RITA TODACHEENE, RAISED IN TOHATCHI, is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police. She also sees dead people. Both skills come in handy when she’s called to the scene of a grisly accident that took the life of a young woman—but was it an accident? In her propulsive debut novel, Shutter (Soho Crime), author Ramona Emerson, who also comes from Tohatchi, brings a contemporary Diné protagonist to brilliant life. Rita vibrates off the page with grit, vulnerability, and a set of keen observational powers that allow her to rise above violence, corruption, and family trauma. Here’s hoping her crime-solving career is a long one.

Read more: Lynn C. Miller's new novel sets a murder mystery in an approximation of Silver City's Bear Mountain Lodge.