Guest Post

Guest Chick: Skye Griffith & #Giveaway

We’re excited to welcome new guest, Skye, to our blog! She sets her Archaeologist Aideen Connor Mysteries in the American Southwest. Just check out the gorgeous photos below!

Back Country Adventures

It’s late afternoon and we’re driving down a dirt road from the Kane Gulch Ranger Station heading for Grand Gulch, a vast serpentine canyon in southeast Utah. It’s late spring, and the cactuses are blooming, adding dots of pinks and yellows to the reds, oranges and golds of the sandstone landscape.

We arrive at the camping area close to dinner time and set up camp. It’s quiet here, as only high desert wilderness can be, and we sigh a collective breath following our long drive from Colorado.

After enjoying travels throughout the U. S., Europe and South America, I’d come to recognize the Colorado Plateau as one place on earth I loved visiting most. This high desert is a vast area that covers parts of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Our trip to Grand Gulch is one of many annual jaunts to the area. It’s a Wilderness Study Area rife with Ancestral Puebloan cliff ruins and rock art where hikers and backpackers can experience the remains of ancient Native American cultures in their natural settings.

My fascination with the high desert landscape first began with a trip to Mesa Verde, an extensive archaeological site in southwestern Colorado, where I learned about the prehistoric Native American people we now identify as Ancestral Puebloan. Most archaeologists believe these prehistoric Native Americans are the ancestors of modern-day Pueblo people now living in Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. They once populated vast areas throughout the Southwest and created hundreds of villages from the only building materials available—rocks and mud. The remains of their dwellings and granaries are still visible on mesa tops and in shallow caves throughout the area.

A granary in Grand Gulch

At Mesa Verde I learned about their dry land farming on the mesa tops, their well-thought-out irrigation systems and how they managed to thrive in an environment both harsh and beautiful. My admiration for their ancient cultures continued to grow over a period of twenty plus years as my husband and I made annual visits to hike and camp in the high desert wilderness in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. I hiked back-country canyons, visited archaeological sites, explored abandoned dwellings, visited museums, and sought out the petroglyphs and pictographs they’d made on canyon walls that told of their migrations.

Then I began to consider what challenges a modern-day archaeologist might face while examining the material culture of prehistoric people who’d been forced by the environmental devastation of extended drought to leave their homes while coming to grips with her own loss after witnessing the violent, accidental death of her husband. One-by-one the characters in Bone Hash began to reveal themselves, and my novel began to take shape.

Readers, what special place do you long to visit regularly? How does your sense of place influence your daily activities and the profession you’ve chosen?

Leave a comment for the chance to win a signed copy of Bone Hash!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ancient bones.  A modern murder. A deadly secret buried deep in the desert.

Aideen Connor signs on as lead archaeologist at a dig in Arizona’s untamed desert hoping for peace after witnessing her husband’s violent death. Instead, she stumbles into a mystery as ancient and dangerous as the land itself. She excavates a “bone hash,” human bones showing evidence of prehistoric cannibalism. Then a brutal murder shocks the nearby Hopi Reservation. Unsettling connections between the murder and the dig emerge, and her world begins to unravel. Every clue leads her closer to buried secrets that could cost her life.

Bone Hash is published by Artemesia Publishing, LLC.

Famed author, Anne Hillerman says of Bone Hash,

“I love this book! The central character, archaeologist Aideen Connor, deserves a long-running series. Bone Hash checks all the boxes: original characters, a twisty story filled with tension and jeopardy, and a rousing conclusion. A sensitive use of Hopi cultural heritage and a touch of romance add to its brilliance. Outstanding!”
—ANNE HILLERMAN, NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Skye Griffith at Plaza Blanca in New Mexico

