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Johnny Geronimo
Art of Darkness
Part of Red Planet Books
Afterword by David Heska Wanbli Weiden / Illustrated by Dale DeForest
Published by UNM Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
Someone, or something, is killing the Native artists and art collectors of Santa Fe. The police are baffled by a series of brutal murders: ritual killings with all the trappings of some of the mythic monsters of the Apache origin stories, each signed with the same bloody signature: the Coyote. But where the police fail, Johnny may succeed. A hard-bitten, hard-boiled private investigator right out of the pages of Chandler or Cain, Johnny has a key advantage: as an Apache, he can go places the police can’t, and he can talk to the people the police won’t. As the owner of Eagle Eye Investigations, Johnny moves effortlessly among both the high society of Santa Fe and the outlaw underworld. With his assistants, Willy and Jessie, as well as a succession of lady friends, Johnny sets out on the trail of the Coyote, and the closer he gets, the more it becomes apparent that the hunter is also the hunted. Johnny Geronimo: Art of Darkness incorporates themes from Apache and other Indigenous traditions to tell the story of this classic antihero of Native noir and of the demonic Coyote, who may be more than anyone can imagine.
About The Illustrator
Dale DeForest is a member of the Diné tribe and grew up in the Four Corners area of the Navajo Nation around Shiprock and Farmington, New Mexico. He studied 2-D arts and photography at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dale’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions. Most recently, his piece “The Force Is With Our People”—an exhibition celebrating Native people’s relation to pop culture—was shown at the Museum of Northern Arizona. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Product Details
- Publisher: UNM Press (March 4, 2025)
- Length: 132 pages
- ISBN13: 9780826367921
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Raves and Reviews
"Johnny Geronimo... is an engrossing Indigenoir whodunit steeped in both the capital city’s art scene and hardboiled detective fiction. The story and its black-and-white illustrations show a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of Native artists’ perspectives in America’s third-largest art market."
– New Mexico Magazine
“Johnny Geronimo captures the feel of the best of the noir detective novels. It is not easily put down. WHAM! SOCK! BAM! FANTASTIC!”—Tom Holm, author of Panther Creek: A Pawnee Country Mystery and Anadarko: A Kiowa Country Mystery
"Original, clever, skillfully crafted, and an inherently fascinating page turner of a read from cover to cover, Johnny Geronimo: Art of Darkness by author/storyteller Gary Robinson and artist/illustrator Dale DeForest deftly incorporates themes drawn from Apache and other Native American traditions. The result is a compelling B/W (with the occasion trace of Red) graphic novel about a classic private eye antihero and his nemesis... Johnny Geronimo: Art of Darkness is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists and community library Mystery/Suspense graphic novel collections."
– Midwest Book Review
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Book Cover Image (jpg): Johnny Geronimo
Fixed Layout eBook 9780826367921
