{"id":21611,"date":"2025-07-01T23:49:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T05:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/barbaras-desert-cafe-explores-history-mystery-and-culture\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:08:04","slug":"barbaras-desert-cafe-explores-history-mystery-and-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/barbaras-desert-cafe-explores-history-mystery-and-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbara\u2019s Desert Caf\u00e9 explores history, mystery and culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Barbara\u2019s
Barbara\u2019s Desert Caf\u00e9 cover and back page. (Courtesy Foolscap & Quill)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As he prepares to appear at the Mesa Verde Literary Conference and Festival in Mancos, archaeologist and author Kevin T. Jones is celebrating the release of his third novel. The story, focused in the high desert of the Four Corners, will showcase ancient rock art, community lore and recipes.<\/p>\n

Kevin T. Jones\u2019 novel, \u201cBarbara\u2019s Desert Caf\u00e9,\u201d was released June 26 by Foolscap & Quill. Blending archaeology, frontier folklore and rural eccentricities, the story unfolds in the fictional Lost Valley, Utah, a secluded desert town where mysterious petroglyph thefts trigger a chain of strange events. The book is laced with recipes, humor and insight drawn from the author\u2019s decades of fieldwork across the Four Corners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very quirky story,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s about a setting in a town called Lost Valley.\u201d Founded by Mormon pioneers who were rescued by the Utes, the town becomes the center of a mystery when sacred rock art begins vanishing from nearby canyons. \u201cSomebody is cutting pieces of rock art off the walls and stealing them,\u201d he said. His experience as an archaeologist, witnessing modern people desecrating ancient rock art, inspired this plot point.<\/p>\n

\"Author
Author Kevin T. Jones (Courtesy Foolscap & Quill)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Jones, who lives in Southwest Colorado, said the novel is inspired from his time exploring the cultural richness of the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Mexico is one of the places in the American West with the deepest and richest tradition of relations between the early settlers and the Native Americans,\u201d he said. \u201cI actually have some very good friends who are Ute, and I\u2019ve incorporated their tales into the story because I think that it adds richness to the local culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

That influence extends to the storytelling style.<\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

WHAT: <\/strong>Mesa Verde Writers Conference & Literary Festival<\/p>\n

WHEN: <\/strong>July 9-11.<\/p>\n

WHERE:<\/strong> The conference is July 9 -11 at Mancos Commons, 135 Grand Ave., with a kick-off reception at Fenceline Cider, 141 S. Main St., on Wednesday night, July 9. Literary Festival on Saturday, July 12 will take place in downtown Mancos.<\/p>\n

INFORMATION:<\/strong> Visit https:\/\/bit.ly\/MesaVerdeLitFest<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt echoes New Mexico\u2019s traditions,\u201d Jones said. \u201cNew Mexico has a great tradition of honoring and carrying on some of the native traditions \u2013 and that\u2019s what I included in this book.\u201d<\/p>\n

An additional unique feature of the book is the interspersion of 26 local recipes, including \u201cLost Valley Clangers,\u201d \u201cPi\u00f1on Pie,\u201d \u201cDill Pickle Slaw\u201d and \u201cMaggie\u2019s Triangle Dance Cookies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones, who enjoys cooking expressed, \u201cFood and recipes enhance your life and they can enhance the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the recipes, like the pi\u00f1on pie, based on his mother-in-law\u2019s pecan pie, and dill pickle slaw which was his mother\u2019s recipe, hold personal connections for him.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cBarbara\u2019s
\u201cBarbara\u2019s Desert Caf\u00e9\u201d features illustrations by Carel P. Brest van Kempen. (Courtesy Foolscap & Quill)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

From the \u201cCast Iron Miracle\u201d \u2013 in which a violent outlaw reforms after a skillet blow to the head \u2013 to the Lost Valley Clanger parade and zucchini bombings, the novel revolves around invented but believable frontier traditions.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 tone blends mystery, satire and affection for small-town life. \u201cWhen you live in a very rural area, you look out after each other,\u201d he said. \u201cThat does make its way into my writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones, who also played in bluegrass and rock bands for over 20 years, tied musical scenes into the book.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love playing music, and I think that creativity does continue into my writing as well.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The novel is enhanced by pencil sketches by Carel P. Brest van Kempen and cover art by Brad Wolverton. The pen sketches by Carl Brest van Kempen, a well-known wildlife artist, illustrate different scenes and add to the book\u2019s \u201cold Timey\u201d feel. Brad Wolverton\u2019s eye-catching cover art incorporates elements related to the story.<\/p>\n

\"The
The pen ink sketches by Carl P. Brest van Kempen, a well-known wildlife artist, illustrate different scenes and add to the book's \u201cold Timey\u201d feel. (Courtesy Foolscap & Quill)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

An excerpt from Barbara\u2019s Desert Caf\u00e9 appeared in Four Corners Voices, a finalist for the 2025 Colorado Book Awards.<\/p>\n

Jones will appear in July at the Mesa Verde Literary Conference and Festival in Mancos. His panel, \u201cFinding an Authentic Voice,\u201d will explore how regional writers can honor their own perspectives and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great overall festival,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially all day Saturday \u2013 there are about 50 writers involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he doesn\u2019t have a New Mexico event confirmed yet, Jones said he plans to reconnect with writers and bookstores in the Farmington area, where he\u2019s already built connections.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Jones hopes the novel reflects on the land, its stories and the people often left out of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the problem with written history is it goes to the people who won,\u201d he said. \u201cI was hoping by kind of turning the history on its head, it enables us to have a little bit of that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbara\u2019s Desert Caf\u00e9 is available in paperback and eBook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Google, and independent bookstores.<\/p>\n

For more information about the festival visit, https:\/\/bit.ly\/MesaVerdeLitFest<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drawing on Four Corners landscapes and traditions, Barbara\u2019s Desert Caf\u00e9 blends fiction with regional culture<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77384,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21611\/revisions\/77384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21611"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}