ARROYO OF SHELLS: A PUEBLO TRIBAL POLICE MYSTERY

Matthews continues his Pueblo Tribal Police Mystery series with this procedural set in a rustic part of the American Southwest.

In an area north of Taos, New Mexico, there is a break-in at the Franklin Deerfield Museum; when a security guard sees three people running away from the building in the early morning hours, he notifies the local authorities. Video footage of the crime shows a masked figure in the museum’s basement looking directly into the security camera. The masked figure holds up human scalps, items that do not officially appear on the museum’s accession list; whether anything was taken from the building is initially unclear. The Sheriff’s department suspects this may have been an inside job. The narrative then shifts gears to welcome back some of the series’ returning characters, including U.S. Forest Service technician Janet Rael, Quail Looks Away of the Tulona Pueblo, and local bookstore owner G. Armstrong Coe and his trusty cat, Fenster. The story follows these characters and others as the mystery at the museum intersects with an old story of a lost village known as the Hanging Shell Pueblo. Even if they are not directly involved with the museum plot, the recurring characters are quite busy: Fenster has a regular “reconnaissance” to conduct around Coe’s bookstore, Quail Looks Away has a child to raise, and Janet has a new job opportunity. While this makes for a slow approach to solving a mystery, it gives the novel a distinctive atmosphere full of knowable, likeable individuals. While not every moment is action-packed (Matthews includes details about Janet “fill[ing] up the dual gas tanks” of her Forest Service vehicle), the slow rollout meticulously builds the story—about halfway through the narrative, the appearance of a dead body delivers a newfound urgency for both the reader and the investigators.

Despite a leisurely pace, the story builds an immersive atmosphere around a curious crime.