Maya Culpa

What is THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER about? It's about a young woman named Gina Suzu Miyoko (aka, Tinkerbell—Tink for short) who solves mysteries. This is the prologue from the book, which was published in October 2018 by Pegasus Crime, and got wonderful reviews. PROLOGUE When you are alone in the dark, hurting and frightened—no, terrified—that the next sound you hear will be the dying scream of a friend, or a round being chambered, you find things to do.I prayed. I checked my watch. I checked my jacket pockets. I had a little pack of Kleenex, my compass, my camera, and a hair clip. That was on the practical side. On the arcane side, I had a jumble of good luck charms: a Hopi tinu, an obereg, and a piece of wire from an old Cadillac’s taillight. And then, firmly in a class of its own—Things That Were Once Practical But Are Now Junk—was the cell phone that wasn’t much of a cell phone this deep underground.I turned it on and was immediately mesmerized by the pale luminescenceof the little screen. I hoped there was enough kick left in its battery to lightmy tiny world for a while. I used the wan light to check my bandages. Theywere fairly dry. I had stopped bleeding.Mercy.I shut off the cell phone-cum-flashlight and mentally checked the rest of my personal inventory. Earrings, a fake engagement ring, a watch, my Saint Boris medallion. I had a small custom tattoo on my right hip. Or at least I had before tonight. For all I knew, the bullet that had grazed my hip had cut a bypass through that neighborhood.I prayed not. I was a bit superstitious about that tattoo. It was a RussianOrthodox “Old Believer” cross with a Buddha seated in an eight-petaledlotus in the heart of the second crossbar and surrounded by beams of light.I’d gotten it the year I obtained my private investigator’s license. Otherthan the tattoo artist who put it there, my best friend Rose and I are the only two people in the world who know that tattoo exists. No one else hasever seen it. Not even my mom. It’s probably the only secret I’ve ever beenable to keep from her.My reeling mind wandered to places more pleasant than the pitch-blackguts of the Mayan temple, in which I was trapped like a wounded animal,aware that tons of rock pressed down on my hiding place, and that a man Ihad once liked and trusted pursued me with one aim—killing me.How had I come to be here, you might wonder? Hell, I wondered myself.One day I’m chasing down delinquent dads in San Francisco, the next I’mtrying to avoid becoming part of a South American archaeological site. AllCruz Veras’s fault.A jolt of raw terror shot from one end of my body to the other; I wasfalling asleep.I couldn’t fall asleep.Okay, so the Wicked Witch of the West had routed me through her infernal poppy fields. I’d think of snow.I pulled myself up off the stone stairs I’d been huddled on, wobbly and dizzy. My hip whinged. I took deep breaths and held them for three seconds, then let them out . . . quietly. I was in my fifth rep when I heard something that woke me utterly: a gunshot.A gunshot.I pressed myself to the wall and moved down the stairs one shallow tread at a time, pausing to listen. Sounds found my ears—movement, shoes on stone. In the maze of tunnels under Itzamnaaj Balam, I couldn’t tell whereit came from. All I could do was continue to move, descending slowly toeven lower levels. I paused, put my head against the cool stone, and listened.Sounds rose up from below, sounds that might have been the scurrying ofmice anywhere else. But there were no mice down here. My eyes were starved for light, yet dreaded to see it. It would be him, searching for me. Keep moving, Gina. Just keep moving.I fell into a sort of stupor, shuffling through the shadow lands, listeningand watching. So when my eyes finally saw light, it didn’t immediatelyregister with my brain that it meant Something Bad. I found myself beingdrawn toward a strange, gray, faded spot on the left-hand wall of the corridor ahead. I was nearly on top of it when I realized that it was reflected light from a cross-passage to my right.I flattened myself to the near wall and peered around the corner. Ambient light washed out of everywhere and nowhere to illuminate the narrow way. I could see clear through to its other end, where there was a wall as solid and opaque as the one behind me.Where was the light coming from? Curiouser and curiouser.I stepped cautiously out into the junction. And was turned to stone. Heseemed to emerge from the very wall of the maze not four yards distant, his flashlight in one hand, his revolver in the other.I gasped.He swung slowly toward me, bringing the muzzle of his gun to bear. Istood and clutched my useless cell phone and waited for him to shoot me.He didn’t.“Hello, Gina,” he said, sounding like Eeyore—relieved to have foundme, but depressed as hell. “You don’t look so good.”

