Winfred Blevins (1938–2023)

Part fiction, part history, Win Blevins' book shines in one of the rare, unimpeachable periods of American history. The American rawland of the West is evoked beautifully ("God's finest sculpturin's to roam in" (pg. 166)) and its characters, the larger-than-life mountain men, were, as Blevins notes on page 291, quite often white men who adopted Indian ways rather than enforcing the reverse. The vitality of the land breathes through the pages of the book.

Give Your Heart to the Hawks works show more better as fiction than as history; as history, it is often dry in the telling, despite some fascinating interludes regarding mountain craft and sexual relations with squaws, among other things. But Blevins is open-hearted about this, stating from the off that he is primarily concerned with history "as a rendering of felt experience" rather than dates and abstract causes (pp17-18). In this, he is very effective, particularly early on in the book, and the reader gets the dirt of the West under their fingernails, and feels the cool of a mountain stream and the warmth of a buffalo skin and the thwack of a Blackfoot arrow.

Having established its literary quality, the book loses its way in the middle before returning with a brief flourish at the end. But it never loses its sense of immersion, and Blevins buys into it completely. For example, on page 71 one mountain man wants to make a map of the West and "have it published back in the States"; the reader realises with a start that this land is not yet considered a part of the USA. It is unexplored territory. If you accept the book's inherent eccentricity, Blevins will take you on a journey. show less

Although Crazy Horse is considered one of the greatest warriors of the Lakota Nation, I knew very little of his actual life. In Stone Song: A Novel of the Life of Crazy Horse, Win Blevins attempts to shed some light on the life of this man. Authentically detailed, this intimate look at such a fascinating figure of history tackles both his personal life and how his legend developed.

As a young boy, Curley, as he was called, was always different. An inward looking, quiet child he held himself show more separately, causing some to resent him and others to expect great things of him. His vision was one of isolation and sacrifice. Unfortunately this vision both raised him to a prominent position in the tribe but also wreaked havoc in his personal life. Although shunning the spotlight, “Our Strange Man’ as his people called him, grew to be a person of great influence and people often followed his choices. While the author examines the many sides of this complex man, he also never forgets to supply the historical details of the time and place that Crazy Horse lived in. We are totally immersed in culture of these people, their social customs, warring factions, and the rising anger at the broken promises of the white people that will eventually lead Crazy Horse and his people to the banks of the Little Big Horn River.

I now feel I have a greater understanding of this well known historical character. The author manages to take the facts that are known and bring them richly to life, breathing emotion and spirit into his story. I would highly recommend Stone Song: A Novel of the Life of Crazy Horse to those who would like to read about a genuine Native American hero. show less

Give me a historical mystery set in the American Southwest and I am a happy reader. Add in real folks like Frank Lloyd Wright and John Wayne and I am over the moon. Of course it helps that the writers know the area and the customs of the Navajo and Ute nations know how to write well.

Yazzie Goldman is three-quarters Navajo and one-quarter Jewish. He works as security on the railroad but when the book starts he and his wife have been vacationing in Chicago. Even though he is off duty when he show more sees a tough guy hassling an old man he intervenes. Turns out the old man is Frank Lloyd Wright and he is on his way to Taliesin West in Scottsdale with the plans for the Guggenheim Museum on his person. The tough guy hassling him is muscle for a gangster to whom Wright owes twenty thousand dollars. Yazzie agrees to protect Wright all the way to Scottsdale but little does he know that will bring not just gangsters but the FBI (who think Wright is unAmerican) and unscrupulous architects after the Guggenheim plans into his life. Trying to get away from all these interests Yazzie takes Wright on a road trip up to Monument Valley where John Ford is shooting Fort Apache. John Wayne is one of the stars and he is interested in Wright. That comes in handy when all those people after Wright show up on the movie set.

I am a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright although I have never been in any of his buildings. I hope to rectify that soon by touring Taliesin West when we are next in Arizona. Meantime I have another book about Wright, Loving Frank, on my bookshelf and I am looking forward to reading that soon. I also really liked this detective. There is an earlier book, The Darkness Rolling, which I want to read and then I will be seeking out more books I suspect. show less

I love Monument Valley. I've stayed at Goulding's Lodge where the stars and film crews stayed while filming so many classic Westerns back in the 1940s and 50s. I've had a Navajo guide take me through not only Monument Valley, but the lesser known (and equally impressive) Mystery Canyon. I was thrilled to see that a new mystery series was set here during its Hollywood period.

The Blevins use this glorious setting to excellent effect and manage to blend in some Navajo traditions as well. The show more distances involved in bringing in supplies and My Darling Clementine's stars show how remote the area is. In fact, Yazzie gets to travel on the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe's Super Chief and stay at the fabulous Fred Harvey hotel La Posada in Winslow in order to pick up actress Linda Darnell and take her to where the filming is being done.

But it's with Linda Darnell that the book frayed around the edges a bit for me. I've read many historical mysteries, and quite a few of them have historical characters. I normally don't have a problem with that, but I did with the role Darnell plays in this book. I won't go into detail here, and I'm sure the Blevins did their research, but Darnell's characterization just plain made me uncomfortable.

The best secondary character by far is Moses Goldman, and it's easy to see why Yazzie loves him so much. I cheered Moses on in several of his scenes.

Unfortunately other than as a foil for the other characters, Zipilote doesn't really work as a killer for me-- much too one-dimensional. But then... I suppose most homicidal maniacs are.

I like Yazzie, a young man who's half Navajo, half Jew. He wants a "big life" but he still remains level-headed. His time as shore patrol for the Navy has given him a good background in investigating, and he needs it here because when things go wrong-- since he's the Indian in the middle of a bunch of famous white people-- he's the person who gets all the blame. He's also the man who gets all the women in this book, and his second relationship moved so quickly that I'm wondering how well it's going to fit in with the series.

For yes, this is going to be a series, and even though I'm not thrilled with some of the characterizations, I like the main character, and I'm still in love with the setting. I'm looking forward to the next installment. show less