A murder during a therapeutic peyote circle sends former Santa Fe Police Detective Fernando Lopez on a quest to find a reliable account of what happened at the ceremony and then on a wild chase to Taos and Red River, where the pursuit comes to a violent end.

Former Santa Fe Police Sergeant Antonio Blake has a history of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from his time in the Marines during the First Iraq War. For help he turns to a quack psychologist named Frank Tate, AKA Doctor Ziggy, who treats his patients suffering from PTSD and anxiety with peyote, which contains mescaline, a psychoactive substance. During one peyote circle Blake has a flare-up and grabs another patient in the therapeutic group ceremony by the neck. At the end of the ceremony Dr. Ziggy accuses Blake of choking to death the other patient. In response, Blake goes into hiding and asks his friend, former Santa Fe Police Detective Fernando Lopez, to find the real killer. Lopez interviews the other patients in the peyote circle, who give him widely different stories about what happened that night. When evidence surfaces that points to Dr. Ziggy and his drug supplier, Joey Alhambra, both suspects flee to northern New Mexico. Lopez and Blake pursue the two suspects to Taos and then to Red River, where the pursuit concludes in a violent conclusion with some shocking surprises.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe in the 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of twenty-one previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History; Santa Fe, City of Refuge: An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture and New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: Photographing the Ancient City, in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast, Painted Skull Ranch, Taos Gothic, Devil on Canyon Road, Taos Vendetta, Pecos Reckoning, The Witchcraft Murders, Santa Fe Assassin, A Death Demanded, and Stealing the Hopi Snake Dance, in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series. He teaches a Mystery Writing Workshop regularly at the downtown Santa Fe Public Library.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-758-2
142 pp.,$34.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-757-5
142 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-775-8
142 pp.,$4.99

Ghost-ridden and on his death bed, professional assassin Jack Lacy arrives in Santa Fe and enlists his old Marine buddy Antonio Blake and former Santa Fe Police detective Fernando Lopez to help him obtain a burial site near his friend Dennis Hopper’s grave in Jesus Nazareno Cemetery outside Taos. Blake and Lopez take Lacy up to the haunted Mabel Lodge Luhan House in Taos and arrange for a local curandera to conduct a crossover ceremony so Lacy can join the ghost of Dennis Hopper. After Lacy dies and the ceremony is performed, Lacy’s body disappears, snatched by a couple of local hoodlums who try to ransom the body. Blake and Lopez have to use all their wits and brawn to retrieve Lacy’s body and give it a proper send-off at Jesus Nazareno Cemetery.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe in the 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of twenty-two previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History; Santa Fe, City of Refuge: An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture and New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: Photographing the Ancient City, in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast, Painted Skull Ranch, Taos Gothic, Devil on Canyon Road, Taos Vendetta, Pecos Reckoning, The Witchcraft Murders, Santa Fe Assassin, A Death Demanded, Stealing the Hopi Snake Dance, and Breaking the Peyote Circle in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series. He teaches a Mystery Writing Workshop regularly at the downtown Santa Fe Public Library.

Cover art by Virginia Maria Romero.

Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-776-6
136 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-775-9
136 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-785-7
136 pp.,$4.99

See MOVIE/TV TREATMENT below.

Santa Fe artist Jimmy Mackey wakes up in his studio on Canyon Road with a massive hangover. His morning gets worse when a police cruiser pulls into his parking lot next to a strange car and even worse when police find a dead woman in the trunk of the car. The dead woman turns out to be the estranged wife of the Santa Fe mayor. The ultra-sensitive case winds up in the hands of retiring police detective Fernando Lopez, the only detective with enough experience to conduct the politically fraught investigation. Lopez interviews Mackey and the artists who were drinking at Jimmy’s studio the night of the murder, all deeply suspicious with flimsy alibis. He also interviews the mayor in a tense scene at City Hall. When Mackey flees Santa Fe, Lopez chases him across northern New Mexico––from haunted Ghost Ranch to the counterculture city of Taos, where he finds Mackey hiding at the home of one of his ex-wives. Before Mackey can be arrested he is shot and killed by two assassins. Suddenly the Police Chief and the Mayor want Lopez to close the case, since the main suspect is now dead. When Lopez refuses, the two assassins come after him. Lopez senses a cover-up. The case takes a surprising turn at the end, which forces Lopez to rethink his idea of justice. Includes Readers Guide.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe during the turbulent 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of eleven previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History and Santa Fe, City of Refuge, An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, and Ghost Canyon in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

On the cover: Roadside cross at Santa Rosa de Lima, near Abiquiu, New Mexico.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-449-9
172 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-380-5
172 pp.,$19.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-673-7
172 pp.,$4.99

An investigation of the murder of a Santa Fe gallery owner becomes more complicated when former private investigator Fernando Lopez discovers the victim was a notorious sexual predator who everyone despised and wanted dead.