[caption id=attachment_1123 align=alignright width=246] Amanda & Drum[/caption] So, we drove four hours down to Bakersfield Friday night (November 15) for the Western Bands Association State Marching Band Championships. Our daughter, Amanda, is a member of the Oak Grove High School Marching Band. She plays bass drum in the OG battery. The air quality had been iffy, but within tolerable levels for several days, so we were hopeful. Saturday morning, we awoke to a text from Amanda saying the WBA had canceled the event based on a forecast that the AQI was going to get much worse. I was bummed to the point that catching sight of Morgan Hill's Emerald Regime semi parked outside their hotel brought on sniffles. But thanks to the perseverance of several intrepid band directors, including our host—West High School—an exhibition was quickly assembled and, in the end, five amazing, rebellious high school bands were scheduled to take the field in exhibition. They were King's Academy, Branham, Valley Christian, Oak Grove, and West. We assembled at West High School around noon, and did show prep, watching the air quality index. The bands ate, warmed up, drilled and got costumed and, by the time the first band took the field a little after 4PM, the AQI had fallen to 83—clearer than it had been in days. We waived much of the usual exhibition decorum—everyone's props were assembled in the end zone and there was no time limit on setup or retreat. The kids for once got to watch other bands perform from the front stands and could spend a few moments at the end of their show pieces, soaking up the applause and adulation. They had a blast. Below is a photo album of the day from the point of view of one Oak Grove Band Mom. If you hover your mouse pointer over the image, it will display a caption. Enjoy! [foogallery id=1111]

Q: Your latest book is The Antiquities Hunter about a private detective named Gina Miyoko, who must go undercover in the Mexican jungle to hunt down a myst

The Antiquities Hunter by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff had me at "a Harley blessed with Holy Water by her dramatically disposed mother". As a fan of Dan Brown bo

THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER is now on sale at your local or digital bookstores! This is a hardback release from Pegasus Crime and the first Gina Miyoko Mystery. My official first book event is in Berkeley, CA at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology (see the post on my website!) on October 20th. We will have live music, treats, a reading, a signing and other cool things.

I am doing a new thing with this novel—a blog tour! So, please do check my calendar here for tour dates and follow along. Currently confirmed dates are: 10-03-18 - Fellow BVCer Deborah Ross will interview me on Book View Café. 10-08-18 - Sandra Lopez will feature a review of the book and an excerpt on her Sandra's Book Club review site. 10-12-18 - Elizabeth Spann Craig, author of a popular series of cozy mysteries, will feature a my guest blog on Research and (Plot) Development on her cozy website. Stay tuned for more tour dates! I'm working on a guest blog for CrimeReads as we speak.

My dear publisher, Pegasus Crime, has arranged for the debut event for THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER to be held at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology on October 20th. The event will begin at 1:00 PM in the conference room in Kroeber Hall (more details below) and will feature a bit of acoustic music performed by myself and my husband Jeff, a reading from the book, Q&A session and, of course, a signing. The plot of this first Gina Miyoko novel follows my small but mighty detective into the wilds of Chiapas where she encounters the relics of a long-dead Mayan king, Shield Jaguar II. In an amazing case of synchronous serendipity, the exhibit the Hearst is hosting during my book release event is entitled Face to Face: Looking at Objects that Look Back. The exhibit asks: Why and how do crafting traditions of the world so often incorporate human faces, and how do people respond to those faces? In THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER, you'll witness different characters respond to the crafted human faces the encounter with awe, amazement, fascination, jealousy and greed.

I am tickled pumpkin by this review from Booklist that I just received this morning from my delightful publisher. Booklist says: An entertaining debut introducing PI Gina “Tinkerbell” Miyoko. At five foot nine and 94 pounds, she is a Harley-riding, San Francisco Bay houseboat–dwelling powerhouse who is met with frank amazement by most people. When her best friend, Rose, an undercover Park Service agent, is gravely injured, Gina takes her place, going undercover in Mexico in the company of archaeologist Cruz Veras, a Mexican Indiana Jones, to ferret out who is trafficking in looted artifacts. The gamin-like Gina adopts a teasingly glamorous persona looking to spend, spend, spend, and attracts a mysterious antiquities dealer in Cancun. She ultimately ends up, after an unexpected betrayal, trapped in the pitch-black guts of a Mayan temple where she must fight for her life, armed only with her wits and an odd assortment of lucky charms. Gina is a unique series lead, but she sweeps across the pages like an adrenalin-fueled soul sister of Janet Evanovich’s flamboyant characters, presented in an equally biting and outrageous narrative that turns on a dime. A promising start to an exciting new series with plenty of crossover YA appeal. — Jane Murphy, Booklist Wow! Adrenalin-fueled soul sister of Janet Evanovich's flamboyant characters . . . . I am thrilled. Thank you, Jane Murphy for such a terrific review—and thank you, Pegasus, for taking a chance with my diminutive detective. Stay tuned for more about Gina's adventures.