon. www.CCHarrison-Author.com

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing I can say about this book is that it is a quick read. I was expecting more from this book unfortunately it didn't deliver for me.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is a nice suspense mystery mixed in with some Native-American heritage.