The Sacred Bridge

Leaphorn & Chee #25

by Anne Hillerman

"A fine legacy series . . . in the spirit of her late father, Tony."--Booklist

An ancient mystery resurfaces with ramifications for the present day in this gripping chapter in the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series from New York Times bestselling author Anne Hillerman.

Sergeant Jim Chee's vacation to beautiful Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell has a deeper purpose. He's on a quest to unravel a sacred mystery his mentor, the Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, stumbled across decades earlier.

Chee's journey takes a deadly turn when, after a prayerful visit to the sacred Rainbow Bridge, he spots a body floating in the lake. The dead man, a Navajo with a passion for the canyon's ancient rock art, lived a life filled with many secrets. Discovering why he died and who was responsible involves Chee in an investigation that puts his own life at risk.

Back in Shiprock, Officer Bernadette Manuelito is driving home when she witnesses an expensive sedan purposely kill a hitchhiker. The search to find the killer leads her to uncover a dangerous chain of interconnected revelations involving a Navajo Nation cannabis enterprise.

But the evil that is unleashed jeopardizes her mother and sister Darleen, and puts Bernie in the deadliest situation of her law enforcement career.

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

308 pages, Hardcover

First published April 12, 2022

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

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sergeant Jim Chee heard the voices of his inner spirit.....something that we all should walk towards.

"Many of the Navajo offenders that he had arrested had forgotten how to stand in hozho--the special peace, balance, beauty, and harmony; a way of walking the earth that is inherently good. And, he knew, they had lost touch with k'e, seeing oneself as part of an extended network of immediate family, relatives, the entire clan, and the related clans."

Chee was in the midst of a personal vacation taking in the beauty of Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell. His aim was to deeply reflect on the pathway of his future. His career in law enforcement was in question as well as his individual choices in seeking new ground established by his mentor, Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn.

Seeking sometimes moves you into the vein of the unexpected. Chee looks down and spots a body floating in the lake. It turns out that the unfortunate individual was Curtis Walker, part owner of a canyon tour business. What starts out as what is deemed an accident takes on the determination of murder. And Curtis' murder points at a wide scope of suspects.

Meanwhile, Chee's wife, Officer Bernadette Manuelito, will be working undercover at a shifty operation on Navajo land. Chee, involved in his own new investigation, has no idea of the danger that Manuelito will be in.

If you've been following the new series, Dark Winds, on AMC, you will already be familiar with these characters in the earlier part of their careers including Joe Leaphorn. (Oh, what a series!) And don't be discouraged by the #25 in this title. Anne Hillerman has continued her father's famous series. The Sacred Bridge can easily be read as a standalone.

Anne Hillerman's talent is in her DNA. She respectfully writes of the Navajo Nation and implements this in the interactions of Chee, Manuelito, and Leaphorn. I greatly appreciated her own voice at the end of this novel in the Acknowledgments. Hillerman visits the sites and the areas of which she writes so beautifully. She knows of the culture and the great dignity of its people. It is reflected so vividly in her novels.

The Sacred Bridge should be added to the wide scope of your reading lists. Break away from the usual offerings out there and reach for something that should broaden your original horizon.

[Tim Null · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a good book in here somewhere.

[Shirley (stampartiste) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is Anne Hillerman’s 7th book in the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series. As a *huge* fan of her father Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn & Jim Chee series - I would rate every one of his books 5 stars - I was happy to see Anne Hillerman continue the series. Ms. Hillerman has brought her own philosophy and style to the series, which has made me ambivalent about her books (I have read them all). I don’t appreciate that the uniqueness and strength that made Tony Hillerman’s Officer Jim Chee such a memorable character have been replaced by a milquetoast character who merely serves as a prop for the exploits of Officer Bernie Manuelito, his “intelligent, beautiful, etc.” wife. In Anne Hillerman's books, Navajo Police Officer Jim Chee could be Any Man.

I hate to be too harsh on The Sacred Bridge, as Ms. Hillerman was writing this shortly after suffering the loss of her husband of 40 years. So it is understandable that the writing was less than sharp. But I feel that her editors should have provided better guidance. First of all, there are so many typos, that they distracted from the reading experience. Regarding the story itself, there were two storylines in this novel: One following Jim Chee, the other following his wife Bernie Manuelito. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in having solved the murder within a few pages of the Jim Chee storyline. The Bernie Manuelito storyline was interesting at times but totally unbelievable. This book was not a pleasant reading experience, but I felt obligated to read it, so I pushed through.

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Chee is taking a brief vacation, and while hiking, he comes across a dead man. It's out of his jurisdiction, but the local cops ask him to assist in the investigation. Meanwhile his wife Bernadette, hoping for a promotion to detective, has gone undercover at a so-called hemp facility on Navajo land, after witnessing a man being deliberately run over.The suspense builds as Jim and Bernie both find themselves trapped with murderers. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the opportunity to review this ARC.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read almost all of the books by Tony Hillerman and his daughter, Ann Hillerman. I was delighted to win an Advance Copy of her 7th book, " The Sacred Bridge ". This engrossing story takes place on the beautiful sacred land of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Chee is trying to relax and sort out his future career plans in a calm location near Antelope Canyon, a place I've always wanted to visit. It turns out to not be very relaxing. The plot revolves around the history of Lake Powell, and the effect it's creation had on the cave dwellings and cave art of the early ancestors of the Navajo and Pueblo people. Meanwhile, his wife Bernie Manuelito, also a police officer is witness to a horrible crime and risks her life going undercover to investigate a Hemp farm on Navajo land. I enjoyed the positive ending to this book, and the important insite it gives us into the role of family and kinship in Navajo culture. I definitely recommend this new book, " The Sacred Bridge " as an enjoyable addition to the Hillerman saga of Leaphorn, Chee and Manuelito.

