“Mineral Spirits,” by Heather Sharfeddin (Bridge Works Publishing, 250 pages $21.95)
“Mineral Spirits” opens in a small Montana town where a corpse has been found among the cottonwood leaves mounded on the river bank. The new sheriff stands next to the 10-year-old boy who had spotted what might be a dead animal. But when the sheriff sees the skull twisted off and the jaw gaping, he knows he may have a murder on his hands.
As guesses are made about the victim’s identity, Sheriff Edelson and the boy talk and he learns the boy’s mother lives in California and his father works in the local mill.
Later, the sheriff returns to the riverbank and finds an arrowhead. He knows from growing up in Idaho that the arrowhead is Nez Perce, a tribe whose territory had encompassed the town. He thinks it may be a clue, but his first break comes from an anonymous tip that the victim’s name was Chris.
As he gathers a list of every Chris in the county, Edelson not only discovers Chris is the name of the boy’s mother, but also that the boy is not a product of her relationship with the man who works at the mill. And he finds evidence of a drug ring operating in town.
The sheriff’s search soon becomes more than his already shaky marriage can tolerate. The issue is always the same: His wife wants children, he does not. And she moves out.
Edelson tries to bury his misery in work. Thinking he might pick up some useful gossip, he visits the Silver Dog Grill but with no success, and he goes back to the boy. But, against all his professional inclinations, Edelson also feels a growing sense of responsibility for him.
A tip turns deadly when the sheriff accidentally kills the husband of the next Chris on his list. A series of desperate acts by the man’s wife and her brother follows. Not until the boy is caught up in the violence does Edelson face his personal stake in the chain of events.
Sharfeddin’s latest is a first-rate page-turner from start to finish.
“The Texicans,” by Nina Vida (Soho Press, 296 pages, $23)
For those tired of the old Texas story with cowboys and cattle drives, Rangers with white hats and the Alamo, “The Texicans” is a must-read.
Nina Vida begins her tale in 1843 when a cholera epidemic is raging in San Antonio. The Mexican girl, Aurelia, said by some to be a witch or a bruja, is making her father a good deal of money healing the sick. But when he gambles it away, he sells her to Willie Barnett, a Texas Ranger.
Though Barnett marries her, she discovers he is a cruel man, and to keep out of his way, she helps the cook, Tomas. But Aurelia has her limits. And when her husband denies the child she carries is his, she places a curse on him; whereupon, he is killed in a raid on the Comanches. But when she returns home, she discovers her mother is dead and her entire family is gone.
Meanwhile, Joseph Kimmel, a Jewish schoolteacher and trapper from Missouri, is on his way to San Antonio to settle his brother’s affairs. En route, a runaway slave named Luck steals his horse. Forced to walk, Joseph meets a man importing immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine to settle the town he calls Castroville, and Joseph decides to join them.
Tomas, the Rangers’ former cook, reappears with Comanches. Their chief takes a liking to a young immigrant woman living with Castro’s family. To save her, Joseph agrees to marry her. Then a Texas Ranger comes on the scene with Luck in his custody. Knowing the man will be sold, Joseph puts the past behind him and takes him in. Aurelia and her daughter show up.
The burgeoning group heads to the Guadalupe Mountains. On the way they are joined by a man and his wife and children who are slaves deserted by their owner. With Joseph in charge, they begin to ranch. To his consternation, Joseph finds himself obsessed with Aurelia. More Rangers appear and the plot takes another turn.
Spanning 12 years, “The Texicans” is an imaginative and thoroughly researched tale driven by intriguing characters, reminders of the largely overlooked but rich mix of men and women who helped shape the Lone Star State.
Sybil Downing is a Boulder novelist who writes a monthly column on new regional fiction.
