As a former professional photographer, I chose to read Shutter because it involved photography. Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. She is Navajo, but she’s an anomaly. Despite her culture’s teachings and taboos about death, she is able to see and communicate with ghosts, a talent that has tormented her since she was a baby. This ability is known only to her best friend Shanice; Rita’s mother (now deceased) and grandmother; and Mr. Bitsilly, her grandmother’s neighbor and a Navajo healer. Rita, for the most part, has kept her skills under wraps for years. After a particular gruesome night photographing the remains of a woman who either jumped or was pushed off an overpass, Rita is terrorized by the ghost of the woman who wants Rita to seek justice for her.
Shutter is told in Rita’s point of view but alternates between her childhood and her professional days in with the Albuquerque police department where she is a crime scene photographer. Each chapter is labelled with the camera and lens involved, such as “Nikon D50 18-55mmDX”. The novel shows her growth as a photographer, starting with a pinhole camera on the reservation and moving into Hasselblads and Nikons as an adult. The author skillfully blends mystery, suspense, police procedurals, and coming of age themes. I liked it enough to immediately purchase the second in the series, Exposure.
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Shutter (Soho Crime, August 2, 2022) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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