Colleagues of Frank Gaines, a half-Apache, Arizona desert town police detective, know him as a courageous man. Gaines doubts that. He suspects he's afraid of not behaving courageously. He goes into therapy. This creates a new problem: he is falling in love with his therapist, a striking, full-blooded Apache woman, Sunny Kacheenay, granddaughter of a great shaman, who has mystical gifts of her own.

A distant maternal relative of Gaines dies by shotgun blast. Against her own best professional instincts, Sunny is forced to tell Gaines that by ancient, ancestral law, his sacred duty is to find, torture and kill the murderer.

Jokingly, Gaines tells her it's not the 1800s anymore.

Sunny doesn't laugh.

In the process of trying to hunt down the most malignant villain Gaines has ever heard of, he begins to test his courage for real and to recognize his true feelings about life, love, and courage.

PRAISE FOR A TOWN CALLED WHY

"Spirited, interwoven characters enrich this sharply written desert thriller mystery." — Kirkus Reviews

"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this tale ... wonderful descriptions ... dynamic ... beautiful ... mesmerizing. Mr. Lenz is an author I want to read again." —Manhattan Book Review

"Character driven and culture steeped ... A Town Called Why is a vivid portrait of self-doubt, new directions, cultural and social influences, and murder ... filled with atmosphere and intrigue ... Remarkable ... Outstanding." — Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

"... An evocative exploration of the nature of evil and the extent to which people will go to combat it. Rick Lenz's A Town Called Why is a detective story with a difference.— Seattle Book Reviews.

"Though too frequently overused, this is a novel that actually earns that dog-eared cliché of being a book you won't want to put down." — RECOMMENDED by the US Review of Books