The Ties That Bind

New Mexico #3

by Andi Marquette

When the Albuquerque Journal reports that a white man was found dead along a remote stretch of road on the Navajo Reservation in northwestern New Mexico, UNM sociology professor K.C. Fontero thinks she might be able to use the case as an example of culture and jurisdiction in one of her classes. But it's soon apparent that this dead man has something to do with a mysterious letter that River Crandall, brother of K.C.'s partner Sage, recently received from the siblings' estranged father, Bill. What does the letter and Bill Crandall's link to a natural gas drilling company have to do with the dead man? And why would Bill try to contact his son and daughter now, after a decade of silence? From the streets of Albuquerque to the gas fields of northwestern New Mexico and the vast expanse of the Navajo Reservation, K.C. and Sage try to unravel the secrets of a dead man while Sage confronts a past she thought she'd left behind. But someone or something wants to keep those secrets buried, and as K.C. soon discovers, sometimes beliefs of one culture jump the boundaries of another, and challenge her logical and analytical mindset, threatening to drive a wedge into the relationship she's building with Sage.

Joined by K.C.'s younger sister Kara and Sage's brother River and aided by best friend and police detective Chris Gutierrez and Chris's partner Dayna Carson, K.C. and Sage are drawn into the life of a dead man, the embittered past of an estranged father, and dark, inexplicable forces whose origins are rooted in Navajo culture and traditions. Whatever happened out there along that road is inextricably linked to Sage and River, and K.C. knows that in order to help them, she has to change her very way of thinking or she could lose the woman who's come to mean the most in her life.

Genres: Lesbian, Mystery, Lesbian Romance, Lesbian Fiction

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 9, 2009

About the author

Andi Marquette was born in New Mexico and grew up in Colorado. She completed a couple of academic degrees in anthropology and returned to New Mexico, where she decided a doctorate in history was somehow a good idea. She completed it before realizing that maybe she should have joined the circus, or at least a traveling Gypsy troupe. Oh, well. She fell into editing and publishing sometime around 1993 and has been obsessed with words ever since, which may or may not be a good thing. She is a co-owner and co-founder of LGBTQ publishing house Dirt Road Books.

Reviews

[Elaine Burnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third in Andi's New Mexico mystery series. She alternates main characters between scholar-wonk K.C. Fontero and Albuquerque detective Chris Gutierrez, but both have big parts in each. This one is K.C.'s turn and leads us to the Navajo reservation for a possible murder mystery that hits close to home--affecting K.C.'s partner, Sage. These two have been together now for a couple of years and I like how this one digs deep into their relationship. The honeymoon is over and the real work begins. The mystery is pretty solid, though I find I like best the relationships in these books. The mysteries are more the broth in which the meat steeps. The only things that annoyed me, and they are minor, are the mutual navel gazing--friends and lovers are constantly telling each other how much they love each other. To the point that you wonder that there could be any doubt to the strength of K.C. and Sage's bond, but yet... Then there's the psychobabble. Everyone, including K.C., is telling her she needs to be "present" for Sage. Lastly, the swearing. They all swear the same--Chris just throws in some Spanish. For adult, college-educated, middle-class women, they swear like truck drivers and the patterns are the same. Remove the tag and you often can't be sure who's talking. I found it weakening the impact of what was being said. (That said, I'm always surprised how much more my characters swear than I do. I have to rein them in!)

And I love the covers! The best in lesfic.

[MJSam · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I reviewed the previous K.C. and Sage novel I noted the lack of screen time for Sage, and the amount of lead seperation, which just shows you should be careful what you wish for. The characters are together for most of this story and Sage has a much bigger role in this novel, which was perhaps my least favourite thing about the book. A little of Sage goes a long way.

This book is once again told from K.C.'s perspective. Central to the story though are K.C's relationships with Sage and Kara. I enjoyed watching the sisters learn to interact, but the Sage and K.C. stuff wasn't as well done. I found it amusingly ironic that Sage calls K.C. a know it all and rebukes her for being patronising about things she doesn't find rational, when Sage is portrayed in each novel as a mystical know it all, and spends a great deal of time in this novel sounding condescending whenever she talks to K.C. about how proud she is of K.C.'s emotional growth.

The characters from the previous novels are incorporated here, Chris is fairly heavily involved but Dayna has a cameo at best. There are additional characters in both K.C.'s sister Kara and Sage's brother River. There's a mystery involving Sage's past and mystical forces/bad guys on an Indian Reservation. Once again the mystery gets a bit tedious, by the end K.C. and Sage weren't the only ones wishing it was over. I'd rate this one 2 1/2 stars.

[Alena]

This one leaves me confused. Even though I was looking forward to catch up with these characters I couldn't get into it and was bored most of the way through.

I enjoyed the individual components, the conflicts in K.C.'s and Sage's relationship (very well written), getting to know K.C.s sister, the mystery part of the plot, it was both topical and the supernatural aspect of it was very intriguing (especially K.C.'s part in this was very well written as well). But overall I couldn't get into it.

So this leaves me stumped as to why. At first I thought that it was a natural reaction after reading such a brilliant book as Trumpet, not many books can keep up with that. But I had no problem starting to re-read The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest quite by accident, so that wasn't it. It also wasn't that sometimes as a series is progressing the author doesn't know how to move things along. The main characters and their interactions develop nicely and the 'new' characters have a purpose in the story.

So color me confused. I really *wanted* to like this. Heck, I want to like all the books I read, but these characters have something special about them, so I'm really disappointed. I just don't exactly know in what ;)

[Kate Ennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like somewhat of a departure in the series and in a lot of ways. The characters and setting felt as though it had all matured a bit! I thoroughly enjoy the way the writer is alternating her leads between KC and Chris every other book and am waiting with baited breath for the 4th!

[Jen Silver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read from Andi M. Like the characters and the settings. Although I've never been to New Mexico, the author brings it to life.