Jemez Spring

When the governor of New Mexico is found drowned in the Bath House at Jemez Springs, Albuquerque private eye Sonny Baca is called in to investigate. As he soon learns, murder is only the beginning of the evil that Sonny must sort out. Someone has planted a bomb in the Valles Caldera, not far from the Los Alamos National Laboratories, and it is set to detonate in just a few hours. Is this the work of terrorists or is Sonny's old nemesis, Raven, mixed up in the plot?

In a race against the clock Sonny encounters ghosts and sorcerers, beautiful women and environmental activists, and developers and politicians who are quarreling over the state's most precious resource, its water.

"An extraordinary storyteller."—Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Anaya takes the reader beyond detective fiction. . . . His mysteries fall into the criminal and the spiritual, which makes them both inspiring and electrifying."—St. Petersburg Times

"Sonny Baca is a fascinating hero with rough edges that serve to add to his charismatic personality."—Edmonton Journal

"Anaya, godfather and guru of Chicano literature, proves he's just as good in the murder mystery field."—Tony Hillerman, author of The Sinister Pig

Rudolfo Anaya's latest Sonny Baca mystery eerily reflects current events: it involves terrorists, environmental activists, and water rights in the Southwest.

Rudolfo Anaya, widely acclaimed as one of the founders of modern Chicano literature, is professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico. Anaya was presented with the National Medal of Arts for literature in 2001 and his novel Alburquerque (the city's original Spanish spelling) won the PEN Center West Award for Fiction. He has also received the Premio Quinto Sol, the national Chicano literary award, the American Book Award from The Before Columbus Foundation, the Mexican Medal of Friendship from the Mexican Consulate, and the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award. He is best known for the classic Bless Me Ultima.