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Leaphorn & Chee #11
Sacred Clowns
During a kachina ceremony at the Tano Pueblo, the antics of a dancing koshare fill the air with tension. Moments later, the clown is found bludgeoned to death, in the same manner a reservation schoolteacher was killed only days before.
Officer Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn believe that answers lie in the sacred clown's final cryptic message to the Tano people. But to decipher it, the two Navajo policemen may have to delve into closely guarded tribal secrets—on a sinister trail of blood that links a runaway, a holy artifact, corrupt Indian traders, and a pair of dead bodies.
Officer Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn believe that answers lie in the sacred clown's final cryptic message to the Tano people. But to decipher it, the two Navajo policemen may have to delve into closely guarded tribal secrets—on a sinister trail of blood that links a runaway, a holy artifact, corrupt Indian traders, and a pair of dead bodies.
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1993
About the author
Tony Hillerman
197 books1,649 followersTony Hillerman, who was born in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma, was a decorated combat veteran from World War II, serving as a mortarman in the 103rd Infantry Division and earning the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. Later, he worked as a journalist from 1948 to 1962. Then he earned a Masters degree and taught journalism from 1966 to 1987 at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he resided with his wife until his death in 2008. Hillerman, a consistently bestselling author, was ranked as New Mexico's 25th wealthiest man in 1996. - Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 422 reviews
August 17, 2017
Sacred Clowns is Tony Hillerman at his very best. Both Leaphorn and Chee are at a personal crossroad in their lives while attempting to solve two crimes which may or may not be related. A complex mystery is interwoven with the care befitting a sacred blanket as we learn about the Navajo and their beliefs.
That crossroad for both men is fully explored during this one, each man's loneliness and their individual efforts to end it, poignantly painted by Hillerman in a mystery as good as any he ever penned. Those who relish the way he educates the reader about Native American beliefs while entertaining us with a good mystery will not be disappointed. Perhaps more than any of his novels, Sacred Clowns gives us a better understanding of why the Navajo have survived, while so many other great tribes have all but disappeared.
Chee's new assignment working directly for Leaphorn gets off to a shaky start when the former allows a missing boy to escape during a Tano ceremony soon after locating him. It is the boy's elusive nature, and a murder during the ceremony that kick off one of the most satisfying mysteries in this fabulous series. Leaphorn is still trying to move on after a terrible loss, and Chee is worried Janet may have a tie to his clan somewhere which would put an end to their romance.
On the mystery side, a second murder turns this story into a complex puzzle which has Leaphorn and Chee going in different directions. Chee's carelessness at one point will even result in Leaphorn's suspension. Leaphorn's feelings regarding young Chee's conflicting spirit, torn between Navajo tradition and his career as a Navajo Tribal Policeman, are explored here as well.
Chee will eventually weigh Navajo justice against the secular law he is sworn to uphold, and come to a startling decision. There is need and loneliness here for both men, Chee trying to begin, and Leaphorn attempting to start over. There is a depth and understanding mingling effortlessly in Sacred Clowns, a mystery engrossing enough to be of merit on its own.
We've come to expect a lot of Hillerman's series, and this one really delivers. That magic blend of mystery and Native American beliefs, coupled with likable and very human characters is on glorious display in this one. The mystery is excellent, and you will come away from this one with a greater understanding of the Navajo and, perhaps, humanity. Highly recommended.
That crossroad for both men is fully explored during this one, each man's loneliness and their individual efforts to end it, poignantly painted by Hillerman in a mystery as good as any he ever penned. Those who relish the way he educates the reader about Native American beliefs while entertaining us with a good mystery will not be disappointed. Perhaps more than any of his novels, Sacred Clowns gives us a better understanding of why the Navajo have survived, while so many other great tribes have all but disappeared.
Chee's new assignment working directly for Leaphorn gets off to a shaky start when the former allows a missing boy to escape during a Tano ceremony soon after locating him. It is the boy's elusive nature, and a murder during the ceremony that kick off one of the most satisfying mysteries in this fabulous series. Leaphorn is still trying to move on after a terrible loss, and Chee is worried Janet may have a tie to his clan somewhere which would put an end to their romance.
On the mystery side, a second murder turns this story into a complex puzzle which has Leaphorn and Chee going in different directions. Chee's carelessness at one point will even result in Leaphorn's suspension. Leaphorn's feelings regarding young Chee's conflicting spirit, torn between Navajo tradition and his career as a Navajo Tribal Policeman, are explored here as well.
Chee will eventually weigh Navajo justice against the secular law he is sworn to uphold, and come to a startling decision. There is need and loneliness here for both men, Chee trying to begin, and Leaphorn attempting to start over. There is a depth and understanding mingling effortlessly in Sacred Clowns, a mystery engrossing enough to be of merit on its own.
We've come to expect a lot of Hillerman's series, and this one really delivers. That magic blend of mystery and Native American beliefs, coupled with likable and very human characters is on glorious display in this one. The mystery is excellent, and you will come away from this one with a greater understanding of the Navajo and, perhaps, humanity. Highly recommended.
March 29, 2016
Jim Chee had been reading a book of Margaret Atwood's short stories he'd borrowed from Janet Pete, thinking it might impress her. He decided Miss Atwood would call Blizzard's expression either "bleak" or "stolid." Or maybe "wintry."
Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn are once again working a series of seemingly unrelated cases that end up coming together. This is the first book where Chee is working directly under Leaphorn and not Largo - hopefully another step towards these two becoming friends. I'm trying to be patient here.
Chee is being a whiny baby about working for Leaphorn.
It was irritating. What he was doing was one level under being a truant officer. Having Leaphorn as a boss was going to be a genuine pain. Just like people had warned him.
Ugh. Stop sniveling and do your f*&^ing job.
Now he was only conscious that Leaphorn hadn't been interested enough in his Sayesva theory to pursue it. He wasn't going to enjoy this job.
I seriously did NOT know how much of this whining I could take.
Luckily, Chee got over this and started acting like an actual police officer eventually.
But forget about the mystery! Let's focus on the romance.
What? Romance? Carmen. This is a mystery. You don't care about the mystery! You only want kissing!
CARMEN: *innocent face*
ANYWAY.
