The Joe Leaphorn Mysteries: Three Classic Hillerman Mysteries Featuring Lt. Joe Leaphorn

I was halfway thru the second story when someone picked up the book and left with it. I was at the Drs office. I love Tony Hillerman's stories as he brings the Navaho reservation to life. I recognize all the areas he writes about as I have friends on the reservation and go there frequently. Excellent read

His writing reminds me of L'Amour and Earl Stanley Gardner. The mysteries are very good and the country is described in a manner equal to the best of L'Amour. The descriptions of Native American religion is great and we also get the hurdles of Indian society. If you like a mystery and you like a good Western, this book is for you. This book is appropriate for teens on up. There is violence. Leaphorn is a great character.

It's always good to get a bargain, and extra good to enjoy the book. The stories are well written and hold your attention. There is also a lot of local information as well as a lot of history. I love the story plot as well as the way the author weaves a lot of tradional lore and intermingles it with the possiblilites. He gives you a picture of another culture and involves us in their lives.

I thoroughly enjoy reading Hillerman's book on the Navajo policemen. His knowledge of the Navajo is so informative and a great addition to the storyline.

---"The Blessing Way"--- "He stirs, he stirs, he stirs, he stirs," "Among the lands of dawning, he stirs, he stirs. The pollen of dawning, he stirs, he stirs. Now in old age wandering, he stirs, he stirs. Now on the trail of beauty, he stirs, Talking God, he stirs..." It is in the 1970's pre-cell phone where parallel lives take place. We have an Indian wanted for a stabbing who turns up dead. Not just dead but in the wrong place. Not the wrong place but in a mysterious way. There is also a team of archeologists looking into which craft (they just may find it). One archeologist seems to be missing. A strange Navaho has his hat stolen but the silver hat band left. A woman is coming to visit her fiancé is in for an adventure she did not count on. From all of this Joe Leaphorn must make some sort of sense. It is the descriptiveness of Tony Hillerman that goes beyond the mystery to pant a picture of a different world that we get to glimpse in the process of reading. Read the book but the addition of the voice of George Guidall ads a dimension to the story by helping visualize the people and correcting pronunciation of certain words. I suggest you read the book and listen to the recorded version. ---------------------------------------- ---"Dance Hall of the Dead"--- The Fire God is missing Twelve-year-old Ernesto Cata (Zuñi) is practicing to be the Fire God in a local ceremony. His best buddy George Bowlegs (Navaho) is a Zuñi wana-be. Ernesto is missing and there is a pool of blood by his bike. The next day his buddy George runs off. It is up to Sgt. Joe Leaphorn to find the boys before anything happens to them (if it has not already.) As with most of Hillerman's novels everyone has different agendas and stories that overlap. There are alleged stolen artifacts form and archeological dig, and possibly a drug interest. They may or may not interact. We also get a good dose of Zuñi culture, and a feel that we are in the area. Hillerman is nice enough to leave sufficient clues to let you figure out the mystery before Leaphorn and you then get to watch as he finally comes around to your way of thinking. Another book by Hillerman "The Boy who Made Dragonfly" further describes the dance hall of the dead (Kothluwalawa.) Author's Note: "In this book, the setting is genuine. The village of Zuñi and the landscape of the Zuñi reservation are depicted to the best of my ability. The characters are purely fictional. The view the reader receives of the Sha'lak'o religion is as it might be seen by a Navajo with an interest in ethnology. It does not pretend to be more than that." -------------------------------- ---"Listening Woman"--- A great cliff hanger Joe Leaphorn can put the loose ends together even when no one else realizes there are loose ends. The story starts out with an old man being bludgeoned and later Leaphorn is intentionally almost rundown by a mysterious man in gold rimed glasses. He tries to tie these together. Then he uses an ol

In this volume, encompassing three novels, we are introduced to Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, educated at a White college yet living on the reservation, and discover some of the ways of the Dineh, the people. The subject novels -- "The Blessing Way," "Dance Hall of the Dead," and "Listening Women" were written between 1970 and 1978, and deal with the effects of jealousy, greed, rage, and revenge brought onto the Navajo reservation by outsiders. Hillerman has an unerring talent for using small bits of Indian culture to weave convincing stories laced with an inticate pattern of mystery.From day one, Hillerman has been a successful mystery writer. He writes with integrity about the lives of the Southwest Indians (emphasis on the Navajo) with perception and understanding. Hillerman has won many fans with his series of mysteries but some in the Navajo nation are disturbed over a White author writing about their "ways" even though Hillerman doesn't get into secret tribal matters. Regardless, Hillerman has fostered a lot of good will for the Navajo, the Zuni, and the Hopi with his large audience of readers.Over the years, the possibilities inherent in the mystery formula have become exhausted. Hillerman has developed, within the framework of the formula, a Navajo policeman who solves crimes with a mixture of modern and ancient skills and also educates readers about Navajo beliefs. Hillerman's stories don't challenge a reader's intellect. That isn't the author's intention. What he produces is a likable hero, descriptions of fabulous scenery, unobtrusive murders, and the absorbing lives of the Navajo. The author ably works the White and the Idnian worlds as he explains the reality of Whites and some off-reservation Indians intruding on the reservation and the resulting conflicts. In Hillerman's mysteries the reservation Indians always win.The author's writing skills are evident as he mixes the acts and thoughts of different individuals smoothly and coherently in "The Blessing Way." The author employs McKee, a close friend of Leaphorn, to do most of the work. McKee deduces, faces danger, solves dilemmas, but Leaphorn actually ties the loose ends together at the finale. Leaphorn reveals clues but you'll be none the wiser unless you have some knowledge of Southwestern weather, fauna, hieroglyphics, Indian beliefs, and similar arcana.The author uses the "Dance hall of the Dead," to really educate a reader in SW Indian lore. The central point to the story is an archeological excavation and the disruption brought by the White man to the reservation. Navajo mysticism pervades this murder mystery. We learn about the Beautiful Mesa Families, who elected to die when Kit Carson arrived in 1864; Zuni Indian spirits who join the Kachinas and become one of them; the Navajo Chindi who spread sickness and evil among the Dineh; and the Shalako Ceremony which grants fertility to crops and brings needed

The Joe Leaphorn mysteries by Tony Hillerman have become one of my favorite reads. I never thought that I would be interested in mysteries set on an indian reservation but this book changed all that. After reading this book I found and read every Hillerman book I could find and watch the lists for new ones. I have also learned a lot about reservation life and have a new-found respect and understanding of what life is like for the American Indian today. Kudos to Tony Hillerman!