A man is found shot dead in his truck at the end of a dry wash. There are only the tire tracks of his pickup truck going in. Nothing, not even footsteps coming back out. So who is he and how did he get there? Why was he killed? Sargent Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police is reunited with legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn in this airy mystery that explores the conflicts between the duty to love and the duty to livelihoods. All of the familiar characters seem to face this same conflict in this installment of the long running series. For a change, Chee is not the only one with serious personal conflicts. Officer Bernadette Manuelito must choose between her job and her unexpressable love for Jim Chee. A mutual love that is unexpressable because Jim Chee is her boss. We are also introduced to oil baron Wiley Denton, who chose years before between love and money, and it is this choice that haunts him throughout this book. For more than a hundred years, legends of lost Navajo gold mines fired the imagination of prospectors and geologists. One in particular, the Golden Calf, was even logged in government notes from frontier times. Oil baron Wiley Denton searched without success for over 30 years for the Gold Calf, until 5 years ago when con-man Marvin Mckay offered to sell him the secret. Denton ended up shooting him in what he claimed was self defense. He was released after a year or so in a minimum security prison, where he returned to his mansion in Gallup. Coincidentally, Denton’s young wife disappeared on the same day as the murder five years ago wrapped in rumors that she was having an affair with Mckay. Denton hires Leaphorn to find his missing wife. No, he didn’t kill her, but who did? When the dead body in the truck turns out to be looking for the Golden Calf mine and is related to the five year old murder, Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn join together to solve the three mysteries of the lost mine, missing wife, and murdered trucker. For fans familiar with this atmospheric yet bustling series united as much by its romantic glimpse into Navajo culture as its engaging characters populating the stories, this installment is going to be as welcome and recognizable as a warm ya’at’teeh. For readers new to this series, this is a great place to start. For a change, Jim Chee’s life is not in flux, and Joe Leaphorn has retired. It is as if they were starting new chapters in their lives, and it is a good place for the first time reader to get a taste for this wonderful writing. The new romantic tension between Chee and Manuelito brings fresh dynamics to the series. Unlike books like “Skinwalkers”, it is pretty clear by the middle of the book who did what to whom. But you keep reading because even though you know who did it, the story is not finished and the characters are so interesting that you want to know how it all turns out for them. Mr. Hillerman’s characters are dignified without being stultifying, his prose and pacing is spare without being stark, his policemen are laid back without being incompetent. Except for the FBI, everyone is as much a part of the landscape as the sage scented sunsets. This is mystery writing of the highest quality. Give your spirit a treat a try out this book from a wonderful series. Bet you can’t stop at just one!
One of the later books in Hillerman's series of crime novels set in the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico, with regular characters Joe Leaphorn (now retired, no longer the "legendary lieutenant") and Sgt. Jim Chee. I was surprised to discover I had not previously read this, or at least did not remember it, and so particularly enjoyed it. (I have been re-reading some of them, after a gap of 10 years or more since reading one.)This one is concise (only 230 pages), considerably involved with Navajo religious topics (as are some of the others), and also very romantic in places (but not in a way that interferes with unraveling the mystery of who did the crimes). One feature of the copy I read was maps on the end papers. This helped me to visualize the spatial relationships among the sites in the story, and travels by the characters, plus it ties in nicely with the role that maps play in both the crimes and in unraveling those crimes. (And of course Joe Leaphorn is famous for his maps.)In this story there are two mysteries, one a crime and one a disappearance, but of course we suspect early on that they are connected. Leaphorn is focused on one, and Chee on the other, but needless to say it becomes a mutual effort, aided considerably by Officer Manuelito as well (and a bit by the FBI's forensics resources). As always, I enjoy the pace of the story, with ample allowance for dialog, and especially for the circuitous way that Jim Chee finds valuable for speaking with older Navajos who neither think nor tell their stories in the same way as white people. In this story, Jim Chee's technique helps uncover valuable information but tries the patience of the local FBI agent. The agent eventually seems to come to trust Chee a bit more (while still being mostly clueless about how to deal effectively with the Navajos). Along the way, Jim Chee finds a new love with Officer Bernie Manuelito (Janet Peet having left the scene in a previous book). True to form, the "retired" Joe Leaphorn solves most of the puzzle (with considerable help from Chee), and ends up in considerable personal danger as well. But at the end, all is well. This book ends happier than some because Jim Chee's love life is looking up, in addition to the resolution of the two intertwined mysteries.
What do You think about The Wailing Wind (2003)?
This "quick-read" was okay, but a little predictable. (al)[return]_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _[return][return]This book was in my to-be-read stack for months until travel to the Southwest and the right frame of mind, made for a quick 'escape' read. Another of the Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn Navajo mystery series, Tony Hillerman http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/mystery/ameri... provides enough extension to the story-base to hold my interest. It may help that I (we) often travel near and through the geographical setting of his stories. Read an online review from At Wanderer's Well http://www.dancingbadger.com/wwind.htm (lj)
—Annette
When Navajo tribal police officer Bernie Manuelito pokes a drunk passed out in the front seat of his pickup truck and the drunk turns out to be stone dead, Bernie entangles herself in the latest of Hillerman's Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn mysteries. The Wailing Wind contains all the classic elements this mystery series: Something worth killing for (in this case, a long lost gold mine), good bad guys, stories of the Dineh culture, uncooperative Feds, and a sense of place that make you pack your bags and buy a plane ticket to Gallup.There are 16 or 17 books in the Chee/Leaphorn series, and I think this is the 12th one I've read. So for me, some of the mystery was missing. I think I had the major plot points worked out about half way through. But I don't think the mystery is the main reason I read this series. I read these because I like the characters: Leaphorn, the (now) retired police lieutenant; Chee, the younger, brash officer with a deep connection to Navajo spirituality; and the reservation landscape, a lively character in itself. OK, the main reason is to read some fluff in between bigger, weightier books, but I do like the characters, and The Wailing Wind provides further development for each character. If you haven't read any books in this series, I probably wouldn't recommend this as your first; maybe Thief in Time. My recommendation: Read this book from atop a mesa anywhere in the Four Corners region. Even better if a nasty thunderstorm is heading your way.
—Jae
3.5I'm not much into mystery books - although I like the genre in movies/TV series/mangas - and the only collection I have are Stanley Gardner's. The other author I read was Grisham, and his stories are more of the thriller/suspense type. But I think I may have found a favorite in Hillerman. (I just picked it in random 'cause it's only about 25bucks :P) There's not much to tell that hasn't already been said, but he has a charm to his writing that is lacking in some contemporary novels. I can't say that the novel is groundbreaking, but his writing is very addictive and sort of nostalgic in a sense (although I don't really know the reason for the nostalgia). The cinematic feel of the Mexican landscape is something new for me, and the experience and feel I got from this novel is something that I'm proud to carry with me as I walk the dull and boring Manila streets.
—Chrissie (is stuck in the 19th century)
