Cave of Bones

Leaphorn & Chee #22

by Anne Hillerman

Anne Hillerman brings together modern mystery, Navajo traditions, and the evocative landscape of the desert Southwest.

When Tribal Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito arrives to speak at an outdoor character-building program for at-risk teens, she discovers chaos. Annie, a young participant on a solo experience due back hours before, has just returned and is traumatized. Gently questioning the girl, Bernie learns that Annie stumbled upon a human skeleton on her trek. While everyone is relieved that Annie is back, they’re concerned about a beloved instructor who went out into the wilds of the rugged lava wilderness bordering Ramah Navajo Reservation to find the missing girl. The instructor vanished somewhere in the volcanic landscape known as El Malpais. In Navajo lore, the lava caves and tubes are believed to be the solidified blood of a terrible monster killed by superhuman twin warriors.

Solving the twin mysteries will expose Bernie to the chilling face of human evil. The instructor’s disappearance mirrors a long-ago search that may be connected to a case in which the legendary Joe Leaphorn played a crucial role. But before Bernie can find the truth, an unexpected blizzard, a suspicious accidental drowning, and the arrival of a new FBI agent complicate the investigation.

While Bernie searches for answers in her case, her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee juggles trouble closer to home. A vengeful man he sent to prison for domestic violence is back—and involved with Bernie’s sister Darleen. Their relationship creates a dilemma that puts Chee in uncomfortable emotional territory that challenges him as family man, a police officer, and as a one-time medicine man in training.

Anne Hillerman takes us deep into the heart of the deserts, mountains, and forests of New Mexico and once again explores the lore and rituals of Navajo culture in this gripping entry in her atmospheric crime series.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Native American, Audiobook, Crime, Westerns, Mystery Thriller

323 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2018

About the author

Anne Hillerman writes the best-selling Leaphorn, Chee, Manuelito mysteries set on the Navajo Nation using characters her father Tony Hillerman made popular and her own creative twists. Her newest novel, "Shadow of the Solstice", is set for release in 2025. The Hillerman stories are the basis for the "Dark Winds" television series.
Her non-fiction books include "Tony Hillerman's Landscape: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn," with photos of the country Ton Hillerman visited in his novels. Anne's other non-fiction books include "Gardens of Santa Fe," "Done in the Sun," and "Children's Guide to Santa Fe." When she's not writing, Anne enjoys cooking, walking with her dogs, gardening and travel to the Navajo Nation.

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these stories because they take you into New Mexico and particularly into the culture of the Navajo.

Anne is taking over the writing from her father. I’d say his stories tended to be more macabre and caught up in the darker aspects of Navajo religion.

Both father and daughter tend to build their fiction slowly and meticulously. In that way their mysteries have more in common with Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie and Father Brown.

In this particular book, a lot of action and readers’ comprehension occurs within the last fifty pages.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a big fan of Tony Hillerman’s books. When his daughter Anne, started writing, I began following her. She has big shoes to fill as Tony was a master storyteller. Anne has improved with each book which makes it fun to watch a writer grow. In this book Jim Chee is in Santa Fe at a training conference. Bernie Manuelito covers for a fellow officer to give a talk to a group of children on a camping trip. One of their leaders goes missing and Bernie is in for lots of work, danger and solving a mystery.

Hillerman does a great job in describing the scenery and Navaho customs and spiritual beliefs. To me, this makes the story much more enjoyable. The book is well written and the plot twists and weaves about. The suspense builds but there is also some humor tossed into the story. I cannot wait for the next book.

