'The Pot Thief' returns in J. Michael Orenduff's latest book

AUTHOR IN ALBQUERQUE AND TAOS

J. Michael Orenduff will talk about the 10th and latest mystery in his “Pot Thief” series at 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 17, at Books on the Bosque in Albuquerque, and at noon Wednesday, Aug. 20, at Martyrs Steakhouse in Taos.

In the newest installment, “The Pot Thief Who Studied Calvin,” Albuquerque pottery dealer/amateur sleuth Hubie Schuze returns. He has spent years combing New Mexico’s public lands and digging up ancient pots. The federal government has long believed Hubie’s public-land excavations are illegal, but he thinks that the women who made the pots want them to be displayed and admired. Hubie makes big money selling the pottery to collectors.

When his nephew Tristan brings Hubie a 3D printer-created replica of an ancient pot, Hubie fears that modern technology is infringing on his devotion to a traditional craft. Meanwhile, a half dozen people want that pot and will do anything to get it.

Orenduff is a former president of New Mexico State University.

Books on the Bosque is located at 6261 Riverside Plaza Lane NW.

Martyrs Steakhouse is located at 146 Paseo del Pueblo Norte in Taos. Those interested in attending Orenduff’s Taos event are asked to call the restaurant at 575-751-3020 to make a reservation.

NEW BOOK ABOUT ALBUQUERQUE ARTISTS

Carl A. Hanson is the author of a new reference book titled “Painters in the Valley.” It is subtitled “A Biographical Dictionary of Albuquerque, New Mexico Area Artists 1880-1990.”

The back cover states that the book “is a prime source of biographical information on many talented but little known artists. Before 1950 many painters saw Albuquerque as a jumping-off point for the art colonies of Taos and Santa Fe. But noted artists such a Gerald Cassidy, Carl Redin, Carl Von Hassler and Esquipula Romero de Romero stayed on in the city for extended periods.”

The image on the book’s front cover is a 1939 oil-on-board painting by Howard B. Schleeter.

The publisher is Sunstone Press of Santa Fe.

RAILROADS IN NEW MEXICO

Casemate Publishers has recently released Mike Butler’s book “Tracking World War II Railroad Operations Across New Mexico.” The book says that the U.S. Office of War Information hired photographer Jack Delano to document the wartime railroad activity between Chicago and the West Coast. For his work Delano traveled across New Mexico in March 1943.

Among his photographs in the book are of locomotive repair shops and freight yards in Albuquerque, Clovis and Gallup. Workers in the shops and yards and on the tracks included Native Americans, Hispanics and African Americans, according to the book’s news release.

'The Pot Thief' returns in J. Michael Orenduff's latest book