A review by book_concierge
Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman

3.0

Book three in the Joe Leaphorn mystery series begins with Listening Woman trying to perform a cleansing / healing ritual for Hosteen Tso, an old man who refuses to divulge all he knows. The blind healer leaves Tso’s side for a few moments, during which time he is murdered. About six months later, Joe Leaphorn is nearly run off the road by a mystery man with a large dog in his car, there are reports of missing Boy Scouts, and people have reported seeing a helicopter (or helicopters) in the area.

I like Leaphorn; he’s smart, determined, physically and mentally strong, quick to respond to a threat but also deliberate and cautious. It took me quite a while to get into the rhythm of this mystery. The convoluted plot didn’t help much, and my attention wandered. Once Leaphorn got caught up in the chase, however, I was fully engaged and fairly flew through the second half of the book.