I read this as an audio book downloaded from Audible. The book is a little over ten hours. Christina Delaine does an excellent job narrating the story. Delaine is an actress. She has won multiple Earphone Awards for her audiobook narrations.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admire Anne Hillerman for picking up her father's mantle and to continue writing the beloved now known as the Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito series. Her father, Tony Hillerman, was a master story teller of the Navajo Tribal Police mystery series set in western New Mexico. Unfortunately, this book is not of the same caliber. While thoroughly researched in both location, the myths, and customs of the Navajos and other tribes, I found it bogged down in details with some of the characters' conversations and travels and descriptions. It did not flow and grab at me like her father's books. I figured out the perpetrators quickly. Navajo Tribal Police Officer Bernadette "Bernie" Manuelito becomes embroiled in a missing person case when she appears to speak at a camp for at risk girls in El Malpais National Monument Park. Soon an investigation is underway of this program's tribal funds due to the rants and the accusations of a tribal councilwoman. Bernie's husband and fellow tribal officer, Sergeant Jim Chee, is in Santa Fe for a police training course. He crosses paths with a man he previously arrested, checks in on his sister-in-law, Darleen, who is taking an art class, and searches for a missing Navajo man. Joe Leaphorn appears briefly a few times. This if the fourth book Anne Hillerman has written. I will continue reading the series for now, because I love the characters.

[Sarah-Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Hillerman began following in her father's footsteps, I was dubious, and her first few attempts were satisfactory, but not necessarily more. Now she's hitting her stride, and I'm finding her novels a real pleasure.

[Lana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love that the author is carrying on her father's legacy and keeping these characters alive. I really enjoyed Rock with Wings and Spider Woman's Daughter - - so I was super excited and pre-ordered this book. I am sad because Cave of Bones was a let down for me. The beginning was good but about half way through I felt like the book got sloppy. There is a two chapter section where typos remain in the text and there is a plot error. The main character talks about not wanting to leave her car but she is in the house - not in the car. Just sloppy. Fine for a first draft but discrepancies and writing issues that should have been caught in the editing process. And the plot gets shaky at the end. Sort of rushed like the book had to get to print so finish it up and move on. I could also do without the references to the characters sex life - less innuendo and more focus on a solid plot.

[Alex Bledsoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of the attraction of a series is getting to know the writer’s personality as well as his characters. When that author dies and someone else steps in, at best you get a quality imitation, at worst an unwitting parody. I picked up CAVE OF BONES on a whim, having enjoyed the original Leaphorn and Chee novels by Tony Hillerman. This one, written by his daughter Anne, travels the same roads with the same characters, but doesn’t really build toward anything, and the climax is almost inert. it’s not terrible, but it’s also not Tony Hillerman.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Anne Hillerman took over the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Cree enterprise from her father, I wasn't thrilled (same with the Stieg Larsson/David Lagercrantz Lisbeth Salander series). Were the new books in the series less well executed or was I having a hard time adjusting to change?

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the fourth Anne Hillerman (22nd Hillerman), Cave of Bones, considerably.

There is now a trio of detectives – Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito – intertwining their own stories and policework, as would happen in the real world. As in the real world, detectives do not know the answer from the very beginning and sometimes the "bad guy" isn't as you thought.

And Bernie Manuelito is a strong addition to this series' center stage. She is thoughtful, observant, afraid of some things, asks for help and, ultimately, wise.

Like Tony Hillerman's books, the Navajo lore is interesting and compelling – without being preachy:

She knew that words had consequences; that was why the Holy People had taught the Navajo to use them wisely and with restraint. Talking about the negative, as she had done, brought it into the forefront, like inviting evil into the hogan, into your living room. She was only talking, not thinking. Talking too much, a little too proud, a little too full of herself. All behaviors the Holy People warned against.

In high school and college, I had loved mysteries (and sci fi/fantasy) so much that I had to put myself on a reading diet, where I had to limit my reading of mysteries. I've enjoyed recent mysteries, but not as much as I had, even though they've been previously-favorite authors.

It was a pleasant surprise to rediscover this series.

[Carol Jones-Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

(FIRST READ)Last week we were discussing the Dick & Felix Francis books, and how perhaps they weren't quite as good as their predecessor. Dick was some better than Felix.

Well, I just read an Anne Hillerman book, her father being Tony Hillerman. Albuquerque being all of our homes has always been quite cool to me. I feel that Tony is somewhat a better writer when comparing with his daughter Anne. They compliment each other quite well.