The owner of a prestigious art gallery is found murdered in his gallery on Canyon Road, the artistic center of old Santa Fe. Turns out Sonny Davis had been shot several times by a pistol registered to Ruby Montez, who happens to be one of Detective Fernando Lopez’s oldest and best friends. When Ruby calls Fernando from the downtown police station and asks him to find the real killer, Fernando launches an investigation into the sexual entanglements of the bawdy characters who surround Sonny. What he discovers confounds him. Not only has Ruby’s gun exchanged hands multiple times, absolutely everyone associated with Sonny considers him a sexual predator and wishes him dead. Everyone wanted to kill Sonny Davis.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe in the 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of twenty previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History; Santa Fe, City of Refuge: An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture and New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: Photographing the Ancient City, in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast, Painted Skull Ranch, Taos Gothic, Devil on Canyon Road, Taos Vendetta, Pecos Reckoning, The Witchcraft Murders and Santa Fe Assassin in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series. He teaches a Mystery Writing Workshop regularly at the downtown Santa Fe Public Library.

Website: https://www.southwestwriters.com/james-c-wilson/

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-740-7
156 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-761-1
156 pp.,$4.99

The murder of a homeless man and reports of a red-faced prowler seen on Canyon Road trigger rumors of the Devil loose in Santa Fe, but Private Investigator Fernando Lopez discovers more sinister threats from anti-immigrant politicians and the Sinaloa Cartel from Mexico.

After the murder of a homeless man in downtown Santa Fe, Private Investigator Fernando Lopez is visited by a local artist who claims to have seen the Devil on Canyon Road. Lopez is dubious, but rumors continue to spread as more Santa Feans see a red-faced beast in the area. When a second homeless man is murdered, Lopez decides to investigate. The case quickly becomes more complicated––and dangerous––when a violent anti-immigrant movement called Take Back Our Streets wants to use the murders as a pretext to ban immigrants and homeless people from the streets of the city. Lopez discovers troubling information about the leaders of the movement, information that links them to the murders. Meanwhile, sightings of a red-faced beast continue on Canyon Road. Lopez decides to stalk the so-called beast and pursues it to an old Forest Service building on Upper Canyon Road. The building is being rented by Ricardo Aragon, a Mexican painter who, Lopez discovers, is on the run from the Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico. Unwittingly, Lopez finds himself up against the Sinaloa Cartel, the Take Back Our Streets movement, and the Devil on Canyon Road. Includes Readers Guide.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe during the turbulent 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of thirteen previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History and Santa Fe, City of Refuge, An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast and Painted Skull Ranch in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

Cover art by Virginia Maria Romero.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-616-5
158 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-540-3
158 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-715-4
158 pp.,$4.99

Click on "Movie/TV Treatment" below.

Park Ranger Pete Chavez is murdered in an ancient ruin at Chaco Canyon as he makes his nighttime security check. Santa Fe Police Detective Fernando Lopez is sent to investigate and soon realizes there may be a connection between the Chavez murder and the murder two days earlier of an eccentric Santa Fean by the name of Tom Flynn, whose grandfather had worked for Richard Wetherill during the first archaeological excavations of the ruins at Chaco Canyon. In Flynn’s ransacked house Detective Lopez finds a journal written by Flynn’s grandfather detailing a cache of jewelry and artifacts hidden by Wetherill somewhere in or near the ruin of Pueblo Bonito. On orders Detective Lopez teams up with Patricia Begay, an FBI agent of Navajo descent. Moving between Santa Fe and the 1,200-year-old necropolis at Chaco Canyon, they find themselves embroiled in a violent world of greed and murder. Their jobs are made more difficult by ancient superstitions and mysterious sightings in the canyon. In order to solve the case Fernando must follow a dangerous trail of enigmatic clues left by the killer or killers and steer a treacherous course between modern science and a 1,200-year-old world of ghosts. Includes Readers Guide.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe during the turbulent 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of nine previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History, in addition to Peyote Wolf and Smokescreen, in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

Sample Chapter
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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-407-9
162 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-352-2
162 pp.,$18.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-646-1
162 pp.,$4.99

When Santa Fe musician Danny Ortiz is murdered, Private Investigator Fernando Lopez is hired by Ortiz’s wife to find the killer and his investigation takes him to mysterious Painted Skull Ranch in Taos, a 200-year-old haunted ranch where Lopez uncovers a viper’s nest of greed, treachery, and murder.