Leaphorn is planning his trip to China with Louisa. He has such a crush on her. But he is rather nervous.
Thinking of what Dilly had implied about sex with her. Thinking of all the things she was doing for him - taking him along as dead weight on this trip. What did he owe her for that? What would she expect?
Fortunately, he has quite a bit of work to take his mind off of Louisa.
And as for Chee, well, we've got a lot of problems in regards to his relationship with half-Navajo lawyer, Janet Pete.
The good thing is, the couple has progressed from hugging in the last book to kissing. KISSING.
Chee let his imagination wander. He saw himself scouting for the Seventh Calvary, shooting Cheyennes. The satisfaction in that fantasy lasted a few miles. He rehearsed his report to Leaphorn. He thought about Janet Pete. He thought about how the tip of her short-cut hair curled against her neck. He thought about the funny way she had of letting a smile start, letting him get a glimpse of it, and then suppressing it - pretending she hadn't appreciated his humor. He thought about her legs and hips in those tight jeans on the ladder above him at the Tano ceremonial. He thought about her kissing him, enthusiastically, and then catching his hand when...
They are NOT having sex yet. Janet is not ready to have sex with him. They've known each other for two years. I really like when Janet talks about sex with Jim Chee.
"When you're a certain age," she said, "when you're young, and you fall in love - or think you have - then you think that sex is the way you prove it. Prove that you're in love... But it doesn't prove a damn thing... What I'm saying is I know I like you. Maybe I like you a lot. Even an awful lot. But it doesn't have anything at all to do with... To be exactly correct, it doesn't have MUCH to do with your pearly white teeth, and your long, lean, lanky frame, and all those muscles. I started liking you because you're kind to people."
"If I had known that, I would have been even kinder," Chee said.
"But I'm not just going to be just another of Jim Chee's girlfriends."
Okay, the good - I completely agree with her about kindness. Kindness is essential. I refuse to date men who don't have this sort of underlying kindness to them. Is the man kind? Is he merciful? Is he compassionate? I'm not talking about being a bleeding heart here. I just mean someone who does NOT intentionally hurt others and who shows mercy and compassion to people and animals. Any man without this underlying kindness is no good for any kind of relationship, IMO.
I also agree with her about sex. Obviously she should be very sure she wants to have sex with Chee before she does so. 100% on board here. I'm glad she's waiting and is not rushing into sex with him.
But I'm angry with her snide "I'm not going to be just another of your girlfriends" comments. Throughout this book she makes it clear that she is very convinced that Chee is some sort of playboy.
This baffles me. This is the 11th book by Hillerman and let me say that I have seen ZERO indications that Chee is a womanizer. ZERO. He has had only one other girlfriend in this series, and she was a serious, meaningful relationship for him. I'm baffled as to why Janet is staunchly convinced that Jim Chee is a dog. ??? Where did she even get this idea? I don't know. They never explain this. I'm insulted. I'm insulted on Chee's behalf.
There's also a whole plot about whether Chee can even be with Janet or if being with Janet would be incest. It's a long story, but the taboo against incest is strong in the Navajo, and there are 65 Navajo clans (according to Hillerman in this novel) and one has to check one's parents and grandparents and those of one's partner before engaging in sex with them. Because everyone is interrelated and the community is very interwoven.
I ALSO don't like how insecure Jim Chee is about Janet. He gets insecure whenever any other man comes around. Not jealous, not possessive, but kind of "What does she see in me again?" and "I'm not good enough for her" and etc. etc. Very unattractive. I was yelling at him to cut this shit out.
Also, we have this disgustingness:
Chee was watching Janet. She said nothing, which pleased him. That was properly polite Navajo. Like Blizzard, she was an urban product. City bred, city raised, Navajo only by her father's blood. She had to learn what it was like to be one of the Dineh. He would help teach her. Happily. Lovingly. If she would let him.
FUCK YOU. You're going to teach her to be the perfect little Navajo? Go fuck yourself. This is insulting. If they start getting serious and he continues with this shit I am going to be very angry with him.
Now, let's talk about Jim Chee. This is the first book in which Jim Chee has done something mensch-like: he's shown mercy on someone. I won't spoil it, but my heart started to beat faster when it became apparent that Jim Chee was considering being merciful. This is a highly attractive quality in a man and for the first time Jim Chee was making me a little excited. He's not even close to being a mensch yet (although he is a good man) and I'm excited to think he may develop more mensch-like qualities as this series continues.
Tl;dr - A solid and rather sweet entry in Hillerman's Navajo Mystery series.
Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn are once again working a series of seemingly unrelated cases that end up coming together. This is the first book where Chee is working directly under Leaphorn and not Largo - hopefully another step towards these two becoming friends. I'm trying to be patient here.
Chee is being a whiny baby about working for Leaphorn.
It was irritating. What he was doing was one level under being a truant officer. Having Leaphorn as a boss was going to be a genuine pain. Just like people had warned him.
Ugh. Stop sniveling and do your f*&^ing job.
Now he was only conscious that Leaphorn hadn't been interested enough in his Sayesva theory to pursue it. He wasn't going to enjoy this job.
I seriously did NOT know how much of this whining I could take.
Luckily, Chee got over this and started acting like an actual police officer eventually.
But forget about the mystery! Let's focus on the romance.
What? Romance? Carmen. This is a mystery. You don't care about the mystery! You only want kissing!
CARMEN: *innocent face*
ANYWAY.
Leaphorn is planning his trip to China with Louisa. He has such a crush on her. But he is rather nervous.
Thinking of what Dilly had implied about sex with her. Thinking of all the things she was doing for him - taking him along as dead weight on this trip. What did he owe her for that? What would she expect?
Fortunately, he has quite a bit of work to take his mind off of Louisa.
And as for Chee, well, we've got a lot of problems in regards to his relationship with half-Navajo lawyer, Janet Pete.
The good thing is, the couple has progressed from hugging in the last book to kissing. KISSING.
