Now Available!

Two Mexican drug smugglers are murdered on Native American soil and the only clues left behind are two single arrowheads in this compelling page-turner of tribal secrets and distrust at the border by award-winning author Jennifer Leeper.

Two maverick detectives form an intriguing team trusting each other with not only their lives, but with the fate of the Tohono O’odham Nation in the crime mystery. The Poison of War highlights the Tohono O’odham reservation’s evolving struggle against Mexican cartels and their friction with border agents who hold the line stretching across the middle of the reservation.

Early Praise

"I loved this cultural police procedural where customs and traditions propelled the characters as much as motive and where greed is not an issue. The detectives with their own roots and common ancestors blurring their own motivation at times was a difficult path for the author to plot as much as for the cops to follow. I loved the tension; the submission to the law. I loved the sense of values and the spoiled future of these proud indigenous people."

Richard Latham

Reviewer

"The setting is quite unique and is drawn with flair by Ms Leeper, the few people living the traditional way and trying to preserve their culture, the young people angry at the incursion of the drug cartels while seeing the border controls being beefed up while relatives live on the other side, all come alive. This reminded me very much of Cormac McCarthy's books, a great story with strong characters and a great sense of place. I'll certainly be looking out for more books by Jennifer Leeper."

Dave Blendell

Reviewer

About the author

Jennifer Leeper

Ms. Leeper is an award-winning fiction author whose previous or forthcoming publications credits include Independent Ink Magazine, The Stone Hobo, Poiesis, Every Day Fiction, Aphelion Webzine, Heater Magazine, Cowboy Jamboree, The New Engagement, Alaska Quarterly Review, Falling Star Magazine and The Liguorian.

Ms. Leeper’s novella, The Poison of War, published through Prensa Press, spotlights the landscape of the American Southwest and Native American culture through this murder mystery that brings to the fore timely issues of the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration, drug trafficking and the reservation culture of the Tohono O’odham tribe of southern Arizona. The region carries special meaning for Ms. Leeper as she lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico as a child and even though she currently lives in Kansas City, the spirit of the Southwest region continues to shape her writing.

Other Books