A dying man is murdered. A rich man's wife agrees to pay three thousand dollars for the return of a stolen box of rocks. A series of odd, inexplicable events is haunting Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police and drawing him alone into the Bad Country of the merciless Southwest, where nothing good can survive . . . including Chee. Because an assassin waits for him there, protecting a thirty-year-old vision that greed has sired and blood has nourished. And only one man will walk away.Review"He makes the desert come, alive." -- -- Denver Post"Hillerman . . . is in a class by himself." -- -- Los Angeles Times"Hillerman deserves to be included in any list of the best living mystery writers." -- -- Dallas Morning News"Hillerman gets better with every book." -- -- San Francisco Chronicle"Hillerman is an expert puzzle-maker." -- -- The Atlantic"Hillerman is surely one of the finest and most original craftsmen at work in the genre today." -- -- The Boston Globe"Hillerman's mysteries are unique in American crime fiction." -- -- Los Angeles Times"Readers who have not discovered Hillerman should not waste one minute more." -- -- Oklahoma City Oklahoman"The only mysteries I read are Hillerman's." -- -- Ursula K. Le Guin "This series of Southwestern mysteries from Tony Hillerman is superb." -- -- Daily News"Whatever your pleasure, you can't go wrong with this gifted, skillful and . . . unique writer." -- -- San Diego UnionAbout the AuthorTony Hillerman was the former president of the Mystery Writers of America and received its Edgar® and Grand Master awards. His other honors include the Center for the American Indian’s Ambassador Award, the Silver Spur Award for the best novel set in the West, and the Navajo Tribe’s Special Friend Award. He lived with his wife in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Amazon.com Review"They sat for a while, engulfed by sunlight, cool air and silence. A raven planed down from the rim, circled around a cottonwood, landed on a Russian olive across the canyon floor and perched, waiting for them to die." Nobody in the world could have written that paragraph but Tony Hillerman. Two old men sit, surrounded by the natural beauty of Canyon de Chelly, talking about death. The fact that one of the men is Joe Leaphorn, (the Legendary Lieutenant, as his younger colleague Jim Chee irreverently but accurately calls him behind his back) means that something serious has happened--a crime in some way connected to the Navajo people. But Leaphorn has retired from the Navajo Tribal Police, and the only person dead so far is a rich Anglo named Hal Breedlove, who fell while trying to climb Ship Rock 11 years before. Chee is busy on another, more prosaic matter, but he can't resist helping his thorny mentor on Leaphorn's first case as a private detective. The Fallen Man is brisk, beautiful, funny, and poignant--as good a place as any for first-timers to plunge into Hillerman Country. Then they can catch up on past triumphs with Three Joe Leaphorn Mysteries (The Blessing Way/Dance Hall of the Dead/Listening Woman) and Three Jim Chee Mysteries (People of Darkness/The Dark Wind/The Ghostway). From School Library JournalYA. The latest Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn mystery has vivid descriptions of Native American mythology and traditions but lacks the suspense and tightly woven plot of the earlier titles in this popular series. A skeleton is found on a high ledge of Ship Rock mountain, a place sacred to the Navahos. Tribal Police Lieutenant Chee and the now retired Leaphorn suspect correctly that it belongs to a wealthy rancher missing for 11 years, and Chee tries to discover if it is murder or an accidental death. Meanwhile, Leaphorn is hired by a lawyer to look into the investigation for the rancher's Eastern family, who want to own his land legally so they can accept a lucrative bid for the mining rights. The obvious suspects, if there was foul play, are the young woman who inherited the ranch and her brother who manages it. In addition to uncovering the cause of death, Chee must determine if the rancher died before or after his 30th birthday when he legally inherited the ranch from a family trust. The continuing rocky romance between Chee and tribal lawyer Janet Pete brings an interesting love angle to the story. Environmentalism and the survival of Native American culture are strong themes.?Penny Stevens, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this extraordinary collection, Tony Hillerman presents the Southwest as only he can, choosing remarkable true tales from his personal archives of local lore. As you read these stories, you will be amazed, astounded, and oftentimes confounded by the power of ingenuity, serendipity, and the strange, comical coincidence of life and how it proves, once again, that truth is ultimately stranger than fiction. From the amusing title story of the holdup that didn't happen, to the riveting account of scientists tracking Black Death through the arroyos, to the ironic account of how a black cowboy's commonsense intelligence destroyed the dogma of the Smithsonian Institution, master storyteller Tony Hillerman reveals the present and timeless past of one of America's most beautiful and haunting regions.