Chee let his imagination wander. He saw himself scouting for the Seventh Calvary, shooting Cheyennes. The satisfaction in that fantasy lasted a few miles. He rehearsed his report to Leaphorn. He thought about Janet Pete. He thought about how the tip of her short-cut hair curled against her neck. He thought about the funny way she had of letting a smile start, letting him get a glimpse of it, and then suppressing it - pretending she hadn't appreciated his humor. He thought about her legs and hips in those tight jeans on the ladder above him at the Tano ceremonial. He thought about her kissing him, enthusiastically, and then catching his hand when...
They are NOT having sex yet. Janet is not ready to have sex with him. They've known each other for two years. I really like when Janet talks about sex with Jim Chee.
"When you're a certain age," she said, "when you're young, and you fall in love - or think you have - then you think that sex is the way you prove it. Prove that you're in love... But it doesn't prove a damn thing... What I'm saying is I know I like you. Maybe I like you a lot. Even an awful lot. But it doesn't have anything at all to do with... To be exactly correct, it doesn't have MUCH to do with your pearly white teeth, and your long, lean, lanky frame, and all those muscles. I started liking you because you're kind to people."
"If I had known that, I would have been even kinder," Chee said.
"But I'm not just going to be just another of Jim Chee's girlfriends."
Okay, the good - I completely agree with her about kindness. Kindness is essential. I refuse to date men who don't have this sort of underlying kindness to them. Is the man kind? Is he merciful? Is he compassionate? I'm not talking about being a bleeding heart here. I just mean someone who does NOT intentionally hurt others and who shows mercy and compassion to people and animals. Any man without this underlying kindness is no good for any kind of relationship, IMO.
I also agree with her about sex. Obviously she should be very sure she wants to have sex with Chee before she does so. 100% on board here. I'm glad she's waiting and is not rushing into sex with him.
But I'm angry with her snide "I'm not going to be just another of your girlfriends" comments. Throughout this book she makes it clear that she is very convinced that Chee is some sort of playboy.
This baffles me. This is the 11th book by Hillerman and let me say that I have seen ZERO indications that Chee is a womanizer. ZERO. He has had only one other girlfriend in this series, and she was a serious, meaningful relationship for him. I'm baffled as to why Janet is staunchly convinced that Jim Chee is a dog. ??? Where did she even get this idea? I don't know. They never explain this. I'm insulted. I'm insulted on Chee's behalf.
There's also a whole plot about whether Chee can even be with Janet or if being with Janet would be incest. It's a long story, but the taboo against incest is strong in the Navajo, and there are 65 Navajo clans (according to Hillerman in this novel) and one has to check one's parents and grandparents and those of one's partner before engaging in sex with them. Because everyone is interrelated and the community is very interwoven.
I ALSO don't like how insecure Jim Chee is about Janet. He gets insecure whenever any other man comes around. Not jealous, not possessive, but kind of "What does she see in me again?" and "I'm not good enough for her" and etc. etc. Very unattractive. I was yelling at him to cut this shit out.
Also, we have this disgustingness:
Chee was watching Janet. She said nothing, which pleased him. That was properly polite Navajo. Like Blizzard, she was an urban product. City bred, city raised, Navajo only by her father's blood. She had to learn what it was like to be one of the Dineh. He would help teach her. Happily. Lovingly. If she would let him.
FUCK YOU. You're going to teach her to be the perfect little Navajo? Go fuck yourself. This is insulting. If they start getting serious and he continues with this shit I am going to be very angry with him.
Now, let's talk about Jim Chee. This is the first book in which Jim Chee has done something mensch-like: he's shown mercy on someone. I won't spoil it, but my heart started to beat faster when it became apparent that Jim Chee was considering being merciful. This is a highly attractive quality in a man and for the first time Jim Chee was making me a little excited. He's not even close to being a mensch yet (although he is a good man) and I'm excited to think he may develop more mensch-like qualities as this series continues.
Tl;dr - A solid and rather sweet entry in Hillerman's Navajo Mystery series.
September 28, 2022
I read several of Tony Hillerman's intelligent mysteries years ago and enjoyed every one. But I don't remember them having as much information about Navaho and Pueblo culture and history as there is in this particular story, for which reason this one is the most interesting that I can remember. I listened to an excellent audio version produced in 2013.
The two "detectives", Navaho tribal policeman Chee and his boss Leaphorn are two very likable characters with a lot of depth. Others on GR have already written some good and fairly detailed reviews, so there's no need for me to be repetitive. I tend to be rather subjective in my ratings, and if I give a novel 5 stars, it usually means I enjoyed it a great deal and it was well-written. I rarely can finish any book that is less than 3 stars. I gave this one 5 stars because of the characters of the 2 detectives and what was going on with them personally and the many excellent descriptions of the various locations along with cultural information worked in naturally as part of the story.
The mystery itself was complicated and it doesn't seem anyone would be able to figure it out without pertinent info revealed close to the end. I also liked some brief interactions that Chee had with a young boy challenged with a brain dysfunction. Lately I've been listening to more audiobooks, so having discovered this one I will look for another Tony Hillerman mystery te listen to today.
The two "detectives", Navaho tribal policeman Chee and his boss Leaphorn are two very likable characters with a lot of depth. Others on GR have already written some good and fairly detailed reviews, so there's no need for me to be repetitive. I tend to be rather subjective in my ratings, and if I give a novel 5 stars, it usually means I enjoyed it a great deal and it was well-written. I rarely can finish any book that is less than 3 stars. I gave this one 5 stars because of the characters of the 2 detectives and what was going on with them personally and the many excellent descriptions of the various locations along with cultural information worked in naturally as part of the story.
The mystery itself was complicated and it doesn't seem anyone would be able to figure it out without pertinent info revealed close to the end. I also liked some brief interactions that Chee had with a young boy challenged with a brain dysfunction. Lately I've been listening to more audiobooks, so having discovered this one I will look for another Tony Hillerman mystery te listen to today.
May 15, 2014
Total immersion in the unique and fascinating culture of our Indian southwest. Strong but imperfect characters struggling with moral issues. The kind of romantic interactions I like to read about (and write about ... and live). And, oh yes, an excellent detective story. Why did I wait so long between Hillerman novels?
September 3, 2015
Short(er) and sweet.