Skye Griffith has hiked windswept canyons in the American Southwest, visited dozens of archaeological sites in New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona and attended Native American dances and celebrations that gave her a deep respect for these First Americans and their ancient cultures. Previously an award-winning event designer and producer, Skye designed and produced over 10,000 special events, including Denver’s first world championship, the Stanley Cup Celebration, the papal arrival ceremony in Denver with President Clinton and the First Family, plus concerts and performances in venues of all sizes. Skye debuts her talent for storytelling with Bone Hash, a gripping mystery inspired by her explorations. Her articles have appeared in the National Endowment for the Arts newsletter, International Events Magazine and other industry publications. She holds degrees from the Universities of Cincinnati and Denver and is a member of the Denver Woman’s Press Club, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. She lives in Denver with her husband and their 115 lb. Malamute.

www.skyegriffith.com

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31 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Skye Griffith & #Giveaway”

  1. WOW! This book sounds like the perfect read for me! Colorado girl at heart living in the Arizona desert now. My go-to is the Roaring Fork Valley in Western Colorado. Need my mountain fix and to hear the sounds of the rivers flowing. Have already added this one to my TBR list.

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      1. Hello, and thanks for your comment! I love the Roaring Fork Valley as well, especially in the spring when the creek rushes along! I’d be delighted to send you a signed copy of my book. Please text or email your full name and address, and I’ll get it out. Text to 303-507-5636, or email to skye@skyegriffith.com. Naturally I will not share this info with anyone. If you have time to look at my website, consider signing up for my newsletter!.

        All the best, Skye

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      1. We also have a restaurant named Roaring Fork in Scottsdale. The one time I ate there, it was very good. Been quite awhile though! Views are much better in the RF Valley though!

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  2. Very exciting to find a book with an archaeology theme. I don’t have any special places I go to, but want to do lots of traveling someday to find some.

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  4. Welcome, Skye–such a beautiful post (and photos)! I love the American Southwest, as well. Nothing like the desert to clear out the soul.

    Not surprisingly my happy place is the Big Island of Hawai’i–so much so that my wife and I now live there half time and I’ve set my newest series there. Aloha, and thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today!

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  5. Love the beautiful photos and the amazing setting of Bone Hash, Skye! We try to visit nature on a regular basis. I have a special place in my heart for Yosemite and Kings Canyon, but I’ve also really enjoyed Grand Canyon, Zion, Antelope Canyon, and Joshua Tree (especially for the stars).

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  6. So happy to have you visit, Skye! The book sounds amazing.

    My very special places are quite different: Cambria and the California coast and pretty much all of my adopted state’s natural beauty; my hometown of Manhattan; the home of my heart, New Orleans, and Cajun Country.

    But now I want to visit all the place you’ve described!

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  7. I love traveling around the U.S. and on any given day I feel like I could hop in the car and just start driving. One of my favorite road trips was the Southwest when I was moving my friend to California. Speaking of, California is the place I want to return to again and again! There’s a part of me that will always be most alive on Pacific time!

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  11. What a great post, Skye! I’m a native New Englander and have lived in 3 of the states–MA, CT, and now NH. I love history and to be close to water, especially the ocean (so far, the beach house hasn’t worked out, ha). But one of my happy places is New York City, especially Brooklyn, where I’ve also lived. I like to go back and forth. (I seem to remember a kid’s book called something like, Country Mouse, City Mouse. That’s me!)

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  12. My happy place would be nearer to the Pacific Ocean than I am now. I live in Northern California but have to drive a couple of hours to see the ocean and beach!

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  14. Thank you for the opportunity to know Skye Griffith and her book Bone Hash that sounds intriguing – archaeologist, bones and murder!

    My favorite place to visit regularly is San Francisco and its Chinatown! I love visiting the bridge, its science museum, Japanese garden, and love the yummy desserts that I can find in its Chinatown! – Emily

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  15. After having lived in the high desert of CA since summer of 1982, I miss the greeness of MD (not the humidity, mind you). Hopefully we’ll manage a family visit before we’re too old to travel.

    Thanks for running the giveaway; your book sounds as though it’ll be as engaging as Tony and Anne Hillerman’s novels set in Navajo country.

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