This is an excellent story with the added plus of the description of the area and the Navaho that occupies this area. Needless to say, the story gets more convoluted for everyone but Leaphorn. Then he uses an old robbery as an excuse to get out of a Boy Scout commitment and track down the antagonist. The story starts with an old man being bludgeoned and later Leaphorn is intentionally almost run down by a mysterious man in gold-rimmed glasses. Joe Leaphorn can put the loose ends together even when no one else realizes there are loose ends. It does not pretend to be more than that.” 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. The village of Zuñi and the landscape of the Zuñi reservation are depicted to the best of my ability. 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.Īnother book by Hillerman “The Boy who Made Dragonfly” further describes the dance hall of the dead (Kothluwalawa.) We also get a good dose of Zuñi culture and feel that we are in the area.

There are alleged stolen artifacts from an archeological dig, and possibly a drug interest. Joe Leaphorn to find the boys before anything happens to them (if it has not already.)Īs with most of Hillerman’s novels, everyone has different agendas and stories that overlap. His best buddy George Bowlegs (Navaho) is a Zuñi wanna-be.Įrnesto is missing and there is a pool of blood by his bike. Twelve-year-old Ernesto Cata (Zuñi) is practicing to be the Fire God in a local ceremony. I suggest you read the book and listen to the recorded version. Read the book but the addition of the voice of George Guidall adds a dimension to the story by helping visualize the people and correcting the pronunciation of certain words. It is the descriptiveness of Tony Hillerman that goes beyond the mystery to paint a picture of a different world that we get to glimpse in the process of reading. From all of this Joe Leaphorn must make some sort of sense.

A woman is coming to visit her fiancé is in for an adventure she did not count on. A strange Navaho has his hat stolen but the silver hatband is left.

There is also a team of archeologists looking into which craft (they just may find it). Not the wrong place but in a mysterious way. We have an Indian wanted for a stabbing who turns up dead.

It is in the 1970's pre-cell phone where parallel lives take place. Now in old age wandering, he stirs, he stirs. The pollen of dawning, he stirs, he stirs. 'Among the lands of dawning, he stirs, he stirs. 'He stirs, he stirs, he stirs, he stirs,'

Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman