Desert Enigma

When an entire population of Anasazi people mysteriously vanish, it is up to a team of modern-day archaeologists to unlock the secret of their disappearance.

The year is 1198 and Shadow Dancer looks down on his home in Chaco Canyon from his cliff-side perch. His future as a medicine man seems preordained, due to his six toes on each foot, giving him special status with his people. Working with his mentor, Grey Elk, Shadow Dancer has to pay his dues as an apprentice, learning about medicinal properties of local plants, and connecting to the natural and spiritual world that he inhabits. A romance is ignited when the lovely Spotted Deer surprises him on his perch one evening. When a mysterious coughing sickness begins to spread through the canyon, Shadow Dancer is in a race against time to save his young family.

Eight hundred years later, archaeologist Rachel Thompson finds herself on a new adventure. Rachel and her pilot husband, Rolly Boudreau, head to New Mexico to join a team of fellow archaeologists who are looking into the mystery of the people from Chaco Canyon, who seem to have been essentially wiped from the face of the earth. Their efforts to uncover what happened to the Anasazi are hampered by a sniper, bent on stopping them from continuing their research. When two of the team members become sick with a severe illness, their quest to uncover the truth suddenly becomes much more deadly.

In this sequel to A Deadly Thaw: The York Factory Connection, fans of Rachel Thompson will be enthralled with the suspense and incredible historical detail in Frederick Ross's new novel.