Lost Birds

Set on and around the Navajo Nation in the American Southwest, this mystery novel follows three intertwined investigations involving Joe Leaphorn, a former Navajo Police officer now working as a private investigator; Officer Bernadette "Bernie" Manuelito; and Jim Chee, Bernie's husband and a Navajo Police officer.

On a Saturday morning, Leaphorn receives a call from Cecil Bowlegs, a man he helped as a child decades ago. Cecil, now the custodian at Eagle Roost School on the Navajo Nation, asks Leaphorn to find his wife, Bethany Benally Bowlegs, a music teacher and bookkeeper who has been missing for nearly three weeks. Leaphorn agrees, but an explosion abruptly cuts off the call. He contacts the New Mexico State Police (NMSP) and the Navajo Police to report the blast.

Leaphorn is already working another case. Stella Brown, an adopted woman who believes she may be Navajo, has hired him to find her biological family before she leaves for a two-year job overseas. Stella's adoptive parents are both dead. Among her mother's possessions, Stella found an old photograph of a Navajo couple standing near the Elephant Feet buttes, a distinctive geological formation in Arizona, along with a small silver and turquoise bracelet. When Leaphorn takes Stella's birth certificate to the Navajo Nation Social Services office, an official identifies irregularities: No official record of the birth or adoption exists, and the adoption was finalized suspiciously fast. The adoption occurred just before Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in 1978, a law designed to keep Indigenous children within their tribal communities.

NMSP Sergeant Mona Short visits Leaphorn to say that Beth is a person of interest in another investigation. Leaphorn meets RP Benally, who is related to Beth through the Navajo clan system. RP describes Beth as a talented singer who performs with a band called the Hop Toads. He reveals that Cecil has a gambling addiction that strained the marriage and that Cecil has been acting frightened, as if someone is threatening him.

Leaphorn's housemate and partner, Louisa Bourbonette, adds personal complications when her estranged son Kory arrives unexpectedly. Kory reveals he has terminal cancer and has stopped treatment. His visit turns volatile: He swears at his wife Erlinda, who arrives separately and reveals she is pregnant, and storms out. The crisis escalates when Kory confronts Louisa on a hiking trail, grabs her, threatens to kill her and Erlinda, and reveals he has a gun. Leaphorn finds Louisa and persuades her to leave in his truck, but Kory has hidden in the back seat. He overpowers Louisa, binds her, and drives off. Calling Leaphorn, Kory reveals that his father died by suicide on railroad tracks when Kory was eight, and Leaphorn realizes Kory plans to replicate that death. With his retired friend Captain Howard Largo driving, Leaphorn races along old Route 66 and finds his truck parked on the tracks at an unprotected crossing. Largo rams his vehicle into Leaphorn's, pushing both clear moments before a train passes. When Kory holds a gun to Louisa's head, Largo distracts him, and Leaphorn strikes Kory, subduing him. They free Louisa.

In a parallel storyline, Bernie responds to the explosion at Eagle Roost School. The blast destroys the special education and music building, a new structure funded by grants. Working with NMSP explosives specialist Sergeant Mark Donovan, Bernie surveys the wreckage and finds no evidence of a bomb. In the attached garage, which sustains minimal damage, she discovers a car with a dead Navajo woman behind the steering wheel. The woman has a severe head wound and has been dead for days, well before the explosion. The car is registered to Bethany Bowlegs. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents Sage Johnson and Blaine Fisher take charge.

Cecil, who survives the explosion because he had stepped outside, flees in fear, believing the blast was meant to intimidate him into paying gambling debts. After escaping an abduction attempt by two men in a black Escalade at the Gallup bus station, he spends a freezing night in hiding, texting Leaphorn about his plans to find Beth in Tucson.

Pursuing Stella's case, Leaphorn travels to Tonalea, near the Elephant Feet. At the Red Lake Trading Post, he identifies rugs woven by the Singer family whose style matches the blanket in Stella's photograph. Trading post owner John Hawkman confirms the connection and directs Leaphorn to the Singer homestead, where an older relative named Janey Singer recognizes the photograph with emotion, insisting on sharing her story only with Stella.

The next day, Leaphorn brings Stella to Tonalea. While Stella meets with Janey, Hawkman reveals the full story to Leaphorn. Starla Singer, the younger daughter of the family, became pregnant and arranged a private adoption. Hawkman contacted his sister Clarita, who adopted the baby with her husband. The couple changed their names to Stan and Rita Brown and moved frequently to prevent the Navajo family from reclaiming the child. Hawkman sent the bracelet and photograph so the baby would retain some connection to her origins. Starla disappeared after the birth. When Stella returns, Hawkman reveals himself as her uncle, and possibly her biological father. Stella recognizes him as "Uncle Jackie," a name her mother had mentioned.

The Eagle Roost case shifts when Beth calls RP and Cecil to announce she is alive and riding a bus home from Tucson. She had fled to her sister Olivia's house to sort out her problems. Olivia borrowed Beth's car to retrieve a family heirloom rug from Beth's office and never returned. The body in the car is now suspected to be Olivia, who closely resembled her sister.

At a meeting at the Shiprock substation, FBI Agent Johnson reports that building plans Bernie recovered reveal substandard construction caused the explosion: A poorly installed gas line, not a bomb, triggered the blast. Principal Charles Morgan had delayed the original contractor, and a disreputable second firm did the work. Bernie grows suspicious of Morgan after a student reports seeing him drive Beth's car into the garage before the explosion, and a background check reveals he filed for bankruptcy yet now drives an expensive Lexus. Morgan abruptly resigns.

The threads converge at the Gallup bus station when Beth's bus arrives. Morgan appears, as does the black Escalade carrying the men who tried to kidnap Cecil. Bernie arrests Beth for embezzlement as she steps off the bus, seizing a gym bag full of cash. Beth had borrowed money from Alvin "Big Rex" Rexworth, the Hop Toads' bandleader, to cover Cecil's gambling debts. Unable to repay, she skimmed from the school construction fund and bought Morgan the Lexus to silence him when he discovered the theft. A police officer approaches Morgan, who confesses that he accidentally killed Olivia, mistaking her for Beth in the dark. Chee, on patrol, pulls over the speeding Escalade and confirms the two men work for Big Rex.

A week later, the various threads reach resolution. Louisa has gone to California with Erlinda to plan for the baby; Kory is hospitalized and faces criminal charges. Stella has connected with the Hawkman and Singer families. Beth faces felony charges but may receive leniency because most of the stolen money was recovered. Morgan faces consequences for Olivia's death, with a plea deal in the works. Cecil is cleared and has a new job. Bernie and Chee arrange better care for Bernie's ailing mother, whose declining health was compounded by a carbon monoxide incident caused by Bernie's sister Darleen using a camping stove indoors. The crisis forces a painful confrontation about Darleen's alcohol addiction and the strains of caregiving. Leaphorn, reflecting on his aging body, considers stepping back from dangerous work.