Santa Fe musician Danny Ortiz is murdered by two men while walking home from a gig in downtown Santa Fe. Police believe thieves or vagrants attacked Ortiz, but his wife disagrees and hires Private Investigator Fernando Lopez to find the real killers. Lopez learns that Ortiz had been scheduled to perform in an upcoming concert at the Lensic Theater with Dallas Longstreet, a nationally known musician from Austin, Texas. However, Longstreet had bolted from his Lensic commitment and his marital problems and fled to a mysterious ranch outside Taos rented by an old friend and drug dealer, Travis Walker. Lopez goes to Taos to question Longstreet and discovers the ranch––Painted Skull Ranch––is a haunted two hundred-year-old historic property that includes an abandoned penitente morada. Lopez doesn’t know if Longstreet is staying at the ranch by choice or being held there as a prisoner. The plot thickens when Longstreet overdoses in suspicious circumstances orchestrated by his wife and her lover, Travis Walker. Every step of the way Lopez’s investigation takes him deeper into a web of deceit and betrayal, ending in murder. Includes Readers Guide

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe during the turbulent 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of twelve previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History and Santa Fe, City of Refuge, An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon and The Dead Go Fast in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-532-8
142 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-459-8
142 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-689-8
142 pp.,$4.99

When the infamous Foreman of Three Hills Ranch reappears in Santa Fe looking to take revenge for his conviction for sex trafficking at the notorious ranch, Private Inspector Fernando Lopez finds himself a hunted man, lured to the Pecos Wilderness and into the Foreman’s trap.

When the infamous Foreman of Three Hills Ranch reappears in Santa Fe looking to take revenge for his conviction for sex trafficking at the notorious ranch, Private Inspector Fernando Lopez finds himself a hunted man. Lopez alerts Santa Fe County Deputy Sheriff Jodie Williams, who accompanied him in the raid on Three Hills Ranch. Unfortunately, the notice comes too late. The Foreman kidnaps Williams’ wife and leaves a note: “Meet Holy Ghost.” Lopez is perplexed about the meaning of the note until he realizes that it refers to a community in the Pecos Wilderness by the name of Holy Ghost, named after the ghost of a murdered priest that supposedly roams the wilderness. On a quest to rescue Williams’ wife, Lopez and Williams head to the wild Pecos Wilderness, where a man dressed in bear fur, the Holy Ghost, and the Foreman await them.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe in the 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of sixteen previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History; Santa Fe, City of Refuge: An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture and New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: Photographing the Ancient City, in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast, Painted Skull Ranch, Taos Gothic, Devil on Canyon Road, and Taos Vendetta in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-692-9
142 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-653-0
142 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-738-3
142 pp.,$4.99

Click on "Movie/TV Treatment" below.

A man in a wolf mask bursts into a teepee in the middle of a sacred ritual, a peyote ceremony, and kills Michael Soto, the owner of Sabado Indian Arts on the Santa Fe Plaza. The next morning Detective Fernando Lopez, a member of an old Santa Fe family, receives a complaint from two Zuni that an important tribal object, a carved wooden war god called an ahayu:da, has been stolen from their pueblo. They show him an anonymous letter sent to the Zuni Tribal Council saying that Michael Soto was trying to sell it for fifty thousand dollars. Shortly after they leave, the police dispatcher reports that Michael Soto has been murdered. Establishing what happened and who was present at the peyote ceremony proves difficult. One witness says three men and one woman from Whitewater near Zuni attended the ceremony. Another says it was four men from Whitewater. One witness blames a skinwalker or a werewolf for Michael Soto’s murder. Detective Lopez’s investigation exposes the cultural and ethnic fractures in Santa Fe, a city of Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo cultures. The investigation also leads into the dangerous underworld of buying and selling stolen Indian artifacts. Along the way he encounters looters and grave robbers, rich gallery owners who buy and sell priceless tribal objects on the black market, and artisans who produce fake replicas of the objects to sell. The search for answers comes to a startling end in a violent confrontation at a trading post just north of Zuni Pueblo, when the truth is finally revealed. Includes Readers Guide.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe during the turbulent 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of seven previous books, including most recently Weather Reports from the Autism Front: A Father’s Memoir of his Autistic Son; Santa Fe, City of Refuge: An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture; and Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-423-9
176 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-307-2
176 pp.,$18.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-600-3
176 pp.,$3.99

Private Investigator Fernando Lopez finds himself drawn into a bloody war between Sinaloa Cartel gunmen and a professional assassin, who happens to be a friend of a former colleague of Fernando’s on the Santa Fe Police Department.

