Reading Roadtrip: 50 Books for 50 States: Utah

In the inhospitable lands of the Utah Territory, during the winter of 1888, thirty-seven-year-old Deborah Tyler waits for her husband, Samuel, to return home from his travels as a wheelwright. It is now the depths of winter, Samuel is weeks overdue, and Deborah is getting worried. Deborah lives in Junction, a tiny town of seven Mormon families scattered along the floor of a canyon, and she earns her living by tending orchards and making work gloves. Isolated by the red-rock cliffs that surround the town, she and her neighbors live apart from the outside world, even regarded with suspicion by the Mormon faithful who question the depth of their belief. When a desperate stranger who is pursued by a Federal Marshal shows up on her doorstep seeking refuge, it sets in motion a chain of events that will turn her life upside down. The man, a devout Mormon, is on the run from the US government, which has ruled the practice of polygamy to be a felony. Although Deborah is not devout and doesn't subscribe to polygamy, she is distrustful of non-Mormons with their long tradition of persecuting believers of her wider faith. But all is not what it seems, and when the Marshal is critically injured, Deborah and her husband's best friend, Nels Anderson, are faced with life and death decisions that question their faith, humanity, and both of their futures.

Anthropologist Sophia Shepard is researching the impact of tourism on cultural sites in a remote national monument on the Utah-Arizona border when she crosses paths with two small-time criminals. The Ashdown brothers were hired to steal maps from a "collector" of Native American artifacts, but their ineptitude has alerted the local sheriff to their presence. Their employer, a former lobbyist seeking lucrative monument land that may soon be open to energy exploration, sends a fixer to clean up their mess. Suddenly, Sophia must put her theories to the test in the real world, and the stakes are higher than she could have ever imagined. What begins as a madcap caper across the RV-strewn vacation lands of southern Utah becomes a meditation on mythology, authenticity, the ethics of preservation, and one nagging question: Who owns the past?

Growing up the daughter of notorious treasure hunter and absentee father Duke Wilder left Lily without much patience for the profession . . . or much money in the bank. But Lily is nothing if not resourceful, and now uses Duke's coveted hand-drawn maps to guide tourists on fake treasure hunts through the treacherous and storied red rock canyons of Utah. It pays the bills but doesn't leave enough to fulfill her dream of buying back the beloved ranch her father sold years ago. Treasured land wasn't her only loss that fateful summer, and when the man she once loved walks back into her life with a motley crew of his friends ready to hit the trails, the usually self-reliant cowgirl is thrown. Frankly Lily would like to take him out into the wilderness and leave him there. Leo Grady knew mirages were a thing in the desert, but they'd barely left civilization when the silhouette of his greatest regret comes into focus in the flickering light of the campfire. Ready to leave the past behind them, Leo wants nothing more than to reconnect with his first and only love. But Lily Wilder is all business, drawing a clear line in the sand: it's never going to happen. Unfortunately, emotions won't be led like a horse to water, and even out in the desert it's impossible to ignore the heat of attraction. But when the trip goes horribly and hilariously wrong, the group realizes the idea of hidden treasure wasn't so crazy after all. Finding themselves alone in the isolated and dangerous mazes of the Canyon-lands, Leo and Lily must decide whether they trust Duke's maps--and each other--enough to risk their lives and hearts for the adventure of a lifetime.

When two suspicious deaths occur in the Bears Ears area, Navajo Tribal Police officers Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito must use all their experience, skill, and intuition to find justice.

An ancient evil haunts the land...Southeastern Utah, 1934. A dark and ancient conspiracy is afoot in a small town set amid the endless hills of warped and twisted sandstone. Local law enforcement seems powerless to stop a murderous magic from claiming victim after victim. Unraveling the plot will require a man of skill. A good man. A man of humility. But also a cunning man. Hiram Wooley has these qualities. But his practiced command of Old World folklore magic and his deep faith may have met their match when faced with a primeval curse as old as human history itself.

The United States of America is a crumbling republic. With the value of the dollar imploding, the government floundering, and national outrage and resentment growing by the hour, a rebellion has caught fire. The Revolutionary Front, led by Joseph Graham, has taken control of Salt Lake City. In a nation where opportunity is sequestered behind the gilded doors of the rich and powerful, joining the Army seemed like James Trent's best option. He just never thought he'd see combat. Now Trent finds himself on the front lines fighting for something he doesn't even know if he believes in. Sharpshooter Sam Cross was just fourteen when American soldiers gunned down her parents and forced her brother into conscription. Now, five years later, retribution feels like her only option to stitch the wound of her past. She has accepted Joseph Graham's offer to be his secret weapon. His Reaper in the Valley. But retribution always comes at a cost. When forces clash in Salt Lake City, alliances will be shattered, resolve will be tested, and when the dust clears nobody will be able to lie to themselves, or be lied to, again.

Valentine Weis is a salvager in the future wastelands of Utah. Wrestling with body dysphoria, he dreams of earning enough money to afford citizenship in Salt Lake City--a utopia where the testosterone and surgery he needs to transition is free, the food is plentiful, and folk are much less likely to be shot full of arrows by salt pirates. But earning that kind of money is a pipe dream, until he meets the exceptionally handsome Osric. Once a powerful AI in Salt Lake City, Osric has been forced into an android body against his will and sent into the wasteland to offer Valentine a job on behalf of his new employer--an escort service seeking to retrieve their stolen androids. The reward is a visa into the city, and a chance at the life Valentine's always dreamed of. But as they attempt to recover the "merchandise", they encounter a problem: the android ladies are becoming self-aware, and have no interest in returning to their old lives.