The corpse had been "scalped," its palms and soles removed after death. Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police knows immediately he will have his hands full with this case -- a certainty that is supported by the disturbing occurrences to follow. A mysterious nighttime plane crash, a vanishing shipment of cocaine, and a bizarre attack on a windmill only intensify Chee's fears. A dark and very ill wind is blowing through the Southwestern desert, a gale driven by Navajo sorcery and white man's greed. And it will sweep away everything unless Chee can somehow change the weather.Performed by Gil SilverbirdEnhanced CD: CD features an interactive program which can be viewed on your computer, including: a photo galary, an author Q&A and a 35 years of excellence timeline. (source: Bol.com)

Old Joseph Joe sees it all. Two strangers spill blood at the Shiprock Wash-O-Mat. One dies. The other drives off into the dry lands of the Big Reservation, but not before he shows the old Navajo a photo of the man he seeks.This is all Tribal Policeman Jim Chee needs to set him off on an odyssey that moves from a trapped ghost in an Indian hogan to the seedy underbelly of L.A. to an ancient healing ceremony where death is the cure, and into the dark heart of murder and revenge.Reissued to tie-in with Hillerman's Coyote Waits. Tribal Policeman Jim Chee goes after a killer--and on an odyssey of murder and revenge that moves from an Indian hogan and its trapped ghost to the dark underbelly of LA to a healing ceremony whose cure could be death. "A first-rate story of suspense and mystery."--The New Yorker.

From Publishers WeeklyHillerman's latest is not quite up to his best standards, but it's still a wonderfully readable, involving mystery. Here he sets Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee in Washington, D.C., as each uses vacation time to follow separate cases that will connect in a clash of violence at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History. Chee has come at the request of Janet Pete, a Navajo lawyer with a case that involves a ceremonial mask of Yeibichai, or Talking God, maternal grandfather of all the other Navajo gods, and a museum curator named Henry Highhawk, who claims Navajo ancestry and wants to be included on tribal rolls. Leaphorn's interest rises from a puzzling homicide case--an unidentified corpse found near Gallup, N.M., with a note mentioning a pending Yeibichai ceremony. Just as Leaphorn's tenacity reveals the dead man was a leftist Chilean terrorist, Highhawk is killed (in a spooky late-night scene in the Museum) and the pivotal role of the Talking God mask comes into play. Leaphorn's grief over the recent death of his wife, Chee's sorrow at the end of an impossible love affair, both men's sense of alienation in the capital city's urban sophistication suffuse this slim, somewhat contrived, tale with palpable melancholy. 150,000 copy first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; Mysterious Book Club dual main selection; BOMC and QPBC alternates; author tour. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalThere are three things one can expect from a Hillerman mystery: a story that would make no sense without its rock-solid base of Navaho culture; a tale that moves within the rhythms of real time; and an intricate plot that calls for the particular skills of his two detectives, Jim Chee, shaman and officer of the Navaho Tribal Police, and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, older, slower, and wiser. Talking God has all of these things in a plot that absolutely defies summary. Leaphorn and Chee track different paths for different crimes and both end up in the wilds of Washington, D.C., ostensibly on vacation. Instead of the sweet scent of the Southwest, Hillerman has a good time pitting his detectives against the "City of Navy Blue Suits." Welcome as a returning presence is winsome Navaho attorney Janet Pete, who contributes both to the structure of the mystery and to Chee's emotional disharmony. In 1970, LJ 's reviewer described Hillerman's The Blessing Way as "a mystery with literary value; one you can recommend to people who don't like mysteries." Indeed; enjoy. For more on Hillerman, see "Contributing Factors" in this issue, p. 00.- Ed. -- GraceAnne A. DeCandido, "Library Journal"Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Amazon.com ReviewThe marvelous Hunting Badger is Tony Hillerman's 14th novel featuring Navajo tribal police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Here the two cops (who appeared in separate books early on but whose paths now cross routinely) are working two angles of the same case to catch the right-wing militiamen who pulled off a violent heist at an Indian casino. Hillerman serves up plenty of action and enough plot twists to keep readers off balance, leading up to a satisfyingly tense climax in which Leaphorn and Chee stalk a killer in his hideout. But through it all, the cardinal Hillerman virtues are in evidence: economical, pellucid prose; a panoply of Indian-country characters who seem to rise right up off the page; vivid evocations of the Southwest's bleak beauty; and rich insights into Navajo life and culture. (Hillerman once told an interviewer that the highest compliment he'd ever received was many Navajo readers' assumption that he himself is Navajo--he's not.)While first-time readers will find plenty to enjoy in Hunting Badger, it holds special pleasures for longtime fans. There's more and deeper contact between Leaphorn and Chee, and we continue to see further into the prickly Leaphorn's human side (though without fuss or sentimentality). Chee finally begins to get over Janet Pete (it took about six books) and inch toward a new love interest. And in a moving section involving Chee's spiritual teacher Frank Sam Nakai, the shaman provides a key insight into the case.In a world teeming with "sense of place" mysteries--set in Seattle, Alaska, the Arizona desert, or Chicago--it can be a shock to return to Hillerman, who started it all, and realize just how superior he is to the rest of the pack. --Nicholas H. AllisonFrom Publishers WeeklyPicking up a new Hillerman book has the high comfort level of revisiting a favorite old Western hotel like the Bishop's Lodge in Santa Fe or the Ahwani at YosemiteAthe accommodations will always be first class and the scenery spectacular. Not that Hillerman ignores the passage of time: his two Navajo cops, Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, age and change as we all do. There's a moment in the novel when Chee meets with his retired former boss at the Anasazi Inn dining room in Farmington, N. Mex. "He had looked right past the corner table and the stocky old duffer sitting there with a plump middle-aged woman without recognizing Joe Leaphorn.... He had seen the Legendary Lieutenant in civilian attire before, but the image he carried in his mind was of Leaphorn in uniform." As for the prickly Sergeant Chee, he has to contend with physical problems as well as with the end of one romance and the beginning of anotherAnot to mention the very real possibility of being picked off by a sniper during the search for the men who robbed a casino owned by the Ute tribe. In a rare author's note, Hillerman talks about an actual 1998 case in which the FBI turned the killing of a Colorado police officer into a gigantic fiasco. The shadow of that failed investigation hangs over the search in this book, leading to many anti-FBI jibes ("If the Federal Bureau of Ineptitude says it, it must be true," another retired cop tells Leaphorn). As usual in recent Hillerman books, the action goes on mostly inside the minds of his two lead characters. But there is one splendid helicopter ride into Gothic Creek Canyon that should speed up the calmest heart, several new insights into the mysteries of Navajo culture and a story with enough twists and surprises to make readers glad they checked in. Major ad/promo; 15-city TV satellite tour; simultaneous HarperAudio. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review“A good exciting mystery that has everything.” (Pittsburgh Press ) “Hillerman’s mysteries are special . . . Listening Woman is among the best.” (Washington Post ) Product DescriptionThe blind shaman called Listening Woman speaks of witches and restless spirits, of supernatural evil unleashed. But Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police is sure the monster who savagely slaughtered an old man and a teenage girl was human. The solution to a horrific crime is buried somewhere in a dead man's secrets and in the shocking events of a hundred years past. To ignore the warnings of a venerable seer, however, might be reckless foolishness when Leaphorn's investigation leads him farther away from the comprehensible . . . and closer to the most brutally violent confrontation of his career.

