The Threepersons Hunt

The fugitive, confessed killer Joe Threepersons, is an Apache who escaped from prison days after his wife and son died in a traffic accident. The pursuer, Sam Watchman, is a Navajo and an Arizona highway patrolman. When Joe Threepersons reaches his Apache reservation, Sam Watchman has his work cut out for him. The Apache tribal council and an Anglo mega-rancher are locked in a legal battle of water rights, and a red power faction wants to escalate the battle into bloodshed. Each group wants to use Joe Threepersons for its own aims, and none of them want Sam to capture Joe. Moreover, Sam comes to suspect that Joe did not do the killing he confessed to and that there is a conspiracy but who?, what?, and why? Good plot; good characters; good mix of detection and action. Altogether satisfying.