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Hailed as "a wonderful storyteller" by the New York Times, and a "national and literary cultural sensation" by the Los Angeles Times, bestselling author Tony Hillerman is back with another blockbuster novel featuring the legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee.

Former Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn comes out of retirement to help investigate what seems to be a trading post robbery. A simple-minded kid nailed for the crime is the cousin of an old colleague of Sergeant Jim Chee. He needs help and Chee, and his fiancée Bernie Manuelito, decide to provide it.

Proving the kid's innocence requires finding the remains of one of 172 people whose bodies were scattered among the cliffs of the Grand Canyon in an epic airline disaster 50 years in the past. That passenger had handcuffed to his wrist an attaché case filled with a fortune in—one of which seems to have turned up in the robbery.

But with Hillerman, it can't be that simple. The daughter of the long-dead diamond dealer is also seeking his body. So is a most unpleasant fellow willing to kill to make sure she doesn't succeed. These two tense tales collide deep in the canyon at the place where an old man died trying to build a cult reviving reverence for the Hopi guardian of the Underworld. It's a race to the finish in a thunderous monsoon storm to see who will survive, who will be brought to justice, and who will finally unearth the Skeleton Man.

Average Customer Rating:

another winner

Customer Rating:

"Skeleton Man" is another in a long line of engrossing Tony Hillerman mysteries. Tony's ability to bring alive the exotic locales in the Four Corners country is legendary. This time he makes the Grand Canyon itself a character, along with our old friends Jim Chee, Joe Leaphorn and Cowboy Dashee. Hillerman weaves a vivid, absorbing tale derived from a real airline disaster over the canyon that occurred more than half a century ago. Roger L. Conlee (author of "Counterclockwise" and "Every Shape, Every Shadow"

Tony Hillerman still has it.

Customer Rating:

In this book many of our old friends wrap up their story. We meet a few new friends. And if I did not know any better I would say Tony was wrapping up his writing career. Many reviewers and readers would like tell Tony how to write his stories; I would also. However the path that Tony chooses is what makes his writing unique. I did notice that the good guys and the bad guys were black and white hats. Hillerman relied very heavily on us reading of his previous books before this latest story. We get a tad of Hopi and Navajo religion, a dabble of what the region looked like, and a short history of what happened to old friends are no longer take part in the story; I've often wondered what happened to the cat. A generation ago two airplanes crash over the Grand Canyon. One plane carries a man with a case of diamonds attached to his arm. Someone is after the diamonds. Someone is after the arm. And everyone is looking for a mysterious stranger down in the Grand Canyon. We along with their old friends Jim Chee, and Joe Leaphorn, let's not forget the demure and cunning Bernie Manuelito, get to search together for this mysterious stranger would ever lurking bad guys just around the corner waiting to do us in. So sit back and enjoy this quick but intense story. If you get a chance you will also want to purchase the recorded version by George Guidall. I heard both Guidall and Hillerman and they sound a lot alike. The First Eagle (Jim Chee Novels)

Nice Comfy Read

Customer Rating:

There are a lot of things to like about this book, which is my first Hillerman experience, but I think my favorites were the characters. This is not the first book in the series, and I was a little confused for the first couple of pages, but it didn't take long for me to warm to the very human characters and feel like I was right there with them. In the `50s, two planes collided over the Grand Canyon, killing everyone on board and sending a rain of debris and body parts over the canyon. It was the worst airline disaster of its time, and had lasting ramifications on several of the characters in this book. Joanna Craig was deprived of both a father and a fortune when he died in the crash carrying a valise full of diamonds shackled to his arm. One of the diamonds was intended for Joanna's mother, who was pregnant with Joanna at the time. When Joanna's father died, his family refused to acknowledge their relationship, or that Joanna was his daughter. As a result, his family's fortune went to a "nonprofit" organization, since no parts of his body were found and identified and Joanna cannot prove she is his heir. Now, however, new evidence has come to light. A young Hopi named Billy Tuve is in trouble for trying to pawn a diamond for $20. He is being accused of robbing a store to get it, but he claims a strange man in the Grand Canyon gave it to him as a trade for a folding shovel. His story jibes with tales of a dismembered arm found floating in the Colorado River, chained to a valise, that washed away before anyone could get to it, and when a story about another person trading a jackknife for a diamond from a strange old man starts going around, Tuve's friends investigate. Things get a little complicated, though, when not only Joanna Craig tries to get close to Billy Tuve to find the diamonds. The law firm that controls her inheritance also wants the diamonds, and the arm, found. Joanna doesn't care about the diamonds; she only wants her father's arm so she can prove she is really his daughter through DNA evidence. The Plymale firm wants the arm so they can make it disappear and they can hang onto Joanna's inheritance...and the diamonds. Billy Tuve's cousin, deputy Cowboy Dashee, and his friend, tribal policeman Jim Chee, just want to find the diamonds to back up Billy's story and prove he didn't commit a robbery. All these motives collide, along with a fierce rainstorm and flash flooding, in the Grand Canyon when they all head down the sacred Hopi Salt Trail in search of a hermit known as Skeleton Man. This was a quick but compelling read that didn't take long to suck me in and make me want to know the outcome. It's also an "easy read," not simplistic, but very comfortable to sit down and get into, and very easy to get back to if you've had to put it down. It left me with a desire to spend more time with his delightfully-drawn characters. I felt like I was right there in the Southwest, listening to Indian lore and feeling the hot, baking sun. Thankfully, Mr. Hillerman has written a number of books to take me back there.

A disapointing book

Customer Rating:

I've read all the previous Chee-Leaphorn books and I've thoroughly enjoyed them. Up until now. Hillerman's previous books were sometimes a bit clumsy but the story and Navajo culture kept me involved. This time, the story simply became too tedious and the errors in the text became too irritating. A little over halfway through this book, I stopped reading it and I never returned. Not since reading "Finding Moon" by Hillerman have I been so disappointed. In "Finding Moon", it appeared Hillerman lost interest in the story and ended the book abruptly. In "Skeleton Man", Hillerman began the book with a confusing first chapter and continued to confuse. For instance, the character Tuve said he traded a military entrenching tool (a type of shovel) for his diamond and, in the story told by the old storekeeper, the cowboy traded a knife. Later in the book, however, Tuve was referred to as trading a "fancy jackknife" for the diamond. I think Hillerman confused himself. Also, the basis of the book seems to be flawed--I, like a previous reviewer, thought DNA could be traced through generations rather than just from parent to child. And, worst of all for me as a Hillerman fan, the Chee and Leaphorn characters simply bored me to tears in this book. As stated, I did not finish the book. At some point I decided my time was worth more than "Skeleton Man" had to offer. Very disappointing.

A Grand Escape

Customer Rating:

We all pass around the Hillerman mysteries in my family. I read this one the other day--and I couldn't put it down, as usual. Having just driven through the Southwest, I found myself absorbed by his descriptions of the Grand Canyon's geology, plants and animals, as well as his insight into the Navajo and Hopi philosophies. I agree with some of the critics, however, that the repetition of some of the diamond storyline was overkill, and that it was surprising that the heiress would get away with attempted murder after he had portrayed her as unhinged. A thought just occurred to me: While Hillerman explains much about the sacred, secret journey one of the Hopi protagonists takes down into the Grand Canyon, there's little exploration of the meaning of bones and DNA in the American Indian mindset. That could have been an interesting discussion for the book, too. In the end, it was gripping and satisfying diversion, as always. And I'm glad Chee's getting hitched. It's about time.