::AMAZON REVIEWS::

Skinny Woman
SETUP
In Skinwalkers "legendary lieutenant" Joe Leaphorn and detective Jim Chee work in tandem for the first time to solve three seemingly disconnected murders in the area. Early in the investigation, Chee brings in Roosevelt Bisti. Bisti, who is dying of cancer, readily admits to one of the murders (a shooting), but the victim had died of stab wounds. A baby has been born in a clinic with anencephaly, a hopeless condition, but its desperate traditional parents believe that there is a cure. Chee himself barely escapes death when his house trailer is shot up, by someone who suspects Chee of being a "Navajo wolf", i.e., a witch (aka skinwalker). That's the setup.

SIDESTORIES
I don't normally mention sidestories in reviews, but they are important in "The First Eagle" and a few other novels in the series. In these, the mystery (and associated plot) is almost secondary, almost just a vehicle, for the poignant and insightful "sidestories".

Leaphorn's wife, Emma, is apparently succumbing to Alzheimer's. Chee's fiancee ("white" teacher) Mary Landon, writes him advising him of her decision to go to graduate school in Wisconsin, but Chee meets the no-nonsense "firecracker" public defender, (half-Navajo) Janet Pete who is defending Bisti. Chee is taking care of a semi-wild cat, which turns out to be pregnant.

COMMENTS ON SKINWALKERS
The proximate "mystery" in "Skinwalkers" is actually revealed at an early point (trust your sleuthing instincts), but the ultimate motivations remain a mystery until the end.

COMMENTS ON THE SERIES
In his Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novels, Tony Hillerman, creates an almost "alternate reality", a world alien to most readers, but vividly filled with fascinating individuals and intriguing mysteries. The major "good guys", are very believable, likeable and admirable individuals (despite normal human flaws), who are easy for the reader to become emotionally attached to.

In addition to being younger and more impetuous (or hotheaded and impatient, in Leaphorn's view), Jim Chee differs from Joe Leaphorn in being a more traditional Navajo. Indeed, he has trained to be a "singer", that is, a shaman or healer. In "Skinwalkers" Chee is offered his first commission to perform a "sing" (other than a sorta "advertising" sing he did for a niece).

I suspect that many readers, like myself, privately wish that Hillermans novels were more lengthy. The ending always comes too soon. But that's a key to good writing--to leave the reader wanting more. Hillerman is a very "economical" writer. His novels are almost "long short stories" in which every word in the novel has a purpose. There is no filler. This is particularly important to mystery lovers--virtually every detail is a real clue--there are no "red herrings", per se. Although I would more than tolerate some filler, I still venerate Hillerman's sytle as that of a master--and superbly appropriate to his subject matter.


VERDICT
One of the best in a series of masterpieces.

Navajo mystery - Jim Chee - Joe Leaphorn
Tony Hillerman is one of the most readable authors of Native American mysteries. There is a lot of history/lore/meaning including in his books.

An attempted cop killing sets off this interesting story
Jim Chee barely escapes becoming the fourth of a string of strange homicides plaguing the NTP. His investigation into the crimes takes him all around the reservation. Lt. Leaphorn is also trying to figure out this puzzle. Witchcraft and a shady doctor add elements to the story, making it significantly different than most murder mysteries.

What got me, were the touching moments where Leaphorn was with/thinking about his wife, describing how he was losing her to the unexplained folly of the human brain. This secondary storyline shows the Legendary Lt. in a place where many of the readers have been or will be in, making him an extremely compelling character in this volume.

Skinwalkers
Anything Tony Hillerman does in my opinion is well worth reading. But I am a big fan of the Leaphorn, Chee mysteries anyway.

Fabulous suspense!
And the setting is marvellous too. The book is set right smack in the middle of the Large Reservation in the State of Utah. This is the first book in the Joe Leaphorn/Jimmy Che series, and it certainly is a good one. These two wonderful detectives are caught in the middle of a bunch of murders that seem to lead back to witchcraft in the Navajo nation. Hillerman makes his setting come alive and the people in his books are real. In it we learn a lot of Navajo folklore. I think it will certainly be worth pursuing the other books in this series since Hellerman seems to make this world his own.