This is my second time reading this book, after a gap of 10 years or more. It is a bit shorter than some of the Hillerman novels, and definitely shorter than most other novels, especially these days. And besides the usual elements of crime and crime-solving, the personal stories of the lead characters woven through the plot are especially bittersweet. The growing sense of love between Leaphorn and his professor friend Louisa Bourebonette, and between Jim Chee and Janet Peet, are beautifully and lovingly portrayed. I was quite touched.
The crime story is typical and yet unique, a good read, and suitably puzzling to the end (at least it was for me). So the ending becomes quite satisfying once the plotlines get resolved.
An unusual twist reveals a sympathetic Jim Chee seeming to undermine the wheels of justice, but in a way that appeals to our humanity and sympathy for the unfortunate.
All in all, a very satisfying way to spend a few hours.
This is my second time reading this book, after a gap of 10 years or more. It is a bit shorter than some of the Hillerman novels, and definitely shorter than most other novels, especially these days. And besides the usual elements of crime and crime-solving, the personal stories of the lead characters woven through the plot are especially bittersweet. The growing sense of love between Leaphorn and his professor friend Louisa Bourebonette, and between Jim Chee and Janet Peet, are beautifully and lovingly portrayed. I was quite touched.
The crime story is typical and yet unique, a good read, and suitably puzzling to the end (at least it was for me). So the ending becomes quite satisfying once the plotlines get resolved.
An unusual twist reveals a sympathetic Jim Chee seeming to undermine the wheels of justice, but in a way that appeals to our humanity and sympathy for the unfortunate.
All in all, a very satisfying way to spend a few hours.
October 20, 2018
When Jim Chee tries to make time with his woman while on a stakeout, not only does she bring another man with her, he loses his quarry, plus a clown is murdered right under his nose. A substitute teacher is also killed.
There are a lot of red herrings, but Chee and Leaphorn eventually get to the bottom of things.
There are a lot of red herrings, but Chee and Leaphorn eventually get to the bottom of things.
May 2, 2019
Finally! This is the book I have been waiting for in the series :) It has Leaphorn and Chee working together!!!! The love interests are coming around and the guys are becoming human. It is still interesting how all involved say no one ever tells me anything...ha ha ha Like there are secrets to be kept or you might cross someone's line if you give out any of your information. Sigh
This is my favorite of the series so far.
This is my favorite of the series so far.
April 1, 2023
I promised myself after I retired that I would go back and reread all of the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee novels in the order that they were written. This book involves a crime that once again has Leaphorn and Chee looking into it for different reasons and combining forces at the end. It also addresses the issue of illegally copying, substituting and selling artifacts on the black market. The artifact is one of the canes that Lincoln presented to the various tribes during the Civil War.
July 21, 2012
The late Mr. Hillerman really knew how to tell a story. I miss his output.
From his home base in Albuquerque, he takes all these disparate parts, spreads them all over the four corners area and has his characters running all over the place making unlikely links to all the crimes.
Is a joy to watch the Native American police work out the logic and motives behind the murders and theft exactly like Hercule Poirot.
This is the third in a long list of both fiction and non-fiction that award-winning Mr. Hillerman created over many years. Some of them were made into TV movies.
I think I have read all his fiction now, and can start on the nonan-fiction.
From his home base in Albuquerque, he takes all these disparate parts, spreads them all over the four corners area and has his characters running all over the place making unlikely links to all the crimes.
Is a joy to watch the Native American police work out the logic and motives behind the murders and theft exactly like Hercule Poirot.
This is the third in a long list of both fiction and non-fiction that award-winning Mr. Hillerman created over many years. Some of them were made into TV movies.
I think I have read all his fiction now, and can start on the nonan-fiction.
November 1, 2017
Tony Hillerman had been writing mysteries for over 20 years by the time he got around to Sacred Clowns. He was on top form, though maybe a little less “poetic” and a little more “didactic” than earlier on? In his earliest books it sometimes seemed as if he were writing for the Dinee as well as about them. A disapproving elderly (Dinee English for “old person”) might say “he behaves like he’s got no family,” without further explanation for outsiders of the broader cultural implications of that common, disparaging comment. Relaxed conversations would drift on for page after page, without asides on the nature of Dinee storytelling. Perhaps an editor suggested Anglo readers needed to feel less like outsiders?
By contrast with most other Hillerman mysteries, Pueblo culture (“Tano,” probably better known as Tewa or Hopi) figures prominently in the plotting here, alongside the customary Dinee. With both peoples, cultural details are not simply local color but help to drive plot. The Pueblo black-and-white striped koshare or “sacred clowns” are comical tellers of uncomfortable truths. (E.g., at a recent ceremony at Ohkay Owingeh pueblo, their antics concerned child abuse among Catholic clergy.) In this case, one such truth prompts two murders, whose investigation is hindered in interesting ways by Tewa traditions of secrecy, both within the community and (especially) within the men’s religious societies. Aspects of Dinee cosmology are central to the “solving” of another crime: a potentially insoluble hit-and-run on the Dinee reservation. The sorting out of that second crime in terms of the essential Dinee concept of hozhoo (beauty, balance, symmetry, rightness) is interesting to think about in an Anglo legal system based on a minimum of law, observed absolutely (at least in theory).
The Dinee-Anglo cultural contrasts and confusions play out in Hillerman’s usual interesting and amusing ways. E.g., half-Anglo (Janet Peet’s) and Cheyenne (Blizzard’s) incomprehension of Dinee delight during a screening of John Ford’s Cheyenne Autumn, in which Dinee extras, dressed up in bucksin and feathers, supposedly sing Cheyenne laments, but in fact perform songs from what Hillerman calls a “Girl Dance” (actually, a circle dance of a type called nezhnotaha). (The same thing happens, in fact, in Ford’s The Searchers where, in a tight spot, John Wayne identifies a Comanche, impending “Death Song,” but Dinee extras on screen once again sing a nezhnotaha)
This is also the first time Leaphorn and Jim Chee are discovering how to work together up close and personal. Leaphorn, his wife no longer there (the Dinee probably wouldn’t say “dead,” as Hillerman does), is becoming more involved with his new, anthropologist lady friend, while Chee is hot and bothered over Janet Peet (who, let’s face it, we know isn’t right for him). Given Chee’s attachment to tribal traditions, it’s a little hard to believe he’d have waited this long to raise the supremely important issue of his and Janet’s respective clans, an aspect of Dinee tradition that drives what proves to be an unusually prominent romantic sub-plot this time. Criminal issues get resolved handily enough by the end; the romantic ones remain unsettled.