"Cave of Bones," A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel by Anne Hillerman. She brings together modern mystery, Navajo traditions, and the evocative landscape of the desert Southwest in this intriguing entry in the Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito series. When Tribal Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito arrives to speak at an outdoor character-building program for at-risk teens, she discovers crazy nutty chaos. Annie, a young participant on a solo experience due back hours before, has just returned and is traumatized. Gently questioning the girl, Bernie learns that Annie stumbled upon a human skeleton on her trek. While everyone is relieved that Annie is back, they're concerned about a beloved instructor who went out into the wilds of the rugged lava wilderness bordering Ramah Navajo Reservation to find the missing girl. The instructor vanished somewhere in the volcanic landscape known as El Malpais. In Navajo Lore, the lava caves and tubes are believed to be the solidified blood of a terrible monster.

(SECOND READ) Great and very interesting book. Solving the twin mysteries will expose Bernie to the chilling face of human evil. The instructors mirrors a long ago search that may be connected to a case in which the legendary Joe Leaphorn played a crucial role. But before Bernie can find the truth, an unexpected blizzard, a suspicious accidental drowning, and the arrival of a new FBI agent complicates the investigation.

While Bernie searches for answers to her case, her husband Sergeant Jim Chee juggles trouble closer to home. A vengeful man he sent to prison for domestic violence is back--and involved with Bernie's sister Darleen. Their relationship creates a dilemma that puts Chee in uncomfortable emotional territory that challenges him as family man, a police officer, and as a one-time medicine man in training. I loved the books that touched on those. Hillerman Sr. was a terrific writer about such plots. Highly Recommend.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thanks to the Meridian Library for my copy. This is The latest book in the long-term series of the Navajo tribe. Tribal Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito arrives at an outpost to speak to a group of teenagers on a outbounds journey to help them find themselves. One of the girls did not return from her solo night. A consultant went after her. The girl has returned but the consultant is still missing. The girl tells Annie she stumbled into a cave containing bones and artifacts. Bernie realized it is an ancient grave's and sets the motions in play to protect it. Sergeant Jim Chee is sent to a conference on Amber Alerts and Domestic violence. Maggie's is taking a class at the Art Institute and meets up with. He is asked to locate a Navajo Indian and tell him to call his Mother. Bernie is busy looking into Indian logs appearing at the local outlet and offer on an internet site. In the middle of the investigation, Bernie is trapped by a major snowstorm. Before she is finished Bernie encounters illegal drugs, stolen grave goods, and greed. I HIGHLY this book and series.

[Chris Conley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne Hillerman continues to provide Bernie and Jim with opportunities to use their special gifts to solve interesting and baffling crimes. Their particular approach to these situations keeps Leaphorn’s legacy going strong.

[Mary Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A big disappointment. The two story lines - Bernie investigating a missing staff member and possible impropriety at a nonprofit for troubled teens, and Chee checking up on his erratic sister-in-law Darlene while attending a workshop in Santa Fe - meander and are not about much. There is an actual murder late in the book, rapidly solved, as a kind of add-on. The villain is obvious from his first appearance in the book. The obligatory dangerous-showdown-at-the-end-of-the-book seems very artificial. And the mystery with which the book begins is ambiguously resolved, in a lazy rather than a good way.

I might have given the book 2.5-rounded-to-3 stars, out of affection for the series established by Tony Hillerman, but for the fact that the characters are so, so flat in this book. Bernie's most prominent characteristic is a love for hamburgers and Chee....well, he likes nature and is easily irritated. And they miss each other when they are apart. The lovely writing about the Southwestern landscape that drew me, and many others, to Tony H's books is largely missing (other than writing about the lava fields), as is his respectful and fascinating inclusion of the religious beliefs and practices of the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo peoples. (Yes, she does make much of the taboos around the bodies of the dead...but compared to the in-depth understanding provided by Tony's books, this seemed pretty light.)

And then there are all the things that make no sense. A spoiler-alerted series follows. If you're reading this and can explain any of them, let me know.

A big plot mover is the hostility of a Navajo councilwoman to the Roots and Wings program. Yet she has her daughter attend the program. No one ever remarks on the apparent contradictions, or possible conflicts of interest, here. Isn't that a little odd?

