Rio Grande fall /

When a woman dies after falling from a hot-air balloon at Albuquerque's world-famous balloon fiesta, private investigator Sonny Baca's intuition tells him it's murder. His intuition also tells him that the murder is the work of the Raven, the leader of a violent cult that murdered Sonny's cousin, and a man Sonny thought he'd killed. The murder jeopardizes the millions of tourist dollars connected with the fiesta, but Sonny knows the Raven has more on his mind than simple mayhem. This is a completely entertaining mystery novel, but Anaya actually offers two parallel lands of enchantment. One is temporal New Mexico; the other is Nuevo Mexicano, a land of santos, milagros, spirits, visions, and even brujas (witches). It's a land of old ways, old values, and old wisdom. And it's a land where small farms and multigenerational families are fast being wiped out by modernity. Both mystery fans and armchair travelers will enjoy Anaya's second Sonny Baca novel. Readers who love both genres will find it enchanting. (Reviewed Sept. 1, 1996)0446518441Thomas Gaughan

Albuquerque PI Sonny Baca, still tormented by his cousin Gloria's ritual murder in Zia Summer (1995), turns to the old healing ways of Southwestern Latinos. During a limpieza, a cleansing ceremony, Sonny envisions someone falling from the sky. It really happened: a murder trial witness was pushed from a hot-air balloon piloted by Raven, the bloodthirsty cult leader who vanished at the end of the earlier book. When Raven kills a balloonist with drug connections, directors of Albuquerque's colorful balloon fiesta hire Sonny. He suspects many‘federal agents, local police and perhaps the fiesta's beautiful manager, Madge Swenson‘of smuggling drugs, using the balloons as cover. Raven raises the stakes by kidnapping Sonny's true love, Rita. Sonny seeks spiritual strength in the Native American tradition, taking on qualities of the coyote (his nagual, or animal spirit) for a feral rematch with Raven. Sonny is a distinctive narrator, speaking with passionate eloquence about old New Mexican lore and the loss of Hispanic traditions amidst pop culture and Anglo money. While Anaya (Bless Me, Ultima) still struggles with the mystery genre, lumbering through a choppy plot and sometimes submerging the story in preachiness, he nevertheless smoothly incorporates the rich legends of the area's heritage into this tale, particularly in Sonny's final, dramatic crisis. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Private investigator Sonny Baca, a thirtyish Mexican American with deep cultural roots in New Mexico, uses his developing spiritual powers to halt a vengeful cult leader's rampage. The game-playing bad guy, Raven, who murdered Baca's cousin and supposedly died in a flash flood, challenges Baca by killing a visiting balloonist at Albuquerque's balloon fiesta. Baca's restaurant-owning girlfriend, homeless Hispanics, an exotic curandera, and drug smuggling others add spice. Colorful visuals, sensuous descriptions, and the mythic clash of good and evil result in a thrilling adventure. For all collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The killers from Zia Summer (1995) are down but not out. Tamara Dubronsky, the art heiress who ordered the death of p.i. Sonny Baca's cousin Gloria Dominic, goes free when the principal witness against her, Veronica Worthy, falls from a hot-air balloon during Albuquerque's balloon festival. Madge Swenson, Sonny's old school friend in charge of the fiesta, produces some witnesses who say that Veronica was alone in the balloon, but Sonny finds a homeless family that saw someone else push her out- -a man who can only be Veronica's husband Raven, the sorcerer Sonny had thought was killed. Two more murders of balloonists will link Raven to an elaborate drug-smuggling plot, the Medellín cartel, and the CIA; but the real story here is the fight to the death, and maybe beyond, between Raven, a ``lord from the underworld,'' and Sonny, whose miraculous nine lives--he's protected from Raven's worst by the power of a Zia medallion--may not be enough. Reaching into Raven's enchanted circle through his own guardian spirit, the coyote, Sonny provokes him to a series of magical duels whose derring-do stretches the conventions of the mystery to the breaking point, using them as a portal to another sort of mystery deeper than most authors can dream of. A fascinating hybrid of detective story, adventure yarn, and shamanistic magic that will infuriate some readers (identifying the triggermen in the drug killings turns out to be stunningly mundane) and captivate others.