Buried at Bears Ears
Someone will do whatever it takes to stop archaeologist Joe Cutler's excavation in Utah's controversial Bears Ears wilderness.
Frighten him with headless rattlesnakes. Sabotage the dig site. Shoot his Navajo colleague and friend. Abduct his teenage daughter Megan.
It's 2015. Five Utah Native tribes want nearly two million acres set aside for Bears Ears Monument.
To them it's sacred land containing thousands of ancient sites. For many Anglo locals, the rugged red rock lands are a profit source from extracting oil, gas, and uranium. And from digging up artifacts for the black market.
The excavation is important to Joe, archaeologically and personally. He hopes being with his daughter Megan will mend the tears in their relationship. But the past haunts them and tension flares, especially because of another woman's presence-Felicity, a Chicago detective who became a big part of his life after his wife died.
While the team is in town for a weekend of rest, his Navajo colleague on sentry duty is shot in the middle of the night. Given the local sheriff's half-hearted effort, Joe and Felicity decide to find out why. But before they make progress, Megan has a chilling encounter with artifact thieves. Then she disappears. Was she abducted? Or did she run away, again?
The search for Megan uncovers disturbing answers. Answers others want to keep buried.
Buried at Bears Ears employs elements similar to those in the southwestern/Navajo themed mysteries of Tony Hillerman and his daughter Anne Hillerman. But the novel more closely resembles the archaeologically based classic mysteries of Elizabeth Peters. Both feature an archaeologist as the key protagonist, weave in family drama, and incorporate historical and political tensions.
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