C.C. Harrison, The Charmstone

The Charmstone

C.C. Harrison

Five Star, Apr 2007, $26.95

ISBN: 1594145792

Southern California-based museum designer Amanda Bell feels guilty that she was never there for her father, a renowned University of Colorado archeologist Dr. Maynard Bell who recently died in a fiery desert crash in Monument Valley. Over the objections of her socialite mother and her fianc , UCLA Professor Elliot Sheffield, she plans to go to his last locale and sort out his papers and artifacts. When Elliot forbids her to go, she hands him back his engagement ring and leaves for the Navajo Cultural Center.

At the site she meets former Hollywood film director Durango Yazzie who is a born again Native American having once turned his back on his people, but now embraces their traditions. He does not want the tall, white female nearby because he finds her too attractive at a time he obsesses over the heritage of his people. However, as she offers him ideas to improve his showing of the Navaho culture and she begins to find proof her father lives, they fall in love although someone would not mind another fiery car crash that would kill the two of them.

THE CHARMSTONE is a fascinating, amateur sleuth, romantic suspense that contains several late twists that will shock and delight readers though plausibility seems a stretch. Enhancing the entertaining storyline is a fascinating look over the issue of ownership of Native American artifacts. Much of the first half of the book is establishing the relationships between key players, especially the lead couple. However, once Amanda decides her dad may be alive, she is like a bulldog in her pursuit to save his life. Readers will enjoy C.C. Harrison's fine thriller.

Harriet Klausner