Library's review
The 10th entry in the Leaphorn/Chee series of Navajo mysteries. Chee arrests an elderly Navajo man for murdering a fellow police officer, then continues investigating when his erstwhile girlfriend questions the man's guilt. Meanwhile Leaphorn begins investigating the case from another angle. They
While I continue to enjoy the insights into Navajo culture, I'm afraid I'm not finding these books very interesting as mysteries. Part of the problem is that I also don't find either Leaphorn or Chee appealing in and of themselves as characters (though Leaphorn is by far the more compelling, and I wish Hillerman would have dumped Chee and gone back to a solo protagonist). And I'm kind of tired of how the viewpoint switches back and forth between their perspectives as they work the same case from opposite ends of the reservation.
Ultimately, I feel like I'm learning something for my own good instead of being entertained, which is fine as far as it goes but it goes less and less far with every book.
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both end up in the same place eventually and justice is more or less served.While I continue to enjoy the insights into Navajo culture, I'm afraid I'm not finding these books very interesting as mysteries. Part of the problem is that I also don't find either Leaphorn or Chee appealing in and of themselves as characters (though Leaphorn is by far the more compelling, and I wish Hillerman would have dumped Chee and gone back to a solo protagonist). And I'm kind of tired of how the viewpoint switches back and forth between their perspectives as they work the same case from opposite ends of the reservation.
Ultimately, I feel like I'm learning something for my own good instead of being entertained, which is fine as far as it goes but it goes less and less far with every book.
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Description
Fiction. Mystery. The car fire didn't kill Navajo Tribal Policeman Delbert Nezā??a bullet did. And the old man in possession of the murder weapon is a whiskey-soaked shaman named Ashie Pinto. Officer Jim Chee is devastated by the slaying of his good friend Del, and confounded by the prime suspect's refusal to utter a single word of confession or denial. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn believes there is much more to this outrage than what appears on the surface, as he and Jim Chee set out to unravel a complex weave of greed and death that involves a historical find and a lost fortune. But the hungry and mythical trickster Coyote is waiting, as always, in the shadows to add a strange and deadly new twi
Awards
South Dakota Teen Choice Book Awards (Nominee — 1991)
Nero Award (Winner — 1991)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1990