The Bluejay Shaman

In this gripping debut, a Wyoming art expert and consultant for the FBI returns to her home state of Montana to appraise a trailer full of stolen art for the local police. The evening of Alix Thorrsen's arrival, her sister's husband is arrested for the murder of a woman named Shiloh, spiritual leader of a woman's group called the Manitou Matrix. Although Alix can't believe her brother-in-law, an anthropology teacher, would have killed Shiloh, his knife may be the murder weapon. Moreover, he admits to having had a loud argument with her the day before when, incensed that someone had cut the limbs off a tree sacred to the Native American Salish tribe, he had questioned Shiloh and her group. Taking on the job of proving his innocence, Alix gets a call from a woman asking her to authenticate a Jackson Pollock painting. When that woman is found murdered nearby, Alix discovers that the victim had also been trying to locate an artifact known as the Bluejay Shaman. Because Shiloh, too, was looking for the elusive Bluejay pictograph, Alix focuses her search on the ancient stone. Ancient rituals and the powerful Montana landscape are deftly integrated in this suspenseful tale. (Apr.)