Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • B6

BY BRUCE DESILVA ASSOCIATED PRESS After losing her job as a North Dakota sheriff following a tumultuous serial killer investigation in Cassie Dewell resurfaces as a struggling Montana private detective in C.J. new crime novel, As a former law enforcement officer, she want to work for defense attorneys, but when a local lawyer asks her for help, Dewell, the single mother of a teenage boy, afford to turn down the case. Dewell is repulsed that the client, Blake Kleinsasser, is accused of raping his 15-year-old niece, but the lawyer assures her that the case against him, including witness statements and DNA evidence, appears solid. Assure me that there are no holes in the case, the lawyer says, and talk my client into a plea deal. So Dewell ventures into the mountains of western Montana to talk to the local sheriff, review the case file and interview witnesses.

There, she is met with hostility and intimidation by nearly everyone in town. The tale unfolds in a landscape thick with smoke from forest fires, the gloom serving as an apt metaphor for the evil she encounters. Kleinsasser, who had recently returned to Montana after working as a New York City stockbroker, is the eldest son of a clan that owns the vast Iron Cross Ranch and just about everything else in their mountain- ringed town. It turns out that his father and brothers despise him for turning his back on the ranching heritage. If the rape case against him is as solid as it appears, Dewell wonders, why are the sheriff and family members going to so much trouble to stop her from doing her job? By the time Blake is beaten so severely in prison that he goes into a coma, Dewell discovers that the rot in the Kleinsasser family runs deeper than she could have imagined.

characters are well-developed, and the plot unfolds at a rapid pace. BY DAVID STEINBERG FOR THE JOURNAL One of the true-crime poems in Olivia hard-hitting debut collection of the Party is about the still unidentified West Mesa Bone Collector, believed to have killed 11 brown and black women and a fetus. In the free-verse poem Count: Gatwood writes, it was a thought they were doing the addicts and burying a shallow In the subsequent poem Candelaria, Gatwood briefly returns to the subject: always thought it was a misnomer decorative and but inaccurate. The it sound like a They are among a number of poems in the book examining violence and victims of violence and courageously exploring her own sexuality and queerness as she came of age. found it important to tell my own story, that this is normal, that this can be beautiful and can just be part of life.

I struggled with being so open. It was a way of coming Gatwood said in a phone interview. The 27-year-old Gatwood, who grew up in Albuquerque and graduated from Albuquerque High School, said some of the bones were discovered on the West Mesa when she was a teenager. were of the same or a close she said. changes your relation to freedom, to your community.

So very personal to me that they were found in my hometown, and not found for 10 Had 11 white women vanished, rather than women of color, the police would have quickly said it was a serial crime, Gatwood contended. In the acknowledgements, one of the many people she thanks is Bernstein for seeing something in me that took much longer to see in Gatwood identified as Sara Bernstein, an English teacher at Albuquerque High and of director of the poetry club and our biggest cheerleader. a student I was kind of a pain in the butt. She whipped me into shape. She said, is your skill.

You can either take it seriously as a craft or going to She gave me the motivation I needed. She said, want you to do this because I know you It felt like a harsh love I needed as a Gatwood added. Another woman who advocates for Gatwood is Mackenzie Brady Watson, her literary agent. changed my understanding of myself as a writer. She took a chance on me.

She knew I had something. also my editor and my sounding Gatwood said. Gatwood has come a long way. A resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, she has become an internationally known performance poet who regularly sells out events. She has published American Best and is working on a novel.

Gatwood gives spoken-word workshops and has taught writing workshops and sexual assault prevention workshops. Tickets are $17 at bkwrks.com or at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW, or at the door. Admission includes a copy of of the and a free companion ticket. do I get the hummingbirds fed while bees are swarming their P.N., Albuquerque A. At the feeders I have hanging at home, I rarely have trouble with buzzing insects not sharing, so into my search engine I went asking for guidance.

With that I was led to one favorite site, the Cornell Lab of page, and found a few suggestions for you. No. 1 is to hang your feeders out of direct sunlight. Given a semishaded spot, the bees seem to not want to hang around as much. And if the feeders are hung in hot sun, the liquid tends to expand and leak out of it, offering easier access to the nectar and providing the bees a satisfying lunch.

No. 2 were cautions about color. Bees tend to be attracted by yellow, whereas hummingbirds react to red. If your feeder is made with the faux yellow blossoms surrounding the ports of the feeder well, bees are attracted. But if you remove the yellow blossoms and leave that big of a port opening you can bet bugs of all manner would find the feeder a feasting spot and make a yucky mess.

Trouble is I found a red blossom part that you could substitute for the yellow. If the bees are that big an issue, you might consider new feeders that have any yellow parts. My saucer feeders, made of molded red plastic, have any yellow, so my birds and I are happy. Another fix mentioned was to move the feeder several feet, because that might confuse the bees and keep them away. If moving it workable, consider hanging an additional feeder, so the hummingbirds have a place to feed away from the bees.

Just remember to keep the feeder out of all-day direct sun. No. 3, suggested to have flowers available, especially yellow and orange ones, so the bees are more attracted to them than to the feeders. But I believe that keeping the feeders out of the sun will be the most effective way to keep the bees away. READERS: TIME TO MAKE CALENDAR NOTES.

