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A review by ncrabb
Coyote Waits by Tony Hillerman
4.0
This feels like one of the earlier Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn books. They aren’t even friends per se in this book; but they learn to work together, and I suspect this is the beginning of the friendship that eventually fully comes to fruition. I was surprised to learn that this was the 10th book in which the two appear together.
Navajo Nation Officer Delbert Nez has been tracking a criminal, and he at last seems to have the guy. He is thrilled about that, and those listening to the tribal police channel can hear his laughter fading in and out as the signal moves through the vast emptiness of the desert southwest. Jim Chee hears Nez’s call for help, but he hesitates a bit, wondering whether he heard correctly. By the time he reaches the car, it is fully engulfed in flames and Delbert Nez is dead,.
Chee badly burns himself trying to get Nez out, and when he does, he realizes it’s too late. Nez was gunned down before his car was set on fire. Conveniently enough, drunken medicine man Ashie Pinto is shuffling down the road not far from the burning police car. He is entirely booze saturated, and he has the murder weapon tucked neatly in his belt. It looks for all the world to Chee as if Pinto is the killer. Indeed, the case seems rather handily sewn up.
But Joe Leaphorn, who is threatening to retire even in this book, isn’t so sure. He’s convinced Chee and others have rushed to judgment, and he’s eventually certain Pinto isn’t the killer.
I think there are other books in this series that I’ve enjoyed more, but this one is wonderful just the same. You simply can’t go wrong with a Tony Hillerman book, especially if you love mysteries. This one pulls you in from the first sentence, and the undercurrents created by the interaction of all the characters are fascinating indeed.
Navajo Nation Officer Delbert Nez has been tracking a criminal, and he at last seems to have the guy. He is thrilled about that, and those listening to the tribal police channel can hear his laughter fading in and out as the signal moves through the vast emptiness of the desert southwest. Jim Chee hears Nez’s call for help, but he hesitates a bit, wondering whether he heard correctly. By the time he reaches the car, it is fully engulfed in flames and Delbert Nez is dead,.
Chee badly burns himself trying to get Nez out, and when he does, he realizes it’s too late. Nez was gunned down before his car was set on fire. Conveniently enough, drunken medicine man Ashie Pinto is shuffling down the road not far from the burning police car. He is entirely booze saturated, and he has the murder weapon tucked neatly in his belt. It looks for all the world to Chee as if Pinto is the killer. Indeed, the case seems rather handily sewn up.
But Joe Leaphorn, who is threatening to retire even in this book, isn’t so sure. He’s convinced Chee and others have rushed to judgment, and he’s eventually certain Pinto isn’t the killer.
I think there are other books in this series that I’ve enjoyed more, but this one is wonderful just the same. You simply can’t go wrong with a Tony Hillerman book, especially if you love mysteries. This one pulls you in from the first sentence, and the undercurrents created by the interaction of all the characters are fascinating indeed.