Winter Book Discussion

This winter the library will feature a book discussion centered on prehistoric Native Americans that lived in the four corners area of the United States between about 700 and 1300 AD. The Ancestral Pueblo peoples also known as the Anasazi. On Monday, January 12 the series will kick off with the showing of the film, “The Mystery of Chaco Canyon” at 6 p.m. The 56 minute film examines the enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in the Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. Wayne Deahl returns to lead the discussions which may also include participants at WWC.

“The Visitant” by Wyoming authors, Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear will be discussed on Monday, February 2 at 6 p.m. with the authors also attending. “The Visitant” is the first of three books in their Anasazi series. Maureen Cole, one of the world’s foremost physical anthropologists, is called in to examine and evaluate a mass grave discovered in Chaco Canyon, a major archaeological site in New Mexico. As she begins her work to solve the mystery of the grave strange things begin to happen around her. In nearby canyons the past is alive as Browser, a 13th century war chief of the Anasazi, seeks to solve the murders of the young women and children. The two stories combine and the barrier between the past and present seems too thin to prevent a murderer from stalking his victims in two different centuries.

Tony Hillerman’s “Thief of Time” will be discussed on Monday, March 2 at 6 p.m. Professor Friedman-Bernal’s specialty is Anasazi pottery and, just as she is about to identify an artist who lived over a thousand years ago, she vanishes from her dig site. Officers Chee and Leaphorn search for her, especially after colleagues accuse her of stealing artifacts. But is it Eleanor, or others, who are “thieves of time?”

Monday, April 6 features “The Blue Corn Murders” by Nancy Pickard and Virginia Rich. When she discovers some ancient pottery shards on her ranch near Tucson, Mrs. Potter heads for the Medicine Wheel Archaeological Camp to learn more about the ancient peoples who once inhabited the Southwest. She arrives to find the center in turmoil. This is an old-fashioned whodunit that captures the magic of the Anasazi country of the Four Corners region.

Wayne Deahl from Torrington returns as the series facilitator. Call or stop by the library to register and to pick up the first book.