The car fire didn't kill Navajo Tribal Policeman Delbert Nez—a bullet did. And the old man in possession of the murder weapon is a whiskey-soaked shaman named Ashie Pinto. Officer Jim Chee is devastated by the slaying of his good friend Del, and confounded by the prime suspect's refusal to utter a single word of confession or denial.Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn believes there is much more to this outrage than what appears on the surface, as he and Jim Chee set out to unravel a complex weave of greed and death that involves a historical find and a lost fortune. But the hungry and mythical trickster Coyote is waiting, as always, in the shadows to add a strange and deadly new twist.When Navajo Tribal Policeman Delbert Nez is murdered, Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee begin an investigation that unravels a complex plot involving an historical find, a lost fortune, and the mythical Coyote, who is always waiting--and always hungry.

Review"This collection is the essence of Hillerman, which is always instructive fun." -- --New MexicanProduct DescriptionIn this extraordinary collection, Tony Hillerman presents the Southwest as only he can, choosing remarkable true tales from his personal archives of local lore. As you read these stories, you will be amazed, astounded, and oftentimes confounded by the power of ingenuity, serendipity, and the strange, comical coincidence of life and how it proves, once again, that truth is ultimately stranger than fiction.From the amusing title story of the holdup that didn't happen, to the riveting account of scientists tracking Black Death through the arroyos, to the ironic account of how a black cowboy's commonsense intelligence destroyed the dogma of the Smithsonian Institution, master storyteller Tony Hillerman reveals the present and timeless past of one of America's most beautiful and haunting regions.

During a kachina ceremony at the Tano Pueblo, the antics of a dancing koshare fill the air with tension. Moments later, the clown is found bludgeoned to death, in the same manner a reservation schoolteacher was killed only days before.Officer Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn believe that answers lie in the sacred clown's final cryptic message to the Tano people. But to decipher it, the two Navajo policemen may have to delve into closely guarded tribal secrets—on a sinister trail of blood that links a runaway, a holy artifact, corrupt Indian traders, and a pair of dead bodies.This long-awaited new novel from the author of such blockbuster bestsellers as Coyote Waits and A Thief of Time is Tony Hillerman at his best. In a taught and richly woven mystery set in the Navajo Southwest, Tribal Policemen Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee unravel the treacherous web of tribal politics that connects two murders.