Shaman's Game (Charlie Moon Series #4)

For tribes of the American Southwest, the annual Sun Dance is among the most solemn and sacred of rituals. But lately Death has been an uninvited guest at the hallowed rite.

Ute tribal policeman Charlie Moon is puzzled. The deceased Sun Dancers sustained no visible, life-ending injuries, so he is reluctant to call it murder — though there is surely nothing "natural" about the sudden, inexplicable deaths of two strong and healthy men. Unlike her skeptical nephew, however, Charlie's aunt, shaman Daisy Perika, trusts the signs the spirits have sent her of a great evil in their midst. And Moon's matukach friend, Police Chief Scott Parris, believes the stubborn, good-natured Ute lawman should look beyond the rational for answers. Yet Charlie Moon knows too well that hatred, bitterness, and delusion are often behind lethal acts — and he hopes these very human failings will reveal to him a killer. But now a beautiful childhood friend has stepped into harm's way and time is running out. For death is on the prowl once more — and it will surely darken the Sun Dance again.

For the Ute of Southern Colorado, the annual Sun Dance is among the most solemn and sacred of rituals. But too often recently Death has been an uninvited guest at the hallowed ceremony. None of the deceased has sustained visible, life-ending injuries, so Charlie Moon is reluctant to call it murder. Yet he knows there was nothing "natural" about the unexplained deaths of young and strong dancers, like the blue-armed Shoshone, Joseph Sparrow.

Daisy Perika is also aware of the events unfolding around her, but unlike her skeptical policeman nephew, she trusts the rumors of sorcery that travel like smoke on the wind. For there is much the eyes cannot see and the hands cannot touch; and the spirits have sent her words and signs warning there is great evil in her midst...and that there are many more corpses to follow.

The return of a childhood friend -- a beautiful Ute woman back from college to write a newspaper story revealing who, or what, is stealing men's lives -- has raised the stakes in Charlie Moon's investigation. With those he cares for deeply suddenly in harm's way, perhaps he should heed his friend Parris's suggestion that he look beyond the rational for answers. But Charlie has seen all too often the lethal results of hatred, bitterness and delusion. And it's these very real human failings he is determined to explore in order to catch a killer before Death darkens the Sun Dance once again.

Publishers Weekly

For the Ute Indians of southwestern Colorado, the Sun Dance is a quest for healing and connection with the higher power. It is also a physically punishing ritual. When three people die during two dances, tribal police officer Charlie Moon (in the fourth captivating book of this exceptional series, after The Shaman's Bones, 1997) can't quite accept the verdicts of natural causes. Moon's aunt, elderly shaman Daisy Perika, dreams that the victims were targets of a witch. A lovely but frail young Ute woman, Delly Sands, recently returned to the reservation and working for the tribal newspaper, thinks that her reporting will unmask the witch. When Delly herself is wounded in an attack with a weapon that has powerful tribal symbolism, Moon must take Aunt Daisy's warning more seriously. The old shaman determines to expose the witch on her own, a "game" that could cause more deaths. As in the previous Shaman stories, Doss skillfully navigates the tricky terrain between fact and fable, as Moon balances clear-eyed cop logic with timeless tribal beliefs that can make their own reality. The Sun Dance scenes are spellbinding, rendered with powerful conviction and knowledgeable respect. (Aug.)

James D. Doss, recently retired from the technical staff of Los Alamos National Laboratory, now spends most of his time in a small cabin above Taos — writing mystery fiction. He also travels to the fascinating locations where his stories take place, often camping in remote areas to absorb the impression of an Anasazi ruin, a deep canyon, an arid mesa, or a Sun Dance. His Shaman series includes The Shaman Sings, The Shaman Laughs, The Shaman's Bones, The Shaman's Game, The Night Visitor, and Grandmother Spider. The unusual plots are a mix of high technology and mysticism (Shaman Sings), bizarre animal mutilations (Shaman Laughs), theft of a sacred artifact (Shaman's Bones), an unprecedented form of murder and revenge at the Sun Dance (Shaman's Game), a most peculiar haunting followed by the discovery of an astonishing fossil (Night Visitor), and — because a small girl has killed a spider without performing the prescribed ritual — the appearance of a monstrous, murderous, eight-legged creature on the reservation (Grandmother Spider, of course!).