How far would you go to honor the last request of a dying friend?
In the heart of the Navajo Nation, Changing Woman―a central Holy Person in the Dinéh creation story―embodies harmony and balance in the cycle of life. Her enduring spirit sets the stage for ‘Changing Woman’s Hair‘, a gripping novel where crime, mythology, and cultural identity collide.
Marin Sinclair is reeling from the death of her beloved friend and mentor, Evangelina Tso, but when Vangie appoints Marin as guardian to her teenage son, Garret, Marin must grapple not only with her own grief but with whether she will accept or refuse the challenge of guardianship. How can she hope to earn the trust of a teen who blames her for both his mother’s death and his father’s desertion?
As Marin struggles with her decision, she is drawn into a murder investigation when Navajo Nation Police Sergeant Justin Blue Eyes responds to a stolen vehicle call and discovers a murdered boy inside, a boy who was a close friend of Garret’s. The growing number of reports of vehicle theft and attacks by fire-wielding skinwalkers―Dinéh wolf-witches―on lonely reservation highways have also drawn the attention of federal agent Cullen MacPherson, currently on liaison assignment to a political entourage in a US Senator’s bid for reelection.
Events converge during a horseback trip amid the towering ruins of Canyon de Chelly, where the canyon walls are streaked with the black varnish called Changing Woman’s hair. Here Marin looks to the ever-mysterious Lewis George for help when their party faces a rising tide of dangers―murder, political violence, and a deadly cascade of bomb attacks.
Marin’s journey tests her courage and her loyalties, navigating not only the external threats but her own ghosts of past regrets, betrayals, lost love, and the on-going question of who and what constitutes family.
Marin Sinclair, Book 2
Date Published: 09/15/2025
Publisher: RabbitHole LLC
About the Author
Drawing from her own life story in the Four Corners area of the Navajo Nation, author Jan D. Payne offers readers a journey into the heart of the American Southwest in a modern-day romantic suspense series. Writing characters who navigate diverse cultural influences to explore the lines between the seen and the unseen, the modern and the traditional, the present and the past—she creates a world where the impossible becomes possible, and mythical legends come to life.
Jan is a member of Western Writers of America and Women Writing the West. She and her husband live in northern Minnesota with their three big dogs—Kaibab, Rudi, and Orrin. Visit her website at: jandpayne.com
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