With the New Mexico State Fair just around the corner, did you know you can participate by showing off your best? Garden Clubs can enter one of the four flower On the Albuquerque Garden website, you can find out how to show off your garden work. Next, if you are into cactus and succulents, consider spending part of your Labor Day weekend at an exhibition of prize-winning plants and some demonstrations at the ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden, 2601 Central NW, from from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily Aug. 31 through Sept.

2. Admission to the BioPark Botanic Garden gains you access to all sorts of wonderment about the cactus and succulent world. The 13th annual Albuquerque Tomato Fiesta is nearly here. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Aug. 25, at the Albuquerque Garden Center, 10120 Lomas NE, all about tomatoes. With a $5 admission fee, you get to see, taste, and smell everything tomato. Music, tastings, arts and crafts, activities, and shopping will get your tomato urges filled for sure. Go have some yummy fun.

Meanwhile, Happy Diggin In! Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send your garden- related questions to Digging In, Albuquerque Journal, P.O. Drawer Albuquerque, NM 87103, or to com. BOOK OF THE WEEK REVIEW NEW MEXICO BOOK NOTES AT TREASURE HOUSE BOOKS GIFTS: Gloria Casale will sign The Essential from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug.

24. Yuri Bushinikov, a renowned Russian genetics engineer, has vanished, along with two vials from the Russian smallpox stockpile. Dr. Anne Damiano has feared this scenario for many years. Her warnings have been ignored by other, more powerful public health officials.

They adamantly deny the possibility of a bioterror attack. Treasure House Books Gifts is at 2012 South Plaza in Old Town. Call 242-7204. AT PAGE ONE: Vicki Turpen and Shannon Horst will present their new climate thriller, Delicate at 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug.

24. The Earth is dying its life forms bound for extinction unless the most fundamental of changes is made: Carbon-based fuels must be abandoned. Chaos results migrating hordes of starving people, abandoned hospitals and prisons, with patients and inmates still inside, and deserted cities where only cockroaches live. Page One is at 5850 Eubank Suite B-41. Call 294-2026.

AT BOOKWORKS: Enjoy the tunes of the Happy Gland Band with Sage Harrington and Jared Putnam at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18. Story Time is at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug.

22. Join Connie for stories and songs and an occasional craft and snack. Free at bkwrks.com. Jim Linnell will talk about It Lying Down: Finding My Feet After a Spinal Cord at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug.

22. Chelsea Bunn will read from at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24. Bunn is a poet and educator living in New Mexico.

Bookworks is at 4022 Rio Grande NW. Call 344-8139. AT COLLECTED WORKS: Joy Harjo will sign and discuss American at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 108 Cathedral Place, Santa Fe, at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18.

Film screening of the featuring an introduction by Hampton Sides and with director Peter McBride, with reception and book signing of Grand Canyon: Between River and at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at Violet Crown, 1606 Alcaldesa Santa Fe. Collected Works is at 202 Galisteo Santa Fe. Call 505-988-4226.

AT ORGANIC BOOKS: Nicolas Cabrera will read from New at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18. Poetry reading by Bryce Emley from and with Brenton Woodward and Marie Landau at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug.

24. Organic Books is at 111 Carlisle SE. Call 553-3823. AT BARNES NOBLE: Mary Oertel- Kirschner will be reading from her new mystery, of the at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug.

18. This is the second in a series featuring amateur sleuth Blanche Harriman. Blanche defies the conventional image of a 78-year- old as she delves into affairs surrounding murder of the headmistress at an elite school in Santa Fe. The book has plenty of local color and Fe Barnes Noble is at 6600 Menaul NE, Coronado Center. Call 883-8200.

1. But Hannah Shaw. Plume 2. Michelle Obama. Crown 3.

to Brene Brown. Random House 4. of the Mark R. Levin. Threshold 5.

Lisa Taddeo. Avid Reader 6. Stop Rachel Hollis. HarperCollins Leadership 7. Not Supposed to Be This Lysa TerKeurst.

Nelson 8. on Regnery 9. David McCullough. Simon Schuster 10. Marty Smith.

Twelve FICTION 1. the Crawdads Delia Owens. Putnam 2. Little, Brown 3. Good David Baldacci.

Grand Central 4. Turn of the Ruth Ware. Scout 5. Sandra Brown. Grand Central 6.

Dangerous Robert Crais. Putnam 7. Nickel Colson Whitehead. Doubleday 8. New Daniel Silva.

Harper 9. of Elin Hilderbrand. Little, Brown 10. Richard Russo. Knopf BEST-SELLERS Author Gloria Casale to sign at Treasure House NONFICTION IN THE GARDEN DIGGING IN Tracey Fitzgibbon Hang hummingbird feeders out of sunlight Voice against violence Olivia Gatwood discusses her poetry collection of the in conversation with Albuquerque poet and friend Gigi Bella at 7 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 24, at the KiMo Theatre, 423 Central NW. Bitterroots: A (Minotaur Books), by C.J. Box Plot unfolds at rapid pace in Albuquerque native Olivia Gatwood hits hard with debut, of the B6 THE SUNDAY JOURNAL BOOKS ALBUQUERQUE, AUGUST 18, 2019 Hum- mingbirds drink sugar water from a feeder at the Rio Grande Nature Center. GREG JOURNAL.