As a people, the Navajo seek to walk in beauty and find a balance between modern and traditional culture. As a mother, a daughter, and a member of the Navajo Nation, Ella Clah finds her own way to walk—but as a police officer, she seeks both justice and truth.  When Never-ending-snake begins, Ella is returning from a trip to Washington, DC, where she has been presented with a lucrative offer of employment with a private security firm. The catch? She would have to leave the Reservation. And while Ella has lived off the Rez before, it would be a life-altering experience for her daughter, Dawn. Before Ella has a chance to even begin making up her mind, gunfire sends her and her companions diving for cover. Who is the target? War hero and alternative fuel lobbyist Adam Lonewolf, politician and tribal attorney Kevin Tolino, or Ella herself? As a Navajo Police Special Investigator, Ella has made more than one enemy.  Ella Clah, member of the Navajo Nation and special investigator for the Navajo Tribal Police, is one of the most intriguing and best-realized characters in today’s crime fiction. The Thurlos give added value to the character by slowly developing Ella, deepening her commitments and problems, throughout the series. At the beginning of this fifteenth Clah mystery, Ella is facing a critical choice between working for much more money and much less stress for a private security firm in D.C. or remaining with the Rez police. Just as Ella returns home from her D.C. interview, she and her two companions (tribal attorney Kevin Tolino, who fathered Ella’s daughter, and alternative-fuel lobbyist Adam Lonewolf) are met with a hail of gunfire. The ready-made mystery here is determining which of the three was the target? Motives abound for all of them. Action also abounds, sometimes to an almost pulp-novel degree. Still, a thoroughly satisfying crime novel. --Connie Fletcher AIMEE AND DAVID THURLO live in Corrales, New Mexico.  David was raised in Shiprock, on the Navajo Reservation; Aimée was born in Cuba. ONE SUNDAY As the small single-engine aircraft lifted off the Albuquerque runway—next stop Shiprock—Special Investigator Ella Clah of the Navajo Tribal Police couldn’t resist a smile. Even sharing a flight with a genuine Navajo war hero and the tribe’s most respected attorney couldn’t compare with the rush that came from knowing she was finally on the last leg of her journey home. She’d sorely missed her daughter during her short stay in D.C. Back in her twenties, the job she’d just been offered in the nation’s capital would have been a slam dunk. But Ella was twice that age now. With maturity and parenthood had come other responsibilities that surpassed even her dedication to restoring balance among the Diné—the Navajo People—so all could walk in beauty. Pulling out her BlackBerry, she checked for a signal. She’d sent her daughter a tweet and wondered if Dawn had replied. Her daughter was allowed to use the strictly text message utility as long as she followed the rules that Ella had set down for her. Like her mom, Dawn had her own followers and screen name. Dawn signed in as Firstlight1, and Ella was Ladylaw. As she thought of her eleven-year-old, Ella sighed, wondering where the time had gone. That chilly April morning when she’d first held her baby girl in her arms seemed like only yesterday. Yet today it was warm, less than a week since Labor Day, and Dawn had already started the sixth grade. “So what do you think of D.C.?” Kevin asked, looking back to talk. He was seated up front beside the pi lot. “It’s an exciting place, isn’t it? Could you see yourself and our daughter living there—at the center of power and intrigue for all the United States?” Kevin Tolino was Dawn’s father. Even though he and Ella had never lived together or married, they’d remained close by sharing the responsibilities of parenthood. Like most parents, however, they’d had many conflicts over the years, particularly when it came to raising their child. “What you’re really asking is whether I’ve decided to accept the job with John Blakely’s security firm,” she said with a ghost of a smile. “The answer’s still no. I haven’t made up my mind yet.” Ella had first met Blakely years ago when they’d both served in the FBI. He was a senior agent and she’d just come off her rookie year in the Bureau when they’d been assigned a particularly tough case in the Denver area. The results of her undercover work had made a lasting impression on Blakely. Now, retired from the Bureau, John had opened Personnel Profile Security, PPS, an up-and-coming firm in D.C. Recently, and seemingly out of nowhere, he’d called to offer her a job. Ella strongly suspected that Kevin had encouraged the contact—a not-so-subtle attempt to bring both her and her daughter to D.C. where he spent most of his time. Kevin worked in the tribe’s Washington office almost exclusively these days. Although she had many things to take into account before making her decision, there