Alice B. reviewed on 5/30/2013 + 3563 more book reviews

Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police join forces in Hillerman's imaginative series on crimes occurring in or around the four corners country of the Southwest. Leaphorn and Chee track down a killer and along the way travel throughout the vast Navajo nation imparting arcane data on Native American pots, shards, and rituals.
Leaphorn and Chee's murder investigation touches on the "thieves of time;" those persons who desecrate and often destroy Native American archaeological sites in their fervor to collect ancient artifacts. The officers decipher clues leading to the identity of a killer who leaves bodies at Anasazi sites which have been looted. The interchange between Leaphorn and Chee, both said and unsaid, forms the main contrast in this book. Both men are interesting but Leaphorn is a more complex person; an aging Indian nearing the end of his career.

Known as the ancient ones, the Anasazi have been the subject of numerous studies by academia as to their origin and demise ranging from speculation to sober reality. The end result is conjecture although Hillerman is able to touch on the Anasazi lifestyle and history with a sure and steady hand.

There are more than 140,000 Native American sites registered within the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Registration is required and approval is needed from the U. S. Government before digging can be undertaken by archaeologists at any of these sites. Unfortunately, the vast majority of sites are unidentified and thus unregistered. If they are identified, they are often unprotected and subject to vandalism by anyone.

Many of the unregistered sites are located on private land allowing the owner or others to remove aritifacts under cover of law. Some Indian artifact stores in the Southwest have knowingly bought stolen artifacts but the proof required to convict the owners is often lacking.

Hillerman introduces a reader to more than murder within the pages of his books. The various facets of the investigation opens the door to a reader's mind. Hillerman's main purpose is to educate a reader to the Navajo and Hopi tribes; their rituals, their people, and the gentle pace of their hard won existence.

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