Custer and His Naked Ladies

by Janelle Meraz Hooper

When her husband unexpectedly dumps her, Glory boards an Oklahoma-bound plane at the Sea-Tac Airport. On her way to the ticket counter, she takes the framed photo of her husband out of her gym bag and dumps it into the nearest trash bin-frame and all. She has wasted too many years on a man who doesn't want her, and her biological clock is beginning to pound like a powwow drum.

Part Hispanic, part Anglo, and raised on the reservation, Glory hopes that by going back to her roots she'll discover who she is, but her home is in turmoil. Her greedy stepmother has returned, a group of dysfunctional mobsters wants her mother's land on the Indian reservation to build a casino, her pastor cousin is kidnapped in Mexico while on a mission, and Glory's beloved turtles are in an environmental crisis. When the mob tries to kill her, Glory counts herself as being an endangered species

Her biggest problem of all may be Soap, a sexy Comanche lawyer who wants to do something about that powwow drum pounding in her head.

Sprinkled with Spanish phrases and Comanche words, "Custer and His Naked Ladies " is full of Southwest flavor.