This is the best Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee novel in my opinion. A noted anthropologist disappears at the site of a dig ... and bodies start turning up.

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Another very good entry in the Leaphorn and Chee series by Hillerman. I have only read a few of these but I really enjoy the series and started reading them after watching and enjoying the TV series Dark Winds on AMC. Dark Winds is now in its second season and I have have been avidly watching as Leaphorn and Chee fight against an unknown assassin. The second season is based on PEOPLE OF DARKNESS which I'm hoping to read soonish.

I happened to have a copy of A THIEF OF TIME lying unread on my TBR stacks so decided to read it instead. I was not disappointed. This one has Leaphorn about to resign from the Navajo Tribal Police force after the death of his wife Emma. But he is drawn into the case of a missing anthropologist who may have been illegally obtaining and digging for Anasazi pottery. Meanwhile, Chee is put on the case of a stolen backhoe that turns out to be used to also dig for illegal pottery. Are the two cases connected? Along the way some murders take place that are also connected to the illegal pot digging. So who committed the murders and why? And what happened to the missing anthropologist? Will Leaphorn quit the police force? Well, all of this is answered but not until some good twists occur in the storyline.

I really enjoy Hillerman's writing. His knowledge of the Navajo was quite astounding and his descriptions of the desert landscape really stand out. I grew up in Utah and have visited the four corners area where these novels take place many times. Hillerman really was masterful in telling these stories. Looking forward to reading more.

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This mid-series Leaphorn & Chee novel seems to suffer a bit from ennui. Leaphorn's wife has died (in a previous volume) and he is now contemplating ending his career. Without his driving force, the story just feels stilted and extremely slow-moving.

Essentially, it's a so-so mystery involving pottery thieves and academic conflicts among the archaeologists studying the Anasazi ruins.

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Great story line with interesting, likable characters.

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