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Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police is troubled by the nameless corpse discovered just inside his jurisdiction, at the edge of the Jicarilla Apache natural gas field. More troubling still is the FBI's insistence that the Bureau take over the case, calling the unidentifiedvictim's death a "hunting accident."

But if a hunter was involved, Chee knows the prey was intentionally human. This belief is shared by the "Legendary Lieutenant" Joe Leaphorn, who once again is pulled out of retirement by the possibility of serious wrongs being committed against the Navajo nation by the Washington bureaucracy. Yet it is former policewoman Bernadette Manuelito, recently relocated to Customs Patrol at the U.S. -- Mexico border, who possibly holds the key to a fiendishly twisted conspiracy of greed, lies, and murder -- and whose only hope for survival now rests in the hands of friends too far away for comfort.

Average Customer Rating:

Pretty good, but nothing special

Customer Rating:

Among the various detective novelists writing today, Tony Hillerman occupies a pretty unique position. His series of detective novels, following first the adventures of two different characters, Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Jim Chee, in separate books. Later, Hillerman combined the two characters, and has been chronicling their combined adventures for a good long time now. He's added supporting characters, including a series of girlfriends for Chee, a wife who died and then a lady friend for Leaphorn, and colleagues like the inimitable Cowboy Dashee, who's appeared in the background of several of the books. This latest entry in the series isn't the strongest, but it is interesting. Someone's been killed on the Reservation, and before anyone can investigate, the FBI shows up and closes down the investigation, announcing the improbably verdict of "hunting accident". Chee doesn't buy the explanation, and both he and Leaphorn take to investigating on their own. Meanwhile, a former colleague of theirs, Bernadette Manuelito, has gone to work for the Border Patrol. While there, she discovers things which seem to link into the investigation on the Reservation that Chee and Leaphorn are running. I enjoyed this book well enough. It's not Hillerman's best, but it's a good story and reasonably well done.

A Twisting Tale

Customer Rating:

Hillerman again skillfully leads his readers through convoluted mysteries while painting verbal pictures of the American West. He switches tantalizingly between the reader's favorite characters, Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, portraying the Navajo lifestyle as he leads us through the passages of a complex maze of clues. Just as we finally discover the name of the story's villain(s), we discover to our dismay that another journey with this authorhas ended.

Don't Start with This One!

Customer Rating:

I really love Hillerman's books. He is one of my favorite authors. That said, everyone lets a stinker once in a while, and this is Hillermans. My first impression was that Hillerman had gotten so old and feeble that he couldn't write any more. This impression was later corrected, he's as good as ever. So, if you like Hillerman, don't expect much from this one. If you have not read Hillerman, don't start here - please. He is a very good author and all of this other books are far superior to this one.

Hillerman is amazing.	Customer Rating:
This is the first book I read of Hillerman's and I loved it. I have started at the beginning of this delightful series and Hillerman does not disappoint. Great read.

Nothing special	Customer Rating:
The best I can say is the audio book kept me awake on a long drive. The book barely resembles the early Hillerman ones I remember, and is sort of a mix of generic Crichton-Grisham political/crime suspense with a little romance and a little New Mexico flavor thrown in for old-times sake.