The Sinister Pig

I had the CD read by George Guidall who does an excellent job. Many of the other reviewers tell you the plot so I will just give you my impression. I thoroughly enjoyed the book keeping in mind I have read several other books with the characters of Chee and Leaphorn. I liked the suspense and timing of this book. I have no problem with Bernie being shaken by her ordeal. I really liked the element of Budge's part in the drama and I especially liked the ending.

I read The Sinister Pig a few months ago and was really impressed with it. I think that Mr. Hillerman is climbing back up to his former status as the best southwestern mystery writer. His last few books haven't been as good as his older ones, but this book was great. It had everything that made his old books so great and more. I can't wait until his next one.

There is something immensely satisfying, comfortable, and compelling about a Tony Hillerman mystery. None of those is quite the right word, but they will have to do. Other readers have reviewed the plot, so I'll skip that. Perhaps the characters are what are so electric. One just has to like Jim Chee, the patient Navajo policeman, and his lieutenant emeritus, Joe Leaphorn. By now they are old friends to Hillerman's many readers. In the book just previous to this, we are introduced to Janet Pete's replacement--Ms. Pete went off to the city and left Jim Chee brokenhearted. Chee's new love interest (most obliquely) reprises here and is even more charming than last time.Still, it may not be the characters that drive a Hillerman mystery. Perhaps it is the very land itself, the Four Corners high desert of New Mexico, the Navajo people, their culture, the sacred mountains, the dusty, rutted roads, the hogans, the ceremonies and shamans and fears and prejudices.All I know is that I eagerly await Hillerman's novels, and I'm a bit sorry I read this one already, since the wait for the next one will be even longer.

Great book and lots of fun but absolutely no Indian or Southwest anthropology or cultural flavor. It could have taken place in Manhatten or Miami or anywhere and the characters could be anyone. The legendary Leaphorn plays Nero Wolf or Spencer and Che is his legman or HAWK. This is the happiest of all his stories but is the only one that you do not learn anything except the meanings of "Sinister Pig".All the new and old loose ends with some surprises, but you close the book happy. For the first time in a dozen books, you don't find yourself hoarse yelling at CHE to say the right thing.