Struggling to follow in the footsteps of his legendary lawman grandfather, private eye Sonny Baca is investigating his cousin Gloria's murder. Gloria's body is found drained of blood, and on her stomach has been carved the Zia sun symbol, which makes Sonny suspect witchcraft. His search for the truth pits him in a conflict between the ways of his ancestors and those of the city.

While Sonny Baca and friends are enjoying Albuquerque's famed hot air balloon festival, a woman plummets from the sky. Four black feathers surround her body—the calling card of Sonny's nemesis from "Zia Summer", Raven. Raven possesses powers no mortal can match; and Sonny knows that he is the only one who can defeat him. Drawing on his own guardians, and with the help of a "curandera", Sonny risks his life for his city—and the survival of the one he loves the most.

Famed for capturing the flavor of Hispanic New Mexico, Rudolfo Anaya now plunges his charismatic Sonny Baca into his most fascinating mystery yet. Wheelchair-bound by day, Alburquerque P.I. Sonny Baca is tormented by night with strange One by one, his female ancestors are abducted before his eyes. Soon Sonny learns the worst. His old archenemy, Raven, is controlling the nightmares and planning to destroy Sonny's past. In present-day Alburquerque, the situation is just as Young women are being kidnapped and the only clues are four black feathers. Now Sonny must detect the connection between the spirit world and this all-too-worldly city ...before more lives are lost and even the earth itself is threatened.

When the governor of New Mexico is found drowned in the Bath House at Jemez Springs, Albuquerque private eye Sonny Baca is called in to investigate. As he soon learns, murder is only the beginning of the evil that Sonny must sort out. Someone has planted a bomb in the Valles Caldera, not far from the Los Alamos National Laboratories, and it is set to detonate in just a few hours. Is this the work of terrorists or is Sonny's old nemesis, Raven, mixed up in the plot? In a race against the clock Sonny encounters ghosts and sorcerers, beautiful women and environmental activists, and developers and politicians who are quarreling over the state's most precious resource, its water. "An extraordinary storyteller."— Los Angeles Times Book Review "Anaya takes the reader beyond detective fiction... His mysteries fall into the criminal and the spiritual, which makes them both inspiring and electrifying."— St. Petersburg Times "Sonny Baca is a fascinating hero with rough edges that serve to add to his charismatic personality."— Edmonton Journal "Anaya, godfather and guru of Chicano literature, proves he's just as good in the murder mystery field."—Tony Hillerman, author of The Sinister Pig