Grandmother Spider, by James Doss

(0380803941)

I'm backtracking in this series a bit. This is a rather creepy story about an apparent giant spider making off with two people (hence the title--Grandmother Spider is not a very jolly grandmother figure in Ute folklore). Somehow Charlie Moon figures out how these two characters (and they are characters in many senses of that word) were left out in the middle of nowhere--one in the top of a tree!--and why one of them then disappears from the hospital.

More important to the series itself are the details of how he comes to be owner of a large working ranch, and how he meets his matukach lady friend.

Doss is so good at conveying personality traits for each person in the book. Each character is someone you want to know more about, even the waitress that runs off with the older white guy.

Now if only I could figure out where the little girl staying with Aunt Daisy came from....

[I think I'm over that fixation on death, at least with non-formulaic, mystery fiction, stylized death.]