Leaphorn & Chee

By Tony Hillerman

Includes three Hillerman mysteries featuring officer Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jee Chee: Talking God, A Thief of Time and Skinwalkers. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060187891
• ISBN13: 9780060187897
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
• Weight: 1.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Three of a Kind

Skinwalkers “Sun will be created – They say he has planned it all.” Skinwalkers are witches in Navajo legends who can fly or transform into a dog or a wolf. This mystery involves the conflict between Skinwalkers, shamans, and belegana medicine. Alternatively, it might simply be a series of unrelated murders. In any case, it seems someone is targeting Navajo Tribal Police Officer Jim Chee, and he has no idea why. As with all of Tony Hillerman's stories, you feel like you are there. If you have visited or live in the Four Corners canyons area where the story takes place, you’ll relate better to the people and landmarks. Like his other books, there is both an overt and a covert story. I’ve read the book, and George Guidall’s audio narration adds a layer to the story, helping to visualize the characters and correct the pronunciation of certain words. I recommend reading the book and listening to the audiobook. I first saw the TV adaptation of Skinwalkers, starring Robert Redford, who tends to adapt stories to fit his own agenda. However, this book is so strongly written that I thought Redford wouldn’t be able to alter it. I was mistaken. The book is much deeper, and the added motives and characters make the mystery much more compelling. --- A thief of time is a pot pilferer. Like most Hillerman stories, this one features multiple mysteries that overlap in time and space. Lt. Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police, nearing retirement with just days to go, is searching for a missing anthropologist, Dr. Eleanor Friedman-Bernal, who disappears after leaving an extensively prepared meal in her refrigerator. Meanwhile, Officer Jim Chee is searching for a stolen backhoe that he was supposed to be watching, due to ongoing theft issues. Don’t jump to conclusions. Hillerman subtly hints at his mysteries, and you can usually guess the endings. But this time, it’s not worth trying. The story includes colorful descriptions of the Four Corners region and offers insights into Navajo culture—sometimes with so much detail it might make you crazy. --- Leaphorn and Chee Together Again? Once again, Tony Hillerman crafts a fantastic story with many intertwined threads. We get to revisit familiar characters from earlier stories and meet new ones. The main setting is Washington, DC. The story features “The Night Chant” ceremony, which introduces us to the talking God Yeibichai. This time, the plot takes us to the Smithsonian Institution. Joe Leaphorn, just days from retirement, becomes interested when they find a man’s body with no teeth beside the railroad tracks. Jim Chee is tasked with arresting a grave robber at the ceremony. When everyone else gives up, Leaphorn goes the extra mile to solve the mystery of the man near the tracks. Chee also digs deep to catch the grave robber, who now hires Chee's ex-girlfriend as his lawyer. Will Jim and Joe cross paths? And is there a connection between these stories? You’ll learn about more Navajo customs and gods. At first, it might seem like the story drags on, but then it ends too soon. Either way, it makes for a great reading experience.

Navajo detective stories

This book was purchased by my husband to replace his paperback one. We live in SW CO and have been thru the Navajo Reservation and know all the locations that are written in this book. So your mind can just picture whats going on just like watching tv. This book is hard to put down once started. Great reading