Wesley Redfield

Wes Redfield's fascination with New Mexico's colorful and often tragic history began when he was a professor at the University of New Mexico. Gradually he became aware of the slave trade in native Americans which is seldom written or spoken of. His novel SANGRE DE CRISTO: THE BLOOD OF CHRIST speaks to the role of the clergy in promoting slave raids on Indians. Priests claimed that the captives would be baptized and their souls would be saved. The slavers often saved themselves from selling their families into peonage by paying debts with the money they made from auctioning off children captured in raids.

Wes earned a doctorate from Indiana University, taught at three major universities, and became a turn-around specialist for an investment banking firm. His extensive research on the period and long trips on horseback through the mountains and deserts of the West add authenticity to his writing.

His second novel in the Rio Grande Series, SANTA FE: HOLY FAITH, will be released in the fall of 2015. It deals with Crypto-Jews hiding from the Mexican Inquisition, the secret Catholic sect of the Penitentes, and a civil war between New Mexicans which is seldom mentioned.