Reviews

This is the second book the new TV series is based on. While the first one, Listening Woman, was focused on Lieutenant Leaphorn tracking down a Navajo serial killer, this one focuses on Jim Chee being drawn into a 30 year cover up involving the deliberate murder of Navajo mine workers and ongoing exploitation of the land. It also introduces Chee's first love interest--the white schoolteacher, Mary Landon. Together they delve into the dark underbelly of the Southwest, pursuing a greedy white man enriching himself at the expense of his workers...and willing to kill to cover it up. As always, Chee pursues justice in the Navajo sense, seeking to restore beauty and harmony.

mooncheye's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

4.0

roshk99's review against another edition

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3.0

More of a thriller than a mystery, an enjoyable vacation/plane read

judyward's review against another edition

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4.0

Published in 1980 and set in the Checkerboard--a series of reservation lands interspersed with private holdings in the southeast corner of the Navajo reservation in the Four Corners area. This is also the first Tony Hillerman novel to feature Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee. Chee is trying to decide whether to join the FBI--he's already passed all of the tests and has been invited to training in Quantico, Virginia or to remain in New Mexico to continue studying to be a Navajo singer or Shaman. Chee is faced with numerous questions in this book. Why kill a man who is already dying? Why would a widow be willing to pay several thousand dollars for the return of a box of rocks? Why is the local Sheriff warning him off the case? And numerous others. The case involves human greed, uranium mining, a peyote cult, and and mineral speculation. All in all, a compelling read.

srash's review against another edition

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5.0

I went into this book knowing that three books deep into the series, Hillerman exchanged experienced tribal policeman Joe Leaphorn for the younger Jim Chee for three books before finally teaming them up permanently.

I'd enjoyed the Leaphorn books so much I was a bit suspicious of the protagonist change, but I actually enjoyed this book the most out of all the ones I've read. The mystery was really solid, the antagonists were especially eerie, and Chee is a very likable, compelling main character in his own right.

amylynn1031's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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