By contrast with most other Hillerman mysteries, Pueblo culture (“Tano,” probably better known as Tewa or Hopi) figures prominently in the plotting here, alongside the customary Dinee. With both peoples, cultural details are not simply local color but help to drive plot. The Pueblo black-and-white striped koshare or “sacred clowns” are comical tellers of uncomfortable truths. (E.g., at a recent ceremony at Ohkay Owingeh pueblo, their antics concerned child abuse among Catholic clergy.) In this case, one such truth prompts two murders, whose investigation is hindered in interesting ways by Tewa traditions of secrecy, both within the community and (especially) within the men’s religious societies. Aspects of Dinee cosmology are central to the “solving” of another crime: a potentially insoluble hit-and-run on the Dinee reservation. The sorting out of that second crime in terms of the essential Dinee concept of hozhoo (beauty, balance, symmetry, rightness) is interesting to think about in an Anglo legal system based on a minimum of law, observed absolutely (at least in theory).
The Dinee-Anglo cultural contrasts and confusions play out in Hillerman’s usual interesting and amusing ways. E.g., half-Anglo (Janet Peet’s) and Cheyenne (Blizzard’s) incomprehension of Dinee delight during a screening of John Ford’s Cheyenne Autumn, in which Dinee extras, dressed up in bucksin and feathers, supposedly sing Cheyenne laments, but in fact perform songs from what Hillerman calls a “Girl Dance” (actually, a circle dance of a type called nezhnotaha). (The same thing happens, in fact, in Ford’s The Searchers where, in a tight spot, John Wayne identifies a Comanche, impending “Death Song,” but Dinee extras on screen once again sing a nezhnotaha)
This is also the first time Leaphorn and Jim Chee are discovering how to work together up close and personal. Leaphorn, his wife no longer there (the Dinee probably wouldn’t say “dead,” as Hillerman does), is becoming more involved with his new, anthropologist lady friend, while Chee is hot and bothered over Janet Peet (who, let’s face it, we know isn’t right for him). Given Chee’s attachment to tribal traditions, it’s a little hard to believe he’d have waited this long to raise the supremely important issue of his and Janet’s respective clans, an aspect of Dinee tradition that drives what proves to be an unusually prominent romantic sub-plot this time. Criminal issues get resolved handily enough by the end; the romantic ones remain unsettled.
March 22, 2018
First Read: I really enjoy the characters, plots, and settings that Hillerman has created. His stories revolve around a tribal police officer, Jim Chee, and a detective, Joe Leaphorn. Jim and Joe work together to solve murders, robberies and other mysteries that come up on the Navajo reservation. Hillerman writes primarily about the 4 corners area of the United States and mixes in all kinds of Indian lore. I have always been partial to the western United States and I enjoy reading good mysteries. Hillerman is first rate and Sacred Clowns does not disappoint. I'm a NM Native so I know a lot of the areas he is writing about and can picture the areas around us.
Second Read: A teacher is found dead, a boy is missing, and council woman has put a lot of pressure on Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee to find her grandson. Sitting on a rooftop watching sacred clowns perform their antics in a Pueblo Ceremony, Chee spots the boy. Then, suddenly the crowd is in commotion. One of the clowns has been savagely murdered. Without a single clue, Chee and Leaphorn must follow a serpentine trail through the Indian clans and nations,
seeking the thread that links two brutal murders, a missing teenager, and band of lobbyists trying to put a toxic dump site on Pueblo land, and an invaluable memento given to the tribes by Abraham Lincoln in a fast paced, flawless mystery that is Hillerman at his evocative spellbinding best. This is a really good book, and obviously a long time since I've read it (nearly 20 years).
The gentleman that played the narrator - Christian Baskous had the accent he needed that was just perfect. I could hear the Indian dialect in his voice, and when he needed to speak Navajo, it was perfect. I live in an area where there are lots of Indians, and I hear it spoken quite often. Well done book, and highly recommended.
Second Read: A teacher is found dead, a boy is missing, and council woman has put a lot of pressure on Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee to find her grandson. Sitting on a rooftop watching sacred clowns perform their antics in a Pueblo Ceremony, Chee spots the boy. Then, suddenly the crowd is in commotion. One of the clowns has been savagely murdered. Without a single clue, Chee and Leaphorn must follow a serpentine trail through the Indian clans and nations,
seeking the thread that links two brutal murders, a missing teenager, and band of lobbyists trying to put a toxic dump site on Pueblo land, and an invaluable memento given to the tribes by Abraham Lincoln in a fast paced, flawless mystery that is Hillerman at his evocative spellbinding best. This is a really good book, and obviously a long time since I've read it (nearly 20 years).
The gentleman that played the narrator - Christian Baskous had the accent he needed that was just perfect. I could hear the Indian dialect in his voice, and when he needed to speak Navajo, it was perfect. I live in an area where there are lots of Indians, and I hear it spoken quite often. Well done book, and highly recommended.
June 17, 2007
The winter of 2007 is a shaman's curse/a ravenous and cruel apparition/stalking mesas and piñon forests/on the high desert of New Mexico/The wind arises out of the Northwest/bringing pain and hunger/stealing color, warmth, and lives/In the hogan we burn pine and cedar/day and night/melt snow for drinking water/ration the last of the mutton stew and coffee/Stock tanks are frozen solid/Animals die huddled together in ravines/Crystalline etchings on ice and window glass/mock our frailty/with useless beauty/ We wait/and wait/This morning a National Guard helicopter/like a great thunderbird/brought food and news of neighbors/"I dont know why you live out here"/the white pilot said/He didn't hear over the rotor's chop/when I explained that we belong to the land/That we came here with Badger's help/out of the ha'axna, the emergence place/and we call this world/Glittering World, Changeable World/Thought and knowledge, light and dark/warm and cold, birth and death/are given to us/We live in bituminous silence/But we belong to the land
June 9, 2020
I always enjoy when Hillerman compares two cultures. Even though he explains that the Pueblo rituals he describes in this book aren't accurate, they do capture the basic beliefs and customs. Here, too, a city-bred Cheyenne makes an appearance and the movie Cheyenne Autumn is briefly described as it might appear thru Navajo eyes. (Apparently Navajos were used in many of the scenes.)
