Coyote Cowgirl

The black sheep of a very accomplished family has to find the stolen family heirlooms with the help of a talking crystal skull eanne Les Flambeaux-you know, the famous Flambeaux clan, the great chefs and restauranteurs of the Southwest?- has a few problems. She can't cook for one. . . . And she hears voices for another. . . . And, she screws up everything she touches, for a third. No one, including herself, ever expected her to amount to anything, so she hasn't. When her parents take a much-needed vacation, leaving her in charge of the family's ancient, prized possessions-a crystal skull and a priceless ruby scepter-she wakes up the next morning to find that her lover, Johnny has stolen the scepter. This propels her on a wild and whacky journey across the Great American Southwest, trying to catch Johnny and the scepter. To complicate matters, single women are mysteriously disappearing throughout the area, the police and the FBI have few clues-and Jeanne, as she stalks Johnny, is herself being stalked by someone. Fortunately-or unfortunately, Jeanne can't quite figure it out-she's aided in her impossible task by the crystal skull . . . now a talking crystal skull with an attitude bad enough to match her own. The skull of course, speaks only to her. It leads Jeanne (who is rapidly becoming an actual heroine) through the casinos of Las Vegas, the mysteries of Kitt Peak, desert cults of Arizona, and finally to a wild climax that outdoes Tom Robbins . . . and maybe even gives Carlos Casteneda a run for his pesos. Light and sexy, filled with imaginative characters and situations, and some of the hottest secret recipes from the Flambeaux recipe drawer, Coyote Cowgirl will leave you laughing and begging for a sequel.

Kim Antieau received her M.L.S. degree from the University of Arizona in 1987, and has both B.A and M.A. degrees in English from Eastern University. She is the author of three novels and more than twenty stories. She lives in Washington State.

“Coyote Cowgirl is one of my favorite books. . . . I envy those of you who will be reading it for the first time.”—Charles de Lint