Bernie's mother can't remember what she ate just a little while after having eaten. Bernie doesn't take much notice of this, although it seems to be a pretty big red flag; rather, she is stuck on her mother wanting her to take her shopping for items she actually has in the house. (I have dealt with issues of dementia in family members and this may be why I am puzzled that Bernie doesn't make more of the I-don't-know-what-I've-eaten issue.)

What is the deal between Leaphorn and his professor roommate? Why doesn't she ever have to go to class?

And what is the deal with Leaphorn? Was his personality surgically removed? Other than placating Tony Hillerman fans, what purpose did he serve here? And do the limitations caused by his injury seem just a little too convenient for the author - she doesn't have to try to write the actual Joe Leaphorn her father created, but he can always be just a little bit involved, as a tease to his fans.

And Darlene: how old is she? It seems she is not yet 21 - IIRC, there is a reference to her not being of age to drink alcohol. Is she supposed to be the age of a college freshman? If so, why, in the 2-years-ago book, (the first Anne wrote), was Bernie constantly frustrated that Darlene was not taking responsibility for Mama? If Darlene is that young, how old is their mother supposed to be? In the first Bernie book, she already seemed elderly; though not yet suffering from dementia, she required a lot of looking-after so that I thought she had to be in her 70s at the least...

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been watching and enjoying the TV series Dark Winds which is based on Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee novels set on the Navajo reservation. When Tony Hillerman died in 2008, his daughter Anne continued with writing the series. This is the fourth book she has written and the 22nd overall book in the series.

In this book, Leaphorn is now retired and acts as an advisor. Jim Chee is married to Tribal Police Officer Bernadette (Bernie) Manuelito and they both work out of the Tribal Police Substation in Shiprock, New Mexico. Bernie is really the main focus of the novel as she travels to lecture at a character-building program for at-risk teens. When she gets there, one of the girls, Annie, is missing but returns shortly from the Malpais wilderness traumatized. And the person sent to find her is still missing. Annie had come upon a cave used as a burial site for the ancients and discovered some old bones. But what happened to the instructor who went out to locate her? In the mean time, Chee is in Santa Fe attending a week of law enforcement training and is also checking on Darlene, Bernie’s wayward sister who is enrolled in an art school seminar. Chee is also trying to find out what happened to a man who supposedly went somewhere to work on a ranch. The story goes on to focus on missing Indian artifacts, drugs, police corruption, and possible murders.

I did enjoy this one but did not find it as compelling as the Tony Hillerman novel, LISTENING WOMAN, that I recently read and that is the basis of the Dark Winds TV series. I really need to go back and read more of the original series and maybe at some point read more of Anne's followup novels.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first I have read by Anne Hillerman, having enjoyed many of her father's books. I like that the focus here is on Officer Bernie Manuelito, married now to Jim Chee. Jim is off getting updated courses - and still encountering trouble - but Bernie takes the full brunt of a missing person case and the discovery of bones in an old cave in the lava flows.

The Four Corners country is well described and as always, the Navaho cops have to spend a lot of time driving alone. They seem to make good use of cellphones these days. Various other characters include a brief visit to senior Joe Leaphorn, getting a bit frail now, a troubled young girl from a tribal rehab course, artists, and the first gay male character I've seen in the series.

I did think a few too many quandaries were introduced, especially as Chee's section took the focus off the missing person Bernie was investigating. Overall it's a good effort, suitable for anyone from teens to adults.

