Grandmother Spider

Finally...a mystery so outrageous it seems unsolvable without breaking the bounds of reason...and a solution outrageous enough to work!! I loved how this book mixed elements of a modern police/detective story with Native American shamanism and even a little of the supernatural. I also enjoyed the characters, especially the old shaman Daisy ,a cranky, fiesty woman with a shrewd sense of humor, and Charlie Moon, the soft-spoken Ute police chief with an appetite for unhealthy food. After Daisy's young charge Sarah smashes a spider with her biology book, the Shaman tells her of how Grandmother Spider will rise from Navaho Lake to revenge her spider people. That very night something carries off two men...and then the strangely mutilated body of a third victim is found--the victim of a spider attack? Soon, Charlie Moon finds himself sorting through evidence so bizzare, even HE is starting to believe in Grandmother Spider...

A protaganist with a sense of humor, a series of incredible incidents that keep you searching for a reasonable explanation, and a happy ending. Entertaining from start to finish. I feel that comparing James Doss to Tony Hillerman is misleading. James Doss is a great storyteller who incidentally sets his story among the Utes of southern Colorado. Hillerman's stories are so intertwined with the Navajo as to be inseparable. You are not going to learn much about the Ute culture in this book, but the story is so much fun I at least didn't care.

This book isn't hilarious. It's just plain old good and funny. What a group of characters and a story that had me baffled until the very end and I'm really good at figuring these out! Can't remember when I've had such a fun time with a book. Mr. Doss' asides about what his characters are thinking are often very revealing about human nature and enough to keep you giggling to yourself. Good light reading.

Something strange has happened but Acting Chief Charlie Moon doesn't believe Grandmother Spider really has climbed out from her caves under the lake to rip a man's head off and sink her fangs into his body. It's just that the evidence seems to point that way.GRANDMOTHER SPIDER provides a view of Native American reservation politics and a number of truly engaging characters, especially Charlie Moon. Moon won't play the political games but would certainly like to be made permanent chief. His knack for justice goes beyond the book--he'll do what he thinks is right. Of course, this may also get him in trouble.Author James D. Doss writes with a light style and I found myself laughing out loud over the dialogue. GRANDMOTHER SPIDER is definitely a little over the top in a number of ways. Is it just me, or was the whole comando thing just a little much? I sat down to read for a few minutes and didn't stop until I'd finished the book.

On April first on Colorado's Southern Ute Reservation, Shaman Daisy Perika's young ward Sarah Frank steps on a spider, but fails to perform the proper ritual to ward off trouble. According to legend, Grandmother Spider will emerge from her cave under Navaho Lake looking for Utes to eat. That night, the two women observe an egg-shaped object with appendages emerges from the vicinity of the lake.Later two men disappear. One is found up a tree and the other is aimlessly wandering in the nearby woods. Neither one can explain what happened to them, but both are hospitalized. Rumors quickly run wild feeding fears, but acting Police Chief Charlie Moon thinks a more mundane explanation is behind the recent happenings. Adding to the consternation is the fact that one of the hospitalized men, a scientist with a top-secret clearance, vanishes without a trace. Charlie sees a link between the men, the strange creature, and a clandestine military operation in the area. However, to prove the connection, especially since he prefers mooning about his new love interest, seems impossible.Throughout most of GRANDMOTHER SPIDER mystery, the reader never knows whether he or she is dealing with the everyday physical world, a supernatural occurrence or two, or both. That is the beauty of this tale. The reservation combines the traditional tribal ways with a modern lifestyle. Especially intriguing is the premise that the two often fail to merge even as the tribe overall has adapted its culture to an encroaching twenty-first century environs. Readers will find Charlie, Daisy, and Sarah remain a delight as they retain their freshness in this caper that matches the best of Tony Hillerman.Harriet Klausner