Tony Hillerman (1925–2008)

A Zuni young teen is murdered and his Navajo friend, a Zuni-wannabe, has disappeared, Leaphorn shows his tracking skill, finding moccasin prints days old, anticipating where and when a hungry hunter would go to find game. He also shows his compassion for a young hippie woman who has nowhere to go but an abusive situation. He has no compassion for the white man who won't stand up for her. What he doesn't see is a trap and gets himself in trouble, and a tiny detail he forgets means he doesn't get to a victim in time.[return]In the end, the traditional enforcers take care of their own, which is more satisfactory than having the Bilagaana outsiders doing a rescue.[return]A quick, simple read.… (more)

This was all Jim Chee, and he spent most of the book prowling the desert alone, defying his boss's orders, trying to solve a mystery that wasn't their jurisdiction, and getting crosswise of the DEA agents whose case it was. Naturally, he was frequently in peril of losing his job, or his life, and it was all terribly convoluted, but much of the action was in Chee's head as he attempted to apply concentration techniques taught to him since childhood by a respected elder. The best parts of this book for me were the details of Hopi and Navajo culture (differences abound, and members of the two tribes go about things differently...also, they do not look alike, a point made more than once!), and the fine points of tracking, at which Chee is better than the Feds by several orders of magnitude. For anyone who has watched the excellent Robert Redford/George R. R. Martin production by the same name, featuring Leaphorn, Chee and Manuelito, there is virtually no connection between this particular Hillerman entry and that mini-series.… (more)