STEALING FIRE

Hired by Frank Lloyd Wright, a Jewish/Navajo detective must protect the famous architect from everyone, even himself, while identifying the villain who’s out to steal the plans for the Guggenheim Museum.

Just doing his job, Yazzie Goldman attempts to stop a gangster type from giving a cocky old man a hard time at Chicago’s Dearborn Station. His involvement in the brawl makes Yazzie an enemy of Jake Fine, the thug’s boss, who apparently wants the old man to make good on his debts. On the upside—and something that will impress his artist wife, Iris—Yazzie’s made a friend for life in the old man, who turns out to be none other than famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Though Wright’s a bit of a cad, Yazzie can’t refuse his offer of employment. Wright’s in trouble not only with debt collectors, but with someone determined to steal the Guggenheim plans. Wright insists that Yazzie give him protection and figure out if there’s someone inside his chosen family who’s trying to do him wrong, and Yazzie agrees to the job on the condition that Wright treat him with respect. A mix of confusing circumstances and unclear writing makes it hard to say what happens next, but Wright & Company, now including Yazzie, wind up on Yazzie’s familial home ground with John Wayne (yeah, that John Wayne) on hand to sort out a misunderstanding that’s landed one of the group in jail. Things might just turn out if only Wright can bring himself to respect Yazzie.

The Blevinses continue this series (The Darkness Rolling, 2015, etc.) by expanding on some surrealistically weird details of Wright’s actual life while adding a spiritual dimension they would like readers to take seriously. Few will accept this invitation.