Sacred Clowns

This is a Jim Chee mystery. Chee has been assigned to find a young boy who has run away from school. Meanwhile, a man has been murdered at the school where the boy ran away from. While Chee is on the trail of the boy, the boy's uncle happens to be murdered almost right in front of him. Coincidence? Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, Chee's boss, doesn't believe in coincidences. But there are no clues linking the three incidents. It's up to Chee to figure out what's been happening in case the boy is in danger. As with all of Hillerman's books, this tale is rich with detail from Navajo culture. Through Chee's eyes, we witness a Pueblo ceremonial and learn about some of the roles tribesmen play during the ritual. Despite the urgency of the situation, Chee must divide his attention between his job and his personal life, between the ethics of his tribe and the law. This book will draw you in from page one.

After adding *Sacred Clowns* to his "Navajo mysteries" series, Hillerman stepped out of the milieu to write a novel best forgotten, *Finding Moon*, about the fall of Saigon. Sadly, when he returned to the series, something was lost, and the books since have felt almost as if they were being ghost-written for him.*Sacred Clowns* is the last of the best of these books. Set at the fictional "Hano" Pueblo, it explores history, religion, and antiquities, weaving together environmental issues, intertribal rivalries, and a good, solid story with interesting characters. Chee and Leaphorn are dealing with their respective personal problems, and both stories move forward in promising ways.This is not the best of the series. That honor goes to *A Thief of Time*, because Hillerman got it all right and it dazzles. It's not the most representative. That would be *Skinwalkers*, I think, and hence its selection for the first Hillerman Mystery Theatre production this fall. And it's not my favorite; that would be *Coyote Waits*, with its surprise ending that brings home the potential for tragedy on the reservation better than any mainstream novel I've read. But it is a good, solid book, entertaining, educational, densely plotted and well written. Of the books added to the series since, the lastest, *The Wailing Wind*, finally suggests that Hillerman is getting back on track, but if you are new to this remarkable and exciting set of novels, begin with one of the three I've recommended above, then, if you like that, go back to the first or second novel and read your way forward. By the time you jump the gully of *Finding Moon*, you will be prepared to forgive some tiredness in the stories that come after.Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee will be gone eventually, like Thomas Perry's wonderful Jane Whitefield. I will miss them. For a complete discussion of the "Indian mystery" genre, check my web site.

Against his editor's counsel, Tony Hillerman switched from nonfiction to fiction writing over 30 years ago, with a story ultimately entitled "The Blessing Way;" introducing an (at the time) new type of hero and a new setting to the realm of the mystery novel - a Navajo policeman named Joe Leaphorn and the world of the Diné, i.e. [Navajo] "people," living on the rugged plains, deserts and mountain ridges of the southwestern Four Corners Country. From the first book on, Hillerman's novels drew in equal parts on the author's natural gift as a storyteller, his upbringing within and hence, intimate knowledge of the world he describes, and his training as a writer; all of these elements blending into fascinating storylines and vivid and accurate portrayals of the land and its people. Based on the success of his Leaphorn series, Tony Hillerman then created a new hero and (initially: a second) series set in Dinetah (Navajo country): tribal policeman Jim Chee. But while Joe Leaphorn was married and methodical and seemed, over the course of the years, to have found a way to harmonize Navajo traditions and 20th century American life, the younger Chee, unmarried, initially trained to be a shaman and deeply traditional, yet at the same time drawn to women living in the white man's world, was struggling to find that same sense of balance. Whether or not Hillerman's unequal heroes were always meant to meet, they eventually did so in "Skinwalkers" and have been solving crimes together ever since, and their disparate tempers and approaches to police work add another level of tension to the stories, in addition to the cultural differences between the Navajo and the world(s) surrounding them, and the tribal policemen's perpetual clashes with the federal authorities. In more than one novel, Hillerman transcends the world of the Navajo, bringing in and contrasting to it the views and traditions of other tribes of the Southwest, not all of them historically on friendly terms with the Navajo (e.g. the Hopi in "The Dark Wind," the Ute in "Hunting Badger" and the Zuni in "Dance Hall of the Dead"). In "Sacred Clowns," Chee and Leaphorn (who has long since gained a reputation as the "Legendary Lieutenant") must delve into the society of Tano Pueblo to solve the murder of a teacher at a Navajo school, which seems to be connected to a death in the pueblo. As they dig through layers and layers of secrets, they again face the skepticism of a society that has had its "issues" with the Diné in the past. Yet, they slowly unravel the mystery surrounding the Kachina dancers ("sacred clowns") at the heart of the story and finally come to an, as always, surprising conclusion. If you have never read a book by Hillerman and it's important to you to get to know the main characters of a series as they develop over the course of time, you'll have no choice but to go all the way back to "The Blessing Way" and read your way through to this particular book (which in a way makes s

Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Tony Hillerman's crack Navajo investigators, know treachery, deceit, corruption, wickedness, and tribal politics of their fellow Navajos very well. In "Sacred Clowns," Hillerman is in top form, spinning his web of intrigue, murder, and, indeed, mayhem in the Southwest. In addition to a taut plot line, in which Leaphorn and Chee are at their best, Hillerman's penchant for presenting the character of these two is superb. Both are incredibly complex men, yet so vastly different too. A teacher at a local Navajo school is murdered; shortly afterward another murder, this time at the Tano Indian pueblo. With the adroit skill of which his readers have become accustomed, Hillerman unfolds his story with the dexterity of a surgeon. The sacred kachina scenario is one of his finest, as Hillerman evokes the landscape and atmosphere so well. Hillerman seems to have done more for the preservation of the Navajo culture than just about anyone, yet hisstory line does not suffer. As the kachinas (sacred clowns) are not what they seem, neither are the murders. This book is refreshing--and compelling--to read! ([email protected])

Tony Hillerman is one of my very favorite mystery writers. Having grown up in the Southwest, the tribal backdrop for the series has always charmed me. Jim Chee is a deeply spiritual Navajo who is also a tribal policeman. His ability to deal with the spiritual and the physical issues makes for interesting plot twists that add important knowledge about one of our oldest and proudest cultures in North America. Joe Leaphorn, the classic thinking detective, is a good contrast -- drawing heavily on inductive and deductive logic to solve cases.In Sacred Clowns we get lots of both Jim and Joe, something that all of the best Tony Hillerman mysteries have in common.What makes Sacred Clowns special is that the plot is a nice amalgam of tribal and nontribal culture, bringing up nice opportunities for contrasts. You'll find yourself fascinated by the way the two cultures are intertwined in this very complex story.Finally, and most importantly, this is one of the hardest mysteries to solve that I have ever had the pleasure to read. It had me confused right up to the end. I even went back and reread the story to be sure I hadn't suffered from temporary amnesia. No, the clues are all there, but they are really subtle. This is a great thinking person's mystery plot.If you have never read any of Tony Hillerman's work, you have a real treat in store. You'll be amazed how good this novel is. If you have read lots of his work, you also have a big treat. This is clearly one of his finest novels!