In my humble opinion, this is the best story of the series. It is a haunting tale that stays with you long after you finish reading it. All of Hillerman's Chee/Leaphorn stories are filled with Navajo flavor, mystery, and great characters. If you have not discovered this wonderful author, You are missing one terrific yarn spinner.

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Another great Jim Chee - Joe Leaphorn mystery. Great plot, fascinating characters, and a lot of information about Native American lore and customs.

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An excellent Hillerman--and since Hillerman's are usually quite good that's saying a lot.

I am very glad to see a lot of Bernie in this book. She's a latecomer to the series, but one of my favorite characters, and a good balance for the other two.

The story was interwoven wonderfully, tying old & new cases & odd happens that rattle around old cop's minds together well. Sometimes it seems that Hillerman stretches a bit to bring Leaphorn in, but not in this one.

I don't think I'll read it again, though. The ending, while everything is explained, is a bit too sad for me. Good to read once, but not one I want to pick up again.

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It is hard to go wrong with Hillerman. I have read most of the Leaphorn/Chee books now and not in the right order and I STILL enjoy getting one I haven't seen.
There is a spare, taut quality to the writing that reminds me of the desert itself.
I enjoy them all!

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Definitely not the best mystery I've ever read. Probably won't read anything else by this author. It just didn't capture my attention for very long.

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Another good mystery from Tony Hillerman.

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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. This is the fifteenth book in the series and unfortunately I have been reading these very much out of sequence. However, the stories can definitely be read without knowing the backstories of all the characters.

In this one Leaphorn is retired, Chee is a sergeant with the Navaho Tribal Police and Bernadette Manuelito is an officer on the force. Bernie is out on patrol when she gets a call to investigate an abandoned vehicle. Turns out the vehicle contains a dead man who appears to have died naturally. However, he was actually shot and had been moved with no apparent visible blood resulting in Bernie being dinged for mishandling the scene. The dead man did have the phone number of a rich ex-con in his pocket and nearby was an old Prince Albert tobacco tin containing some tracer gold. The ex-con was a wealthy oil-lease magnate named Wiley Denton who confessed to shooting a con man named Marvin McKay dead two years previously. McKay was trying to get into a partnership with Denton to find the lost Golden Calf goldmine and as part of the deal receive $50k from Denton. Denton got a light sentence and served his time for manslaughter. This had case always bothered Leaphorn who wondered what became of Denton's beautiful young wife Linda, who vanished the day of the killing. So is this second murder related to the Denton case? The murdered man, Thomas Doherty, also had some evidence in his truck related to the Golden Calf goldmine. So can Leaphorn, Chee, and Bernie sort out what really happened and why?

As usual, I enjoyed this one very much. Hillerman's knowledge of the Navaho adds so much to the story and his descriptions of desert southwest are really special. I'll be looking forward to reading more in this series.

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Tony Hillerman has created interesting and complex characters that I enjoy following in his novels. When Bernadette Manuelito finds a dead man in a pickup in a dry gulch she assumes he died of a heart attack. Because of her inexperience as a new policeman she missed the real cause of death. As a result she doubts her ability in police work and so do others. However, her boss, Sgt. Jim Chee, believes in her. The problem is that he is also attracted to this young woman and finds it difficult to separate his feelings from his judgment of her abilities. Enter retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn who trained Chee who also believes in Bernadette's abilities. All are investigating the crime but is Leaphorn who finds a link that may help solve the crime. I enjoyed this fast paced little mystery. For me, it was good read.

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good Hillerman with twists and his popular characters

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