Set in New Mexico in 1952, Kari Bovée’s Bones of the Redeemed is an excellent historical mystery. Bovée won the 2019 Hillerman Southwest Fiction Award. She writes strong female heroines and writes them well, but Ruby Delgado must be her best yet. Ruby thinks quickly and catches threads of this mystery superbly. She’s fierce, determined, and courageous woman who, though recovering from her own tragedy, the loss of her young son, attempts to help others in danger.
Ruby’s an archeology student working on a dig near the village of Las Montanas, New Mexico. It is tiny, isolated, and moves at a completely different pace that the rest of the world. Religion, which seems to have faded from importance in much of the world, remains a huge part of the inhabitants’ daily lives. While excavating, she falls into a pit with filled with mutilated bodies, some even crucified. She tries to take her findings to the local police, but not only do they offer no support, they fail to investigate. She’s also dragged into the inner workings of a religious cult, whose members crucify young men during Holy Week.
This is definitely a page-turner. I finished it in one night. Having been on a few archeological digs myself, Bovee’s descriptions of the excavation were exactly what one would expect: dirty, dusty, and with poor amenities, and Bovée’s descriptions of New Mexico were spot on. There’s a touch of magical realism with a coyote that serves as a spirit animal for both Ruby and Pete, a fellow archeologist.
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