Jack Lacy, a decorated Marine sniper now working as a professional assassin, arrives in Santa Fe with a contract to kill a government official. When the hit has to be cancelled, the employer demands that Lacy return the sizeable advance he was given. Lacy refuses. In response, Lacy’s employer contracts Silva Archivada, the head of the Sinaloa Cartel in New Mexico, to force Lacy to return the advance or face the consequences. Private Investigator Fernando Lopez finds himself drawn into the bloody war that develops between Lacy and the Sinaloa Cartel in the streets of Santa Fe.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe in the 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of nineteen previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History; Santa Fe, City of Refuge: An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture and New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: Photographing the Ancient City, in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast, Painted Skull Ranch, Taos Gothic, Devil on Canyon Road, Taos Vendetta, Pecos Reckoning, The Witchcraft Murders and Stealing the Hopi Snake Dance in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-681-3
150 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-680-6
150 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-751-2
150 pp.,$4.99

Click on "Movie/TV" Treatment below.

A prominent city councilmember, Tito Garcia, is assassinated at the beginning of the Santa Fe Fiesta. Known as a peacemaker, he had negotiated an agreement to ban a controversial Fiesta procession known as the Entrada. The procession celebrated the Reconquest of Santa Fe twelve years after the 1680 Pueblo Rebellion drove the Spanish out of Santa Fe. Both Spanish and Native American groups blame each other for Garcia’s murder and vow revenge. The situation explodes in violence when one Hispanic group attempts to march in downtown Santa Fe in violation of the agreement. Fernando Lopez is forced to rethink the case when he discovers Garcia’s involvement with Three-Hills Ranch, a compound suspected of sex-trafficking young women from border towns like Nogales and Juarez. The journey to find answers takes Lopez on a journey into the underbelly of wealthy Santa Fe society where deep cultural and ethnic conflicts have festered for over four hundred years. Smokescreen, the second in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series, concludes in a fiery confrontation at Three-Hills Ranch, where the truth is finally revealed and justice served. Includes Reading Guide.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe during the turbulent 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of eight previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History (2019) and Peyote Wolf (2020), the first of the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-401-7
174 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-315-7
174 pp.,$18.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-618-8
174 pp.,$3.99

Murder and mayhem break out after a Santa Fe photographer surreptitiously videotapes the famous Hopi Snake Dance at First Mesa, which is off limits and closed to the public, and then tries to sell it to interests in the film industry. Includes The Hopi Snake Dance by D. H. Lawrence, 1924.

Murder and mayhem break out after a Santa Fe photographer surreptitiously videotapes the famous Hopi Snake Dance at First Mesa. An important cultural and religious ceremony, the Hopi Snake Dance is closed to outsiders, which makes the secret videotaping a serious violation of Hopi rules and customs. Even worse, the film collective that sent the photographer wants to sell the videotape to a movie director intending to use clips of the videotape in his latest blockbuster apocalyptic movie. Making peace falls to former Santa Fe Police Detective Fernando Lopez, who attempts to bridge the cultural divide between people who consider the Snake Dance a deeply religious ceremony and those who want to monetize the sensational spectacle.

Special Bonus: Includes D.H. Lawrence’s famous account of a 1924 Snake Dance, “The Hopi Snake Dance,” which Lopez cites in the course of his efforts to help the Hopi.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe in the 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of twenty previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History; Santa Fe, City of Refuge: An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture and New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: Photographing the Ancient City, in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast, Painted Skull Ranch, Taos Gothic, Devil on Canyon Road, Taos Vendetta, Pecos Reckoning, The Witchcraft Murders, Santa Fe Assassin and A Death Demanded in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series. He teaches a Mystery Writing Workshop regularly at the downtown Santa Fe Public Library.

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Website: https://www.southwestwriters.com/james-c-wilson/

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-752-0
150 pp.,$24.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-767-3
150 pp.,$4.99

The disappearance of a Santa Fe historian at the historic Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos sends private investigator Fernando Lopez on a dangerous journey through a haunted world of ghosts, transients, paranormals, and psychopaths.

