Two years ago, wealthy oil-lease magnate Wiley Denton confessed to shooting Marvin McKay dead-a con man, he testified, whose offer of a partnership in the lost Golden Calf goldmine backfired when he tried to leave Denton's place with the $50,000 down payment in lieu of any legal agreement-pleaded self-defense, and served his time. Case closed for everybody except Joe Leaphorn, retired Legendary Lieutenant of the Navajo Tribal Police, who's always wondered what became of Denton's beautiful young wife Linda, who vanished the day of the killing. Now a second murder has put the case back on the front burner. Officer Bernadette Manuelito has discovered the body of Thomas Doherty, a Forest Service employee who had his old interest in the Golden Calf, in his truck. Trouble is, Bernie didn't realize Doherty was a murder victim and allowed the crime scene to get so trampled that the Apache County Sheriff's Department has grabbed the case away from the Tribal Police. Don't worry about Bernie, though. Before Sgt. Jim Chee, who's awfully attached to her, can work out a way to cover her misstep, she's already found the place where Doherty was killed-and begun an investigation that will link both murders to the rumors of a spectral wailing woman at Fort Wingate the Halloween night that Denton shot McKay. Top-notch detective work by all hands, a solution fully worthy of the puzzle, and all the hard-won wisdom on cultural clashes between Navajos and whites you'd expect from Hillerman (Hunting Badger, 2000, etc.).

Adult/High School-Young Officer Bernadette Manuelito of the Navajo Tribal Police is pursuing routine duties when the dispatcher asks her to check out an abandoned truck in an arroyo. Bernie is no longer "the greenest rookie," but when she finds a murder victim she is inexperienced enough to make a big mistake. Still, her interest in botany leads her to collect some plant specimens at the crime scene, and they prove to be important clues. FBI agents soon take over the investigation; they are oblivious to any nuance of place or culture that could lead them to a solution. Sergeant Jim Chee, Bernie's supervisor, characteristically goes his own way. Meanwhile, Wiley Denton, a rich eccentric, has asked retired Lt. Joe Leaphorn to find his missing wife. The investigators set out in different directions, and the distances between them seem as vast and lonely as the New Mexico landscape. Having the advantage of following all three main characters, readers soon know where they are headed; the interest and suspense lie in seeing how these quirky and likable people occasionally glance off one another and exchange crucial information. Finally, Chee, Manuelito, and Leaphorn converge to see the whole picture. Hillerman's fans will enjoy revisiting these characters and their world, but newcomers will miss a lot, and would be better advised to read the earlier stories first.-Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The return of Leaphorn and Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police in Four Corners Country is cause for rejoicing. Sergeant Jim Chee lures his old boss, Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, out of retirement with news of a murder that reaches back to an unsolved mystery that has long haunted both Chee and Leaphorn. Officer Bernadette Manuslito, a Tribal Police rookie and one of the most satisfyingly human woman cops in current fiction, discovers a body in a parked car. Manuslito is traditional Navajo and fears contamination from the spirit lingering near the corpse. She leaves the crime scene unprocessed and is criticized for mishandling evidence, leaving her boss and romantic interest Chee to cover her tracks. A document found later on the body is the link to Leaphorn and Chee's old case, which involves a murder and a disappearance tied to a legendary lost gold mine. The Navajo, according to Hillerman, view gold as a substance that drives white men crazy. This tale of rabid questing for an iffy gold source bears out this belief. It also has the heady Hillerman mix of goofy stationhouse politics, rich depiction of Navajo customs, evocative landscape, and prose that can move from comedy to terror in a split second. Hillerman invented the Native American mystery, widely practiced now, but nobody does it better. Connie Fletcher.

The 15th Chee/Leaphorn mystery (after 1999's relatively weak Hunting Badger) finds MWA Grand Master Hillerman back at the top of his form as his two Navajo peace officers look into both a past and present mystery. Religious fervency and single-minded greed become strange but necessary bedfellows in a plot filled, as always, with insights into the lives and beliefs of the "Dineh." When an abandoned pickup truck turns out to contain one very dead white man, Sgt. Jim Chee's instincts lead him to bring retired Lt. Joe Leaphorn into the case. Leaphorn's trademark curiosity sends him in search of possible links between this homicide and another two years earlier. The first murder occurred on Halloween day when Wiley Denton supposedly shot Marvin McKay in self-defense after McKay tried to sell him bogus information about an old gold mine. That same day Denton's wife, Linda, disappeared; she has never been heard from again. Leaphorn's recollection of what had been shrugged off as a Halloween prank out at old Fort Wingate now becomes the itch he has to scratch. It seems a group of teens shortcutting across the area had endured a close call with La Llorana, a mythical wailing woman. The information he gathers adds yet another piece to the puzzle of the missing Linda. Chee is up to his elbows in not only the investigation but also in sorting through his growing emotional confusion about the beautiful Bernadette Manuelito. The seemingly insignificant turns critical and the loose ends tie up in one tidy conclusion as Hillerman repeatedly shines in this masterfully complex new novel. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Navajo tribal peace officer Jim Chee and retired lieutenant Joe Leaphorn return in Hillerman's 16th "Four Corners" mystery. Rookie officer Bernadette Manuelito investigates an abandoned truck in a remote gulch and finds a corpse inside. Her Navajo belief in malicious spirits leads to a botched crime scene investigation. Meanwhile, Joe accepts a job hunting for the missing wife of a wealthy mining tycoon. A document found on the murder victim's body links it to a legendary gold mine and the missing wife. The two crime threads weave their way toward a solution with plenty of scenic color and Navajo lore. Although earlier Chee/Leaphorn mysteries provide interesting character background for novice listeners, Hillerman veterans will especially appreciate the tender progress of Jim and Bernadette's romance. George Guidall's familiar voice completes this program; recommended where Hillerman is popular.-Sandy Glover, West Linn P.L., OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.