Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed on 6/27/2018 + 1032 more book reviews

Hillerman's tenth novel with Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. Jim Chee is on his way to meet fellow officer and friend Delbert Nez, when he hears Nez on the radio announcing he's about to arrest a suspect. Proper procedure would be for Chee to head there as backup. But Nez is laughing, so Chee figures he can continue on and wait for Nez at the coffee shop. When Nez doesn't show, Chee goes looking and finds him shot to death in a burning car. The seeming perpetrator is close by, drunk and staggering down the highway with the pistol in his belt. Open and shut case...but Ashie Pinto's relatives are certain that he would never have done such a thing, and they get Detective Joe Leaphorn intrigued enough by the discrepancies of the case that he starts looking into it. Chee, challenged by lawyer Janet Pete, just knows Pinto did it, but he also wants to know why.
I liked this book much better than the last which was mostly set in Washington DC. Hillerman's descriptions of the reservation, the two Navajo men's process of detection, and the supporting characters are all best when they're "at home". I thought I had it figured out somewhere around the middle of the book, but no. Interesting to me was that I had the impression, from the last book, that Leaphorn's opinion of Chee was starting to shade towards friendliness but that doesn't really come through here. He's mostly critical of Chee's inability to work with a team, or be a leader, although at the end he does decide that Chee would make a good investigator. As usual, great plotting, great descriptions, excellent dialog and sense of place, and no real need to have read the others to appreciate this one.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details