Land of Burning Heat: A Claire Reynier Mystery - Hardcover

"Van Gieson's prose is clean and refreshingly straightforward, and she has succeeded in making both her protagonist . . . and the New Mexico locales memorable." "White-collar crime gets a different twist in "Land of Burning Heat" and it makes for a shimmering showcase of Southwestern mystique." Van Giesons prose is clean and refreshingly straightforward, and she has succeeded in making both her protagonist . . . and the New Mexico locales memorable." "Judith Van Gieson has written her best Claire Reynier mystery yet." Van Gieson writes with grace, tangles her phrases skillfully, and plots a compelling story down to the intricate final turns. "Whatever the series, she's expert at concocting plots that seem to grow out of unique aspect of the Southwestern landscape, history and culture." " "Land of Burning Heat" becomes a double mystery-- a whodunit with many suspects and the usual suprising culprit, and an absorbing historical mystery that delves into the lives of the crypto-Jews of New Mexico."

An ancient religion, a family's hidden past, and a modern-day murder confront archivist Claire Reynier in her search for a priceless document. A young woman named Isabel Santos discovers a faded scrap of paper buried for hundreds of years under her family's adobe house. It could be the controversial last words of a Jewish mystic condemned to death by the Inquisition in Mexico City in 1596. Before Claire can examine the document, it disappears and tragedy strikes the Santos family, leaving Claire with many unanswered questions. Were these really the mystic's last words? How did they get to New Mexico, a place Sephardic Jews hid from the Inquisition and continued to practice their religion in secret for centuries? Is someone willing to kill for the document? Santos is Spanish for saints, but Claire soon discovers that this namesake is a mixed legacy. Every time she visits their old home, she puts herself in harm's way, yet she continues to search for answers to questions rooted in a dark and dangerous time when heretics were killed for their beliefs.