Leaphorn and Chee are still trying to understand each other, and their relationships with Louise and Janet progress realistically. The many strands of the mystery are neatly interwoven and the violence isn't overwhelming. Good story.
p 274: This business of hozho. ... I'll use an example. Terrible drought, crops dead, sheep dying. Spring dried out. No water. The Hopi, or the Christian, maybe the Moslem, they pray for rain. The Navajo has the proper ceremony done to restore himself to harmony with the drought. ... The system is designed to recognize what's beyond human power to change, and then to change the human's attitude to be content with the inevitable."
Leaphorn and Chee are still trying to understand each other, and their relationships with Louise and Janet progress realistically. The many strands of the mystery are neatly interwoven and the violence isn't overwhelming. Good story.
p 274: This business of hozho. ... I'll use an example. Terrible drought, crops dead, sheep dying. Spring dried out. No water. The Hopi, or the Christian, maybe the Moslem, they pray for rain. The Navajo has the proper ceremony done to restore himself to harmony with the drought. ... The system is designed to recognize what's beyond human power to change, and then to change the human's attitude to be content with the inevitable."
May 23, 2013
Here's what I like about Hillerman: Navajo metaphysics and spirituality, unique settings, minor historical accounts, descriptions of gorgeous landscapes, broadlines plotting. The plotting was pretty intricate on this one but also just intricate enough that I didn't care to try to track down the threads in my head. I like his main two characters and - as Scott described - the evolution of their relationship.
What I struggle with: thin and uneven story-telling, predictable outcomes on minor story arcs, coincidences that provide clues.
What I struggle with: thin and uneven story-telling, predictable outcomes on minor story arcs, coincidences that provide clues.
August 21, 2018
An excellent blend of storylines and characters - I really enjoy the writing and the background information on Navajo traditions that Mr Hillerman weaves into his stories. Great characters and a pleasure to watch the story unfold.
July 20, 2014
The beauty of this series is that it’s so much more than a set of detective stories. Hillerman, in his memoir Seldom Disappointed, tells how he first became fascinated by Navajo culture. Wounded toward the end of WWII, he was waiting in a hospital in Europe to be sent home, one of few soldiers were left. He made friends with a fellow patient, Navajo man, who told him about the ceremony his family would arrange for him when he got home, the Enemy Way. Its healing purpose was to bring warriors back into balance and harmony, hozho. Sacred Clowns is a story of people, culture, place, history, love and family, in which the protagonists are Navajo police dealing with three deaths and finding a runaway teenaged boy. The theme underlying all of it is the Navajo way, hozho, the need for it within a person’s soul and within a community.
Officer Jim Chee is a strongly traditional young man, which brings him into inner conflict as a policeman, and as a man who has to live in the modern world. His values lead him to support an environmental cause, to seek advice from tribal elders on his hope to marry a woman of uncertain clan history, and to take the Navajo way of handling a difficult case that he solves.
This book is gentle for a murder mystery. The violence takes place offstage, and neither Leaphorn or Chee is involved in any life-threatening situation during the course of their detective work. The process of solving the crimes is compelling without that. The private lives of both men are also central to the story, as they get closer to the women in their lives—a poignant transition for the widower Leaphorn.
Hillerman the master craftsman fascinates me. He wraps up a plot thread concerning a missing half-Navajo half-Tano Pueblo boy with a conversation between the boy’s grandmother and Joe Leaphorn, before Leaphorn finally gets the boy to talk. The grandmother’s words are elided with the line “Leaphorn listened,” every time, and then he explains the next thing to the grandmother. Perfect in both rhythm and content. Her words aren’t needed. His reassurances are enough, and those words, Leaphorn listened, repeated in that way, say so much about his character.
Hillerman’s choice to create a fictitious Pueblo makes sense. I once heard Taos musician Robert Mirabal say that secret and sacred, to the Pueblo people, mean the same thing. Hillerman respects that. He sets part of the story at his fictitious Tano Pueblo, so that a murder doesn’t take place during a community religious ceremony at a real place. The description of this Pueblo and its people is perfect nonetheless, one of his many living and vivid New Mexico moments. These lines stood out for me, as a New Mexican who knows the setting well. “She led them across the hard-packed yard toward an adobe. It slouched under an immense cottonwood which looked almost as old as the building. A fringe of ragweeds and Russian thistle growing on its dirt roof gave it a disreputable, unshaven appearance. But the paint on the window frames was a fresh turquoise blue and geraniums were blooming in boxes beside the door.” Been there, seen that. Loved it.
I read this book many years ago, and it’s as good now as it was then—somehow, even better a second time.
September 3, 2023
Justice - what is it really? Punishment? Retribution? Reparations? I really like the Navajo concept of balance, at least the way Hillerman writes about it.
Leaphorn and Chee are finally working together, though they still seem to go their separate ways for most of the story.
Leaphorn and Chee are finally working together, though they still seem to go their separate ways for most of the story.
April 2, 2012
Sacred Clowns is an interesting, though not great mystery. Its chief strengths lay in Hillerman's ability to weave Navajo culture into a story without being preachy or even overly instructive. It is a decent enough story, but its resolution (especially re: the hit and run driver) left me feeling as if justice and the law, at least as far as one officer was concerned, was not really as important as his personal religious feelings regarding the restoration of harmony, etc.
Now, I've got to do some internet research to discover if there really are "Lincoln canes"-- canes given by Abraham Lincoln to the governors\chiefs of certain Pueblo and Navajo tribes\clans as a token of appreciation for their support during the American Civil War. If they actually exist, then Hillerman introduced me to another facet of history and I owe him.
The book is strong on characterization, though it seems, at times, as if police work can quickly be done if a cop gets "on a roll" and this left me less than satisfying for me.
