When Daniel Begay hires Joshua Croft to find someone, it's not a standard missing-persons case. The silver-haired, distinguished, and more than slightly mysterious Indian wants Joshua to return the lost remains of a Navajo leader, dead nearly one hundred years, to their proper burial site.

Soon Croft is hurtling his trusty Subaru across the Southwest, from Santa Fe to El Paso to remote corners of a Navajo reservation, unearthing long-buried hostilities and reviving the mystery of an unsolved, unforgotten murder.

Relying on his unique blend of low-key humor, hard-won street smarts, and a familiarity with barroom etiquette, Croft digs through layers of deception to discover a sinister history, complete with the requisite elements of greed, adultery, ambition, and treachery.