Native American psychologist Ben Pecos has returned to the New Mexico pueblo of his birth as an intern with the Indian Health Service. Still struggling with the demons of his past, he is plunged into the nightmare rampage of a mysterious illness that is killing the residents of the pueblo, including his own grandmother. One of the victims, the powerful tribal governor, had made powerful enemies, and Ben suspects his murder was premeditated—but that doesn't explain the insidious killer now stalking the innocent. Undaunted, Ben digs deep into the motives of power and greed to root out a killer whose deadly agenda is spiraling out of control. Newly edited e-book edition Praise for The Pumpkin Seed Massacre: “… a gripping novel.” –Tony Hillerman “This is a wonderful book with loveable heroes.” –Library Journal “… Ben Pecos—raised far from New Mexico’s Tewa Pueblo—could become as lasting a fictional presence as Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.” – Chicago Tribune “Solid characters, fascinating atmosphere, and authentic setting—The Pumpkin Seed Massacre is a book you will enjoy. Ben Pecos is a star in the detective firmament. I predict a big future for Susan Slater.” – Barbara D’Amato “Slater’s first novel holds the reader’s interest with its brisk pace, well-rendered New Mexico landscape and challenging plot … [T]his promising first novel heralds a series to watch.” –Booklist

When psychologist Ben Pecos gets the call—his 12 year old ward, Nathan Yazzi has been expelled from school—Ben sees a road trip as an opportunity to spend extended time with the troubled boy, camping and fishing and talking things through. Little does he realize they are driving right into trouble in the small town of Spearfish, South Dakota, where the local sheriff is investigating the mysterious death of a Lakota Sun Dancer. Things are not looking good when the sheriff directs his attention toward Ben. And when it turns out the dead man was neither Lakota nor a Sun Dancer, the mystery deepens. Meanwhile, hoards of protestors are showing up over a proposed oil pipeline through the reservation, people from outside the area who are being trucked in and paid to create havoc. As the body count rises, Sheriff Mac Sterling and the reservation police chief, Red Bull, have their hands full, as neither the tribe nor the county have the manpower to keep things from getting out of hand. Ben gets recruited to help but soon finds his world rocked to the core with the revelation of the darkest secret from his own past. Praise for Susan Slater and the Ben Pecos mystery series: “This is a wonderful book with loveable heroes.” – Library Journal, (on The Pumpkin Seed Massacre) “Susan Slater’s Thunderbird is a witty, absorbing tale.” —Publishers Weekly “Slater effectively combines an appealing mix of new and existing characters … dry humor; crackling suspense; and a surprise ending.” —Booklist “… a gripping novel. We mystery lovers hope it’s the first of many.” – Tony Hillerman “A solid, suspenseful narrative and colorful glimpses of Native American life strongly recommend this …” – Library Journal (on Thunderbird) “… Ben Pecos—raised far from New Mexico’s Tewa Pueblo—could become as lasting a fictional presence as Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.” – Chicago Tribune

Shelly Sinclair's life is perfect, until her husband of 35 years announces that he's asked someone to marry him-- the mother of his four-year-old child. At sixty, Shelly has to start over, but maybe this can be the best time ever.

Tony Hillerman called her first book ‘a gripping novel’. Booklist says “this is a series to watch.” Start reading award-winning author Susan Slater's original series right here, from the beginning. Book 1 – The Pumpkin Seed Massacre Native American psychologist Ben Pecos has returned to the New Mexico pueblo of his birth as an intern with the Indian Health Service. Still struggling with the demons of his past, he is plunged into the nightmare rampage of a mysterious illness that is killing the residents of the pueblo, including his own grandmother. One of the victims, the powerful tribal governor, had made powerful enemies, and Ben suspects his murder was premeditated—but that doesn't explain the insidious killer now stalking the innocent. Undaunted, Ben digs deep into the motives of power and greed to root out a killer whose deadly agenda is spiraling out of control. Book 2 – Yellow Lies Salvador Zuni is a master carver of traditional Native American fetishes. He is also a cheat. He makes synthetic amber that rivals anything to be found in nature, complete down to the insects he places inside. His recipe is worth a fortune, and someone is after it. When Ben Pecos, the new resident Indian Health Services psychologist, arrives at the pueblo, he finds himself caught up in the investigation of the murder of a trader in native artifacts and fetishes. Someone is willing to kill and use the spirits of the tribes to drive Salvador out of his mind and into prison for the crime. But something smells odd to Ben, and as he begins to investigate, he treads deeper into the mystic and the list of suspects grows longer. Book 3 – Thunderbird The fiery midnight crash of a Stealth fighter on a New Mexico reservation and the disappearance of a young Navajo woman put psychologist Ben Pecos and tribal police officer Tommy Spottedhorse on a sinister and mysterious trail. Tribal police lock horns with air force personnel over jurisdiction and the right to search for the missing woman. The murder of a local park ranger and several livestock mutilations complicate the whole picture and take the case from strange to downright bizarre. When it appears the missing Navajo woman, Brenda Begay, may have witnessed what happened that fateful night and might still be alive, Ben and Tommy Spottedhorse race to connect the pieces of the puzzle. Because, otherworldly or not, something evil is out there in the desert, awaiting a final showdown among the ruins of the Ancient Ones. Praise for Susan Slater’s Ben Pecos mysteries: “This is a wonderful book with loveable heroes.” –Library Journal, on The Pumpkin Seed Massacre “Take a great plot idea and Susan Slater’s skill with language, combine them with her understanding of the religion and culture of a proud and ancient people, and you have a gripping novel. The Pumpkin Seed Massacre is her first novel. We hope it’s the first of many.” –Tony Hillerman “… Ben Pecos—a half-Navajo medical researcher raised far from New Mexico’s Tewa Pueblo—could become as lasting a fictional presence as Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.” –Chicago Tribune “Solid characters, fascinating atmosphere, and authentic setting—The Pumpkin Seed Massacre is a book you will enjoy. Ben Pecos is a star in the detective firmament. I predict a big future for Susan Slater.” –Barbara D’Amato “Slater’s first novel holds the reader’s interest with its brisk pace, well-rendered New Mexico landscape and challenging plot … [T]his promising first novel heralds a series to watch.” –Booklist

The year is 1979. Malaise, stagflation, turmoil in the Middle East, and a gas crunch; these things are but background noise for what unfolds when a lovesick businessman and a sociopathic drifter cross paths. John Nix, business manager of a Silicon Valley semiconductor startup, picks up Horace Fullworth, a ne'er-do -well heir of a wealthy California family, who has returned to San Francisco after surviving the Jonestown Massacre. After John discovers his girlfriend cheating, he drives to a bar in the small rustic town of La Honda. He meets Ellie O'Neil, a pretty young woman he offers to drive home. Feeling misled by her, he leaves her on the side of the road, where Horace finds her. John hears that Ellie has gone missing and is overcome with guilt. His struggle with his conscience leads him back to those rugged coastal foothills of the San Francisco Peninsula.

"First published in censored form in Yunost 1966, under the title 'Babi Yar'"--T.p. verso.

Dan Mahoney, insurance investigator, lands in Tatum, New Mexico where several prize cattle on the famed Double Horseshoe Ranch have mysteriously died. The claims put a lot of money at stake for Dan’s company. But that just scratches the surface of the high jinks afoot in Tatum. And the high stakes. A surprised Dan hadn’t counted on witnessing a murder, falling in love, or becoming the pawn of federal agents. It’s the flash flood that changes everything. Could cattleman Billy Roland Eklund have set up Eric Linden, pilot and family friend, who’s caught in the roaring water? Tempted him to forfeit seven years of his life for two million dollars? And then had him killed? Or was it the lovely Elaine, Linden’s wife, who had so much to gain? Dan stumbles across secrets that implicate his sister, his employer, and what seems like half of southern New Mexico. Sucked into small town duplicity, he struggles with truth and learns that dead men can come back to haunt.

When Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Tony Hillerman's oddly matched tribal police officers, patrol the mesas and canyons of their Navajo reservation, they join a rich traditon of Southwestern detectives. In Crime Fiction and Film in the Southwest, a group of literary critics tracks the mystery and crime novel from the Painted Desert to Death Valley and Salt Lake City. In addition, the book includes the first comprehensive bibliography of mysteries set in the Southwest and a chapter on Southwest film noir from Humphrey Bogart's tough hood in The Petrified Forest to Russell Crowe's hard-nosed cop in L.A. Confidential.

Dan and Elaine Mahoney are finally settled in St. Augustine, Florida, and Elaine has her brand new private investigator’s license, plus a job offer with a prestigious law firm. So, it’s with some excitement that she talks to her first client, a young man whose mother recently died. Rick Elliston is convinced that her fall from the fourth floor widow’s walk of their luxurious home was not suicide, as the police seem to think. He's convinced that his step-father pushed her. There was a big insurance policy. Elaine’s challenge is to find the evidence, and the only problem is that there is none. Dan, meanwhile, has been sent out to look over a sailing schooner that his company, United Life & Casualty has insured, and it turns out the owner of the business that offers sunset tourist cruises, is none other than Hank Beaufort, step-father of Elaine’s client. And Dan really likes the guy—he just doesn’t seem like a man who would kill his wife. At first. As both of them dig into their cases, a whole new set of facts come out. There was marital straying, the luxury mansion was mortgaged to the hilt, and Hank needs money for his newest business scheme. It’s a tangled web indeed, complicated by the inescapable fact that a hurricane is bearing down on the Florida coast. Can Dan and Elaine figure it out before the storm makes their jobs that much harder? Praise for Susan Slater’s Dan Mahoney series: “Dan Mahoney is an appealingly resilient character, a welcome addition to the roster of sleuths that make the Southwest a hotbed of current mystery fiction.” —Publishers Weekly “Flash Flood is just what it sounds like—a fresh, surprising, adrenaline-rush whitewater ride. It’s also funny. Susan Slater can flat-out write.” —Don Winslow, New York Times bestselling author of The Cartel “There’ll be much, much more, with whispers of everything before Slater closes out this lively, surprising case, first of a series.” – Kirkus Reviews

Booklist calls the Ben Pecos mysteries, from award-winning author Susan Slater, “A series to watch.” Psychologist Ben Pecos takes a transfer to Florida in his job with the Indian Health Service. His first assignment in St. Augustine puts him right in the middle of a terrifying case where a student has brought a gun to school and threatened his teacher. Ben works with both the troubled eight-year-old and the traumatized teacher, Maureen Beltzer. When Mo is offered a new job with the botanical garden at the prestigious Whitney Labs, she jumps at the chance to get out of teaching, little knowing that cataloging and photographing rare orchids may actually involve more danger than her pint-sized adversary ever dreamed of inflicting. Praise for the Ben Pecos mystery series: “This is a wonderful book with loveable heroes.” – Library Journal, (on The Pumpkin Seed Massacre) “Susan Slater’s Thunderbird is a witty, absorbing tale.” —Publishers Weekly “Slater effectively combines an appealing mix of new and existing characters … dry humor; crackling suspense; and a surprise ending.” —Booklist “Take a great plot idea and Susan Slater’s skill with language, combine them with her understanding of the religion and culture of a proud and ancient people, and you have a gripping novel. The Pumpkin Seed Massacre is her first novel. We mystery lovers hope it’s the first of many.” – Tony Hillerman “A solid, suspenseful narrative and colorful glimpses of Native American life strongly recommend this …” – Library Journal (on Thunderbird) “… Ben Pecos—raised far from New Mexico’s Tewa Pueblo—could become as lasting a fictional presence as Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.” – Chicago Tribune