Now, I've got to do some internet research to discover if there really are "Lincoln canes"-- canes given by Abraham Lincoln to the governors\chiefs of certain Pueblo and Navajo tribes\clans as a token of appreciation for their support during the American Civil War. If they actually exist, then Hillerman introduced me to another facet of history and I owe him.
The book is strong on characterization, though it seems, at times, as if police work can quickly be done if a cop gets "on a roll" and this left me less than satisfying for me.
July 6, 2013
My admiration for Hillerman just grows and grows.
I'm a passionate reader of mysteries. Whenever there is a "back story" I read from the beginning.
Sacred Clowns is Hillerman's 7th and I'm struck by how the quality of his writing, the quality of his plot development and resolution and his ability to seamlessly weave a lesson in Indian philosophy and daily life into the story without making this non-fiction attempting to be fiction - well, his growth was noteworthy.
About this book, in particular, if you read it note that the Tano Pueblo was an invention. This is important to keep in mind if you are lapping up (as I do) all of Hillerman's anthropological knowledge in his books. Nevertheless, there is much learning of Navajo and Pueblo culture here.
And, do not read this without reading his other books, IN ORDER, or the impact of the back-story events here will be greatly diminished.
I'm a passionate reader of mysteries. Whenever there is a "back story" I read from the beginning.
Sacred Clowns is Hillerman's 7th and I'm struck by how the quality of his writing, the quality of his plot development and resolution and his ability to seamlessly weave a lesson in Indian philosophy and daily life into the story without making this non-fiction attempting to be fiction - well, his growth was noteworthy.
About this book, in particular, if you read it note that the Tano Pueblo was an invention. This is important to keep in mind if you are lapping up (as I do) all of Hillerman's anthropological knowledge in his books. Nevertheless, there is much learning of Navajo and Pueblo culture here.
And, do not read this without reading his other books, IN ORDER, or the impact of the back-story events here will be greatly diminished.
August 25, 2008
This was the first Tony Hillerman book that I read. Since then I have read almost every book that he has written. I really enjoy the characters, plots, and settings that Hillerman has created. His stories revolve around a tribal police officer, Jim Chee, and a detective, Joe Leaphorn. Jim and Joe work together to solve murders, robberies and other mysteries that come up on the Navajo reservation. Hillerman writes primarily about the 4 corners area of the United States and mixes in all kinds of Indian lore. I used to visit that area frequently with my family on our way to AZ to visit my grandparents or on work trips with my Dad when he would collect health care data from small towns bordering of UT. I have always been partial to the western United States and I enjoy reading good mysteries. Hillerman is first rate and Sacred Clowns does not disappoint.
January 15, 2021
This review also disappeared. I loved this series about the Navajo Indians in NM that Toni Hilllerman created and his daughter continued. Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee are Navaho policemen on the Rez. Jim is a traditionalist learning the ancestral ways and rituals. Leaphorn is his boss. They are quite different in temperament. The Navaho police have limited empowerment - the Federal Government oversees many of the crimes. I fell in love with this series with the first book. Each book explores a different aspect of their way of life and/or interaction with other tribes or people in community or Native American arts or the dark ways and artifact theft.
This series has been going on for the 51 years. And still look forward each new book. There was s still many aspects and of life and parts of the Nation and ways of life that have yet been explored.
This series has been going on for the 51 years. And still look forward each new book. There was s still many aspects and of life and parts of the Nation and ways of life that have yet been explored.
October 30, 2014
One of the best of Hillerman's book as he contrasts the action of young Navajo policeman, Jim Chess with otherwise of Senior officer Joe Leaphorn. Jim manages to screw up by not really paying attention to what he is doing. It's spring all he thinking about is Janet Peete. His assignment is to locate a Indian lad who is missing from his school and tell him to call his grandmother. Jim asked Janet to go with him to the festival for romantic interlude and before he realizes it Janet has a couple of friends to join them. Needless to said he loose the boy and is present when the boy's uncle is MURDER. Meanwhile Joe Leaphorn is helping the FBI with a MURDER at the school. These affairs are skillfully brought together as one. I highly recommend this book .
April 24, 2017
Leaphorn and Chee are both at crossroads with their ladies and professionally. Widowed Leaphorn is unsure of where his relationship with Louisa is headed and what a trip overseas with her would entail, and Janet is taking her relationship slow with Chee to his frustration. When a murder of a teacher occurs on the reservation, Chee has to work for Leaphorn instead of parallel to him as in previous cases. Tribal politics and clan taboos come into play in the narrative, and was a strong book in the series.
June 17, 2013
Didn't like this one as much. For some reason I kept getting turned around and didn't follow well. I do like that Hillerman has Chee and Leaphorn working together but not really working together. I really liked how Chee handled the moral/ethical dilemma regarding the hit/run driver and the Navajo way of approaching it and the justice system's approach. I did not like how Chee and Leaphorn seemd to be turning into girls with their romantic relationships...pfffttttt...
April 21, 2017
Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, both skeptical of the other but nonetheless working together very effectively to solve the mystery of a koshkare being murdered, are both in love and perplexed about how to work and become romantically involved, both at the same time.
This is the novel where Chee works with Leaphorn for the first time and where Chee discovers that, but for the rigidity of the Bad Talking Dinee's rules about marriage to someone of a related clan, he would relate to Janet Pete in a way that would lead to marriage.
Chee and Leaphorn, in love but clueless about how to be in love, have a crime to solve, even as Leaphorn is suspended from his job while a question of discipline hangs over him. In typical fashion, though, Chee and his reliance upon hozso in all things enters into the solution of the crime and a resolution of the love issues both he and Leaphorn face.
Chee tells Leaphorn that "it was because of how you understand the Beauty Way. This busness of hozho, the way I understand it . . . the Hopi, or the Christian, maybe the Moslem, they pray for rain. The Navojo has the proper ceremony done to restore himself to harmony with the drought. You see what I mean. The system is designed to recognize what's beyond human power to change, and then to change the human's attitude to be content with the inevitable."
This philosophy--living in balance with all things and deriving harmony in one's life because harmony exists in all those other things and people around you--is the fundamental concept of peace found in almost every system of religious, spiritual, philosophic, and even political thought. It is what each of us should strive for in our personal lives and make that contribution to the harmony of the family, the community, the nation and world, even. It is the secret that civilizations have sought since human beings came into existence and has been elusive for humans ever since.
