ABOUT THE BALEFUL OWL by Virgil Alexander
In my other life I am an Arizona Historian, an avocation I’ve enjoyed from childhood. I have researched the history and explored the site of the Stoneman Grade, a military trail built into the heartland of the Apache homeland in 1870. So when I read that the Arizona Highway Department was proposing modifying US-60 through the Pinal Mountains between Superior and Miami by separating the east and westbound lanes with the new part following the old Stoneman Grade, the seed of The Baleful Owl was planted. The story begins with a murder at an archeological site in the proposed new US-60 corridor. As part of the impact study for the new route, excavation of a Salado Culture pueblo was begun. As crews report for the second day of the dig, the body of an archeologist and a second wounded archeologist is found. As my three rural cops investigate the scene they conclude that the attacks resulted from theft of artifacts. One artifact, a beautifully crafted and unique e...