Grave Consequences

February 23, 2015
A gorgeous silver and turquoise necklace fuels theft and murder in the Thurlos’ fast-paced and plot-driven sequel to 2014’s The Pawnbroker. Charlie Henry and his staff are well aware that people sometimes try to pass off stolen goods at pawn shops like Charlie’s, in Albuquerque, N.Mex. But when Lola Tso comes to drop off a necklace, they don’t have an inkling that the piece was made by a famous, recently deceased Navajo silversmith. And it’s no ordinary theft—it’s the product of a grave robbery. Charlie and his cop friends
suspect that Lola, a former prostitute with sticky fingers, is a middleman, or an innocent bystander caught up in a much larger criminal network. But she drops out of sight, scared for her life. Occasional asides about such subjects as the politics of Native American–Anglo encounters enliven the search for Lola and whoever is behind the grave robbery. Well-drawn minor characters are a plus. Agent: Peter Rubie, Fine Print Literary Management.

February 15, 2015
A valuable item in a pawnshop provides a motive for murder. Former Army Ranger Charlie Henry and his best friend, Gordon Sweeney, own Albuquerque's FOB Pawn Shop. When a Navajo man comes in looking to redeem a squash blossom necklace he claims his girlfriend pawned, they refuse him because he doesn't have the ticket. A little later he comes back with several heavily armed friends, but the duo, forewarned by security cameras, fight them off, killing one and wounding another. Charlie is surprised to learn that his brother, Al, a tribal police officer, is working on the same case. The necklace belonged to Cordell Buck, a famous Navajo silversmith who was murdered and buried with his creation. Alas, Buck wasn't allowed to rest in peace. His grave was dug up, his body burned, and his necklace stolen. Al's gone undercover trying to get in with a gang of carjackers known as the Night Crew while also looking for Buck's killer. Charlie and Gordon, who've worked with the police before (The Pawnbroker, 2014, etc.), set out to find Lola Tso, who originally pawned the necklace. The gang soon notices their activities and makes several attempts on their lives as they trace its ties to a restaurant owner and his mother, who used to be influential on the Navajo council. The more Charlie and Gordon find out, the more desperate the thieves are to kill them, until even their friends and family are caught up in the danger. A fast-paced thriller that's not very mysterious but has plenty of local color.

March 1, 2015

Former Special Forces operative Charlie Henry just wants to settle into his new life as the owner of FOB Pawn in Albuquerque. But as he learned in The Pawnbroker, he's still a magnet for trouble. This time, it revolves around a mysterious Navajo turquoise necklace that a young man claims his girlfriend accidentally pawned and now needs back. It turns out that the necklace figures prominently in a recent murder and the parties involved are willing to stop at nothing to get it back. Sadly, Aimee Thurlo passed away on February 28, 2014, after a brief illness.

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