It turns out that Bisbee’s popular (and only) lawyer was beaten within an inch of his life for reasons that weren’t clear to anyone — but Kat Miranda has revealed in this latest outing that she CJ Shane is a full-time art gallery owner and part-time detective. Together with the handsome Englishman Novio (whose sillyness she resists calling him her boyfriend), Kat finds himself at the scene of other crimes in which the peaceful Bisbee is seemingly unrelated. I know there was Theft of paintings from her own gallery. It’s a bewildering series of dots to connect, and in order to help the cat separate the clues from the red herring, a friend’s village, a neighbor, a former British police detective, and a newly acquired Great Dane (all An attractive character) is required.

Shane’s vivid storytelling takes the charming heroine along a perilous path to the heart of a nefarious scheme ripped straight from the headlines.

Author and visual artist CJ Shane is a former newspaper reporter and academic librarian, author of eight non-fiction books and the Letty Valdes, Detective in Tucson mystery series. She lives in Tucson.

“The Japanese American Experience: Change and Continuity”” Written by Minoru Yanagihashi. Liberty Hill Publishing. 274 pages. $17.49; Kindle $8.99.

In less than 100 years, American-born Nisei of Japanese immigrant parents achieved remarkable success in the United States despite major obstacles. Author, educator, and U.S. Army veteran Minoru Yanagihashi explains how in this informative piece of history, sociology, and personal reflection.

The Japanese arrived in Hawaii in search of economic stability. By 1900, they made up his 40% of the Hawaiian population. Born in Hawaii to Japanese immigrant parents, Yanagihashi begins by outlining how the experience of Japanese people settling in Hawaii differs from that of Japanese immigrants to the mainland. His primary focus is on the Nisei people born between the 1920s and the start of World War II, and he refers to this group as Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation.” , demonstrating resilience in the face of dystopian experiences of racism, exclusionary policies, and wartime internment. their own government.

Of particular interest are the author’s discussions of the Poston and Gila River Internments in Arizona, the Rupe Isolation Center on the Navajo Reservation, and the Prison Labor Camp in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Perhaps most revealing, however, are his observations of the postwar Japanese-American experience. With the sands of time running out for this generation of Nisei, their crowning achievement is to assimilate into American society while preserving Japanese culture and traditions for future generations. It is meaningful to the author, who is a founding member of the Asian Community Alliance, the Tucson Japan-America Society, and the Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Association.

“migratory bird” By Nucy Motaleff. A3D impression. 215 pages. $14.95.

That the ancient Persian religions of Zoroastrianism and Muhammadic Islam were more enlightened than 20th-century Iranian Islam is a thread that runs and strengthens this fascinating and timely novel. “Bird of Passage” features a young woman resisting the restrictions of her 1979 religious revolution in Iran. Tucson writer Nooshie Motaref, who resigned from a university in Tehran under pressure from Iranian fundamentalists 30 years ago, creates a central figure Mitra who flees Iran to the West in search of personal and intellectual independence.

Defying her culture, yet encouraged by her parents, Mitra pursues education over marriage, but is not averse to romance. mixed with various criticisms and contrasts — from east to west. From Shah to Khomeini. Women’s rights throughout history. Islamic revolution against current women’s protests. That way, “Bird of Passage” would be a natural choice for the book her club.

— Christine Waldo Hopkins

“Insurrection Protocol” By DK Harris. Kindle Direct Publishing/Amazon, Inc. 390 pages. $13.85.

DK Harris combines several unlikely elements in this second Jake Ankyer action-adventure: A biologically-enhanced 21st-century US special operative guided by satellite communications and powered by Kevlar. Accompanied by trained wolves, fighting Qatar on white stallions armed with crossbows. A slave trader in the Libyan desert. A paranoid, narcissistic US president going mad because he can’t climb Mount Rushmore or win the Nobel Peace Prize, and a villainous, wealthy, ambitious, and colluding with China diabolical villainy. A female executive and an ultra-advanced quantum computer will be introduced. Got the stew of adventure.

Jake Ankyer is a member of the Red Protocol Group, a secret small branch of the NSA dedicated to stopping threats to American democracy. Set in 2017, “Riot Protocol” is tasked with preventing Unhinged POTUS from killing Cabinet and Congress leaders and declaring martial law. Demonstrating his prowess in intelligence, analysis and infiltration, Jake travels to Libya to rescue the kidnapped grandson of the Emir of Qatar. Parts of his body splatter, his stomach vomits, his head explodes, the wheels of his race car catch fire, and he has to land his jet fighter on an aircraft carrier during a Category 5 hurricane.Jake is on board. It’s good to be there

Harris clearly likes the smart Red Protocol Crew. And yes, they’re high-energy, non-stop entertainment. Did I mention Jake’s new Emirate of Qatar in that stew? Complete with a 60,000 square foot palace and luxury cars. 10 to 1 and we’ll see a lot more in the upcoming Jake Ankyer series.

— Christine Waldo Hopkins

“Southern Stories: Family and Race, California. 1650-2021” By Sterling Vinson. resource publications. 86 pages. $12. Paperback; also available on Kindle.

“Really,” writes archaeologist and former Pima University lecturer Sterling Vinson in this thoughtful and informative book.

“Yes, the Confederate Army was destroyed,” he continues. But the Union allowed the South’s socioeconomic system to remain unchanged for the next 100 years. After the Union Army left, he argues that old power structures resurfaced and the federal government failed to protect blacks. Despite the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965, the Supreme Court overturned the Voting Rights Act in his 2013. ”

“A Southern Story” examines racism in America through the lens of Vinson’s family history and his life growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 1940s and 1950s. A product of white privilege, descended from American settlers, he grew up in a grand home with the help of an African-American nanny and household chores. Although he was raised to respect “perseverance, resistance, and a deep suspicion of authority,” his parents also instilled in him a sense of racial justice, but as he discovered , his family history has a dark side. Slave owner, indentured master, Confederate soldier. Members of the KKK; possible involvement in lynchings; Leaving the South to attend a progressive boarding school in Vermont increased his social awareness, and by the 1990s he was heavily involved in conservation movements in Tucson.

This book is a valuable and relevant summary of the family’s story. Ancestry.com, history and personal reflections. Vinson, who remains committed to human rights issues, suggests that his Border and his ACLU activities are a means of atonement for individual and family violations.

— Christine Waldo Hopkins

Helene Woodhams is a retired Pima County Public Library literary librarian and coordinator of the library’s annual literary review, Southwest Books of the Year.

Christine Wald-Hopkins, a former educator and occasional essayist, has long been a critic for national, regional and local newspapers.