I downloaded an e-ARC from Edelweiss and Fresh Fiction. This is an unbiased review.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Officer Manuelito spends most of the book running back and forth between Grants and Shiprock. Lots of windshield time. She’s sent to the Malpais to give some at risk youth a speech but ends up getting involved in a lost hiker search. Not any hiker either but an experienced guide who is about to take over the non-profit amid allegations of financial improprieties. Her husband, Sgt Chee, is in Santa Fe attending a week of law enforcement training while also checking on Darlene, Manuelito’s party girl sister who is enrolled in an art school seminar. Those are the two parallel plot lines that involve family, fraud, politics, greed, corruption, and theft. It’s NM True and the Wild West is alive and well. Hillerman might be gone but his daughter has the gene. She has successfully captured the spirit of the series and imbued it with a strong female protagonist. So much to love about this series’ characters and place.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another well written addition to this series. In this one, Chee is in Santa Fe for a class, and Bernie is pulled into a speaking engagement to a group of girls who are part of a wilderness challenge through a local group for teens. When Bernie arrives at their Malpais location she learns that one of the adult leaders of the group is missing. Eventually the missing person search involves a murder and a possible mishandling of tribal monies, and Bernie is in the middle of all of it. Of course, as always, she also is pulled by the needs of her mom, and her sister Darlene. Hillerman includs some great descriptions of the desolation and beauty of this New Mexico badlands area.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young participant in a wilderness programs stumbles into camp, but the counselor sent to find her is missing. Bernadette Manuelito is dispatched to the campsite to assess the situation, and calls for search and rescue. Her initial investigations lead her deeply into a web of nefarious going-ons, beginning with her horrified discovery of a looted grave. While the searchers do what they do best, Bernie tries to untangle the web of lies and deceit that surround both the disappearance and the looted grave. But doing so will place her own life in mortal peril!

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Officer Bernie Manuelito and her husband Sergeant Jim Chee once again are solving crimes in parallel and in separate locations. Bernie is investigating an experience outdoorsman who disappeared when he set off to search for a missing girl. The troubled girl reappeared, but Dom Cruz did not.

Meantime, Jim Chee is spending a few days of training in Santa Fe. A fellow officer asks Chee, as a favor, to look into a family member who suddenly stopped checking with his mother.

I don’t want to reveal too much, but these are two great stories that will keep readers turning pages until the very end. I’ve already ordered the sequel The Tale Teller so that I can reunited with Bernie, Chee and their mentor, retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn.

[Kiwi Carlisle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the best of all the series I’ve read continued after the death of their original author. Anne Hillerman has a deep understanding and appreciation of the landscape and settings that made her father’s Books unforgettable, and she brings the characters to life with skill and grace. This is an enjoyable mystery, with a fascinating setting, not easily predictable. I think I will be up for as many more of these as she is willing to write for us!

[Bruce Welton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne's mysteries improve with each book she shares. Like I felt at the finish of her dad's books, I don't want hers to end.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Navajo police officer Bernie Manuelito is asked to address a group of troubled teen girls. By the time she arrives at the girls' campsite, one of the girls and an adult leader are missing, and Bernie shifts gears. At the same time, Bernie's husband, Navajo sergeant Jim Chee, is in Santa Fe for a workshop, conveniently close to Bernie's sister Darlene, who is there for a short art course.

Bernie's situation gets stickier as one missing person shows up, and there are odd illnesses, the possibility of violated burial sites, questions of financial irregularities,and a seriously cranky leader to add to her burden. Chee's monitoring Darlene brings the challenge of issues with her boyfriend and a friend of his.

Since Anne Hillerman took over father Tony's series, I've enjoyed her first three. This one seems weaker than its predecessors. I enjoyed Bernie's story and thought Chee's OK, but the odd addition of another missing man and Leaphorn's role seemed a bit forced to me. Navajo philosophy and language always draw me in to these works and did here. I will read the next one believing this to be an outlier, good enough to read , but...

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a fan of her father, and I've enjoyed her previous works I've read, but this one fell flat. It had too many unnecessary details, several parts that made no sense, and the plot was a bit convoluted. Hopefully, her next books will be better.

[Bill Donhiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Hillerman does a great job in her 4th novel following in her father's footsteps. Another Great Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito adventure. Though not as much Leaphorn in this one. A very good read.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick and fun read. Anne is every bit as talented as her father and I love the settings for Hillerman novels. Northwest New Mexico is super special.

[Susanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The daughter of Tony Hillerman continues her father's series about Navajo detectives Manuelito, Chee and Leaphorn. She has gotten good reviews but this one reads like an intellectual puzzle, with characters that seem flat, lifeless and dull. Too bad.

[Mark Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

At Barnes & Noble last week I picked up The Ghostway, a Tony Hillerman novel published in 1984, as well as Cave of Bones, published in 2018 by Tony’s daughter, Anne. Anne has done a good job updating this series for today’s technology and she has developed Bernie Manuelito’s character. That said, Cave of Bones is my least favorite book thus far in this series.