The beauty of it, from the Navajo view which Hillerman describes in all his novels with love, respect, and appreciation, is the simplicity of how hozho is stated, how it can be understood and how it can be practiced, even by tribal cops. For Chee and Leaphorn, possessing hozho and practicing it, helps solve crimes and ferrets out love. What better balance and harmony than that can there be?
This is the novel where Chee works with Leaphorn for the first time and where Chee discovers that, but for the rigidity of the Bad Talking Dinee's rules about marriage to someone of a related clan, he would relate to Janet Pete in a way that would lead to marriage.
Chee and Leaphorn, in love but clueless about how to be in love, have a crime to solve, even as Leaphorn is suspended from his job while a question of discipline hangs over him. In typical fashion, though, Chee and his reliance upon hozso in all things enters into the solution of the crime and a resolution of the love issues both he and Leaphorn face.
Chee tells Leaphorn that "it was because of how you understand the Beauty Way. This busness of hozho, the way I understand it . . . the Hopi, or the Christian, maybe the Moslem, they pray for rain. The Navojo has the proper ceremony done to restore himself to harmony with the drought. You see what I mean. The system is designed to recognize what's beyond human power to change, and then to change the human's attitude to be content with the inevitable."
This philosophy--living in balance with all things and deriving harmony in one's life because harmony exists in all those other things and people around you--is the fundamental concept of peace found in almost every system of religious, spiritual, philosophic, and even political thought. It is what each of us should strive for in our personal lives and make that contribution to the harmony of the family, the community, the nation and world, even. It is the secret that civilizations have sought since human beings came into existence and has been elusive for humans ever since.
The beauty of it, from the Navajo view which Hillerman describes in all his novels with love, respect, and appreciation, is the simplicity of how hozho is stated, how it can be understood and how it can be practiced, even by tribal cops. For Chee and Leaphorn, possessing hozho and practicing it, helps solve crimes and ferrets out love. What better balance and harmony than that can there be?
December 19, 2022
Coyote Waits is my favorite Tony Hillerman novel and Sacred Clowns, #11 in the series, is a close second. I loved Sacred Clowns the first time I read it and I love it more now. It’s filled with culture, philosophy, history, and what I consider believable romance. Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee are partnered formally in this story, which provides countless opportunities to see their similarities and differences as well as their harmony-building.
The title refers to ethical police that exist in some cultures: ritual clowns. They are sacred in multiple cultures around the world because they remind people to laugh at themselves and question materialism, arrogance, and other threats to community wellness.
Other characters contribute insightful perspectives to the story, particularly BIA Officer Harold Blizzard, who is Cheyenne, and Attorney Janet Pete. A vignette of watching Cheyenne Autumn at a drive-in theater is a great example of how a single perspective provides a limited understanding of a situation, but multiple perspectives can add depth and beauty. Pete, Blizzard, and Chee each see different details. It’s wonderful. Hillerman’s ability to weave cultural differences (ethnic, generational, historical, geographical, etc.) into such a beautiful fabric is a big reason why I find these novels so refreshing for my soul.
Next is The Fallen Man.
The title refers to ethical police that exist in some cultures: ritual clowns. They are sacred in multiple cultures around the world because they remind people to laugh at themselves and question materialism, arrogance, and other threats to community wellness.
Other characters contribute insightful perspectives to the story, particularly BIA Officer Harold Blizzard, who is Cheyenne, and Attorney Janet Pete. A vignette of watching Cheyenne Autumn at a drive-in theater is a great example of how a single perspective provides a limited understanding of a situation, but multiple perspectives can add depth and beauty. Pete, Blizzard, and Chee each see different details. It’s wonderful. Hillerman’s ability to weave cultural differences (ethnic, generational, historical, geographical, etc.) into such a beautiful fabric is a big reason why I find these novels so refreshing for my soul.
Next is The Fallen Man.
September 2, 2018
Ha! I thought this was my first Hillerman book only to discover I read it in 2009. Odd that I chose the same book. I do give it the same rating of 3 stars mainly because I felt tangled up in who is who and who did what. I had trouble keeping the names straight but I suppose that's just me. I totally enjoyed learning various facts about native american culture. How often I have seen here in the southwest those striped figures of Koshares and had no idea what these "clowns" meant and now I know . What I was fascinated with was the Navajo belief system and philosophy of "Hozho"-living a life of goodness, peace and harmony. Before reading this Hozho was just a name of a shopping area here in Sedona. I read this to the end but just for the education of the story and not particularly for the mystery.
July 28, 2023
The main mystery is pretty forgettable, which is sad because I really liked the flashes we get of the first murder victim and would like to have seen a plot that did more justice to him. I did find Chee's hit and run case compelling.
There almost always seems to be a bit more Chee than Leaphorn in the novels where they both appear, and I wish that was reversed. I am much more drawn to Joe Leaphorn and the way his mind works. In the last couple of novels Chee has felt more and more whiney, and for that reason I was really disliking him in the first half of this book. He was pretty insufferable in the first half.
There almost always seems to be a bit more Chee than Leaphorn in the novels where they both appear, and I wish that was reversed. I am much more drawn to Joe Leaphorn and the way his mind works. In the last couple of novels Chee has felt more and more whiney, and for that reason I was really disliking him in the first half of this book. He was pretty insufferable in the first half.
February 11, 2022
I just plain don’t care for Jim Chee! However, in this book he began to realize Joe Leaphorn had abilities that he admired. Leaphorn is trying to solve a murder and Chee was the one who realized the connection to another murder not in their jurisdiction. While I was not in love with this title, I will keep reading because Leaphorn is a fantastic character and Chee begins to realize that some of the religious prohibitions are just stupid. Maybe if that continues I’ll be able to enjoy Chee more.
February 21, 2022
This one was really, really good! The metaphor of the “sacred clown” was woven into the narrative extremely well. As always, Hillerman includes ideas from Navajo culture (this time Hopi as well) and I learned a great deal while still being entertained with the murder-mystery plot. One day I should actually read the entire series in order haha. Great themes, great emotion, great teachings—really good book.
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