In 1540, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led an expeditionary force from Mexico into what is now the American Southwest. His journey provides the backdrop for this contemporary mystery novel. Deputy Sheriff Calvin Creede mostly works alone in one corner of Arizona's smallest county. His job has been a simple one until the day a flash flood exposes the rusted remains of an old pickup. A body in the truck turns out to be the long-lost son of a prominent ranching family, and forensic evidence shows it was murder. Deputy Creede faces a twenty-year-old cold case with too many suspects, from an ex-girlfriend and jealous family members, to drug lords and looters of archeological sites. The story unfolds amidst two issues affecting modern day southeastern Arizona: the loss of native rangeland to exurban development, and tensions along the international border. Resolution of the case leaves both of these problems in place, but sheds fictional yet plausible light on a southwestern mystery that has been around for nearly five centuries.
About the Author: Carl and Jane Bock are retired professors of Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Carl received his PhD in Zoology from the University of California at Berkeley, while Jane holds three degrees in Botany, a B.A. from Duke, and M.A. from the University of Indiana, and a PhD from Berkeley. Carl is an ornithologist and conservation biologist. Jane is a plant ecologist and an internationally recognized expert in the use of plant evidence in criminal investigations. She is co-author with David Norris of "Forensic Plant Science" (Elsevier-Academic Press, 2016). "Coronado's Trail" is the Bocks' first published fiction. However, they spent nearly forty years studying the natural history of the region in southeastern Arizona that is the setting for this novel. They have co- authored numerous articles and two books based on their fieldwork in the Southwest: "The View from Bald Hill" (University of California Press, 2000), and "Sonoita Plain: Views from a Southwestern Grassland" (with photographs by Stephen Strom; University of Arizona Press, 2005). Now largely retired from academic life, the Bocks presently divide their time between Colorado, Arizona, and the Florida Keys, mostly fly fishing (Carl), fighting crime (Jane), and writing.