Part of the problem here is that Anne Hillerman is overly ambitious, trying to cover a host of issues in one novel rather than focusing on one or two key issues. As a result there are peripheral plot lines here and extraneous characters. Most of the action (if that’s the proper description) involving Bernie’s sister adds nothing to the story or to the reader’s understanding of Bernie or the Navajo culture.

Sadly, this book was a mess. Billed as a “Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel”, Chee and Leaphorn have bit parts. The resolution of the inciting incident is almost an afterthought. A side issue concerning possible financial fraud and its investigation is pitifully weak and the introduction of a new FBI agent is cliched on every possible level.

[Janet Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Officer Bernie Manuelito is helping search for a missing Navaho guide in the lava badlands of El Malpais in North Western New Mexico, she overcomes her discomfort about the presence of the dead to investigate a shallow cave containing a burial. It's been opened and looted, and isn't the only one discovered in this remote and difficult landscape. At the same time, her husband, Jim Chee, is stuck in Santa Fe where a simple request to look in on Bernie's sister becomes very complicated. Hillerman skillfully weaves these two stories into a unified whole. She continues to develop as a writer, and this novel is as good as any of the Leaphorn/Chee books written by her father. She explores fresh landscapes of Navaho country and the realities of folks dealing with their cultural past and new challenges in believable and compelling ways. Hillerman's books are getting better with each episode.

[Jingsheng · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the beginning, when Anne Hillerman put her characters in mountains of lava, everything seems so right, for wild nature is what these characters meant to be belong to. Unfortunately, things roll back fairly quickly into what we are familiar to — tedious and unnecessary details pile up, small twists dilute the gravity of mystery from time to time. Even worse than her previous work, every conversation that might lead to something important is disrupted awkwardly, making it a soap opera.

What Cave of bones lacks most, is a coherent pace of story telling. Too many lines are built simultaneously, they interrupt rough than interact throughout the book.

As for the main characters, apparently they further lose their wisdom, become further numb and sloppy, and are further separated from their culture, the culture introduced beautifully by the author’s father years ago, that fascinated us in the first place.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for the ATY 2021 Reading Challenge Week 42: a mystery or thriller

Oh, how I love the Hillerman books. One reason is that they talk about my state and neighboring states. Another is that they give me a perspective on the life of the indigenous people living in my state. I know it is through the eyes of a white person, but the Navajos laud these books, so something about them must be accurate. And they reflect the geology of my state...places I have been. Furthermore, when Anne Hillerman picked up Tony's writing legacy and began to write her own stories, the old feeling continued, but a new perspective was also introduced. The new perspective is that of Navajo Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito, thus, a woman's viewpoint. I finished the book 4 days ago, but it is still part of my life today. Haunting me. Making me yearn for that special feeling.
Read the books...you will enjoy them.

[Judy Crudele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like her books but she seems to focus more on Bernie than Jim Chee. I would like to see a better mixture of the two. With that said, I received this as a give-away and am grateful to the publisher for this advance copy. This takes place mostly in the rugged lava wilderness where an experienced instructor disappears from an outdoor character building for at-risk teens where Bernie had been sent to speak. Upon arrival, she finds a traumatized girl who tells her she spent the night in a cave where their were skeletal remains. Bernie becomes involved in solving the mystery of the bones and the missing man. In the meantime Sergeant Joe Chee is attending a conference near where Bernadette's sister is taking an art class. He becomes involved in his own dilemma.
Things get tied up nicely in the end.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Jim Chee is at a training session in Sante Fe (and checking on his difficult sister-in-law Darlene), his wife Bernie is trying to find a missing man in a deserted part of their territory. Not only is the man, who knows the territory well, missing, but a girl in the group he was leading is hospitalized, and her mother, politically connected, suspects that the wilderness experience group is misusing tribal funds. Then Jim is asked to check on another missing person, Bernie is trying to find a mourning man in a raging blizzard, and apparently valuable artifacts are being stolen. Fortunately, retired detective Joe Leaphorn is on hand to back up the young couple,.