There's a tether from my heart to my family in Santa Fe. Buffeted by dry wind, hardened by the sun, brittle from snow, it endures. Nourished by my dreams, fed from the font of shared memory, watered by laughter. It's a living thing. As the daughter of a Spanish* Catholic and a Texan Baptist, I was introduced to both the self-flagellating Penitentes of New Mexico and the tent show holy-rollers of East Texas. In addition, my hometown of Santa Fe, the city of Holy Faith, is host to state politics and the attendant corruption, artists and their hangers-on, and a thriving tourist economy. All of this went into my first book, The Sandoval Sisters' Secret of Old Blood. The issues confronted by three sisters are contemporary: racism, sexual and religious intolerance, and the power of superstition. Finally, it is a story of what constitutes a family, and the myths associated with the blood and bounds of loyalty. 

The Sandoval Sisters' Secret of Old Blood won Best Historical Fiction and Best First Book at the 15th annual ILBA, 2013 in NYC.