When Santa Fe historian Kate Isaacs disappears while staying and doing research at the historic Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, Isaacs’ wife hires private investigator Fernando Lopez to find the missing woman. At the Luhan House, now a bed and breakfast inn, Lopez learns that Isaacs walked out of her room during the night wearing only a nightgown and slippers. Employees and a local paranormal organization blame ghosts. They tell Lopez the sprawling hundred-year-old house is haunted by the ghosts of the famous people who stayed there, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Willa Cather, and Dennis Hopper, as well as Mabel and her Native American husband Tony. The mystery deepens when a former lover of Isaacs turns up dead at a party Isaacs attended the night she disappeared. Isaacs is a suspect in the murder until it becomes clear that she has been kidnapped. Lopez teams up with Taos County Sheriff Hank Mathews after kidnappers contact Isaacs’ wife and demand a ransom for her return. Their investigation leads them to a derelict A-frame in the mountains where they find Isaacs’ body and the bodies of two other people. Solving the murders takes them into a dangerous underworld of transients, paranormals and psychopaths. Includes Readers Guide.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe during the turbulent 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of fourteen previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History and Santa Fe, City of Refuge, An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast, Painted Skull Ranch, Taos Vendetta and Devil on Canyon Road in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-617-2
148 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-546-5
148 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-719-2
148 pp.,$4.99

The murder of a Hollywood actress sends private investigator Fernando Lopez to Taos, where he finds himself in a world of intrigue, caught between feuding ranchers and old legal grievances while searching for a murderer.

After a Hollywood actress is murdered at a Taos hotel, private investigator Fernando Lopez receives a call for help from Taos County Sheriff Hank Mathews, an old friend. In Taos Lopez learns the murdered woman, Anne Lewis, had been part of a movie crew filming a tacky ‘walking dead’ movie. Yesterday she’d returned to the hotel after filming at the Taos Historical Cemetery and gone for a swim in the hotel pool. Her body was found that morning with evidence indicating she had been forcibly drowned. Working with Sheriff Mathews, Lopez discovers that Lewis had a lot of enemies. Suspects include a jealous co-worker and Ted Fisher, the executive producer of the movie, who was being sued by Lewis and two other women for sexual assault. Fisher’s bodyguard threatens and later attacks Lopez in an effort to end the investigation and protect Fisher. Yet another suspect is Cowboy Jack Ryan, a young lothario who comes to the hotel bar every night looking for hookups with the various actresses. In fact, Cowboy Jack had slept with Lewis the night before the day she was murdered. Cowboy Jack complicates the investigation, because he’s part of an ongoing feud between two ranching families outside Taos, the Ryans and the Luceros. When Cowboy Jack shoots and kills the oldest Lucero son and then flees, he becomes the chief suspect in two murders. Lopez and Sheriff Mathews chase Cowboy Jack and his younger brother across northern New Mexico, finally cornering them at Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu. In the ensuing melee the murderer of Anne Lewis is finally revealed. Includes Readers Guide.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe during the turbulent 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of fifteen previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History; New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, Photographing the Ancient City and Santa Fe, City of Refuge, An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast, Painted Skull Ranch, Taos Gothic, and Devil on Canyon Road in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

On the Cover: Cover art by Virginia Maria Romero over photograph by the author of the Taos Mountains from the Sagebrush Inn, Taos, New Mexico.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-691-2
140 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-548-9
140 pp.,$19.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-720-8
140 pp.,$4.99

When the bodies of two women are found naked and wrapped in sheets like mummies outside the Cerrillos Hills State Park Visitor Center, Private Investigator Fernando Lopez finds himself drawn into a mystery that involves witches, anthropologists, and murder.

The bodies of two women are found naked and wrapped in white sheets like mummies outside the Cerrillos Hills State Park Visitor Center. When a newspaper reporter investigating the killings turns up dead in Cerrillos, the reporter’s wife asks Private Investigator Fernando Lopez to identify her husband’s killer. Lopez finds himself drawn into a dangerous world of witches, anthropologists, and murder.

Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, James C. Wilson lived in Santa Fe in the 1970s and wrote for the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2012. He is the author of seventeen previous books, including Hiking New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: The Trails, The Ruins, The History; Santa Fe, City of Refuge: An Improbable Memoir of the Counterculture and New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon: Photographing the Ancient City, in addition to Peyote Wolf, Smokescreen, Ghost Canyon, The Dead Go Fast, Painted Skull Ranch, Taos Gothic, Devil on Canyon Road, Taos Vendetta and Pecos Reckoning in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery Series.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-670-7
150 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-662-2
150 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-743-7
150 pp.,$4.99