[Pc MacDonald · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have enjoyed all of A. Hillerman's previous Leaporn et. al. books. This one is just simple old stupid.

1) A small police force would NEVER under any circumstances put an employee in place undercover in a suspected criminal operation, when a simple search warrant could have gotten even more information. What happens when Manualito is inside that place is just a joke.

2) Killers (unless they are psychopaths) do not indiscriminately just murder people, as every serious crime leaves clues, so why leave more than necessary? The threat of hurting Manualito's mother was sufficient. They had no reason at all to attempt to kill her.

3) Manualito running into the missing woman driving the pickup with the body in it was just such a _weak cheese_ plot device. The weakest of weak cheese.

I'm done with these, thank you very much.

This woman is losing her touch.

[Sarah-Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had my doubts when Tony Hillerman's daughter, Anne Hillerman, began writing new titles in the Leaphorn/Chee/Manuelito mystery series, but her books keep getting better. The most recent is my favorite thus far with two narrative trails. In both cases, readers may be able to guess the "who" in "whodunnit?," but the movement between the two plots makes them engaging,particularly because they allow new glimpses into the strength of Chee and Manuelito's marriage. I'm looking for more titles from Anne Hillerman.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss+; the opinions are my own.

[Sue Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Hillerman does justice to her father's series in the Sacred Bridge. Jim Chee discovers a dead man floating in a lake while on a soul-searching vacation. His help in the investigation plays counterpoint to his wife's investigation of a hit and run back home. Throughout both, Navaho culture past and present add depth and interest to the well plotted mystery.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the Hillerman family enterprise of Navajo nation mysteries. Daughter Anne Hillerman has taken the lead characters from her father’s time and transformed them to side characters to her detective Manuelito. I haven’t found the stories gripping, but have found them mostly entertaining. Compared to the previous book in the series, I found this one to have much more Navajo-related description, with Chee deeply involved in a personal spiritual crossroad that ends up entwined with a murder investigation with aspects of ancient history and modern tourism. Manuelito gets involved with another aspect of modern Navajo nation issues, dealing with corporate hemp growers and their interactions with traditional Navajo ways. I liked the main story lines here. However, the author added a number of side stories that detracted and distracted from the interesting bits - overlarge red herrings. I also found the beginning of the book had a number of long descriptive monologues by characters that sounded like they were quoting from Wikipedia. I realize the author needs to set the stage for the rest of the story, but the beginning was too forced and formulaic.

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

The blurb really sets up the plot, so take a minute to read it.

I love these books. This one starts off a bit slow, but the pace picks up once Jim Chee finds the body in a remote corner of Lake Powell. His mystery is very straight-forward, though it takes Jim a while to figure out whodunnit and why. His calm investigation is a welcome counterpoint to Bernie's frantic, danger-laden, undercover mission at a local hemp farm. The suspense is heightened by the author's use of alternating chapters to tell the story.
I found the conclusions to both mysteries to be very satisfactory.
For Leaphorn fans: he's off the page in this one, though his name comes up in conversations. Maybe next book...
And I do hope there will be a next book. I want to find out what comes next for Bernie and Jim!

[Jennybeast · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm starting to think that I should just stop reading ARCs until the pandemic is completely over -- huge salute and appreciation to the many authors who are producing new work in this very hard time, however, this book, like the last 3-4 I've read, just feels like it's not done being written yet. I hope/suspect that will change before publication.

In this case, the dual plotlines need a little bit of tightening up, and most of the action scenes are incomplete -- either not particularly believable (Bernie, moving around the space she's undercover in with no trouble) or just missing pieces (Chee, going from gunpoint to behind a rock to climbing an ancient rock wall as though he's teleporting). It's also strikingly less polished as the book goes on, so I really do think this is an editing process that hasn't finished yet.

In the meantime -- my review of the book as a whole:

One of the things I deeply love is to see characters evolve over time. That's why I enjoyed Tony Hillerman's books, and why I have continued to enjoy Anne Hillerman's works. This book holds the tensions of imminent changes supremely well. It explores both Bernie and Chee's very human desires to find their next path and does it in a believable way. It's kind of hard on the reader, because it feels like the kind of the book where a character might die or change profession or leave as a catalyst for change for the entire series, and that is really well done. It also holds the tension of talking about recent ongoing concerns in the Navaho Nation -- from the effects of Covid-19, to the legalization of marijuana, to the evolving story of the Lake Powell area. It feels relevant, up-to-the-moment and unresolved, just like everything else right now.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published at Reading Reality

Underneath the mysteries that propel the action in (and around) The Sacred Bridge is the story of a solid relationship between two people who have both reached a crossroads in their careers. Which makes it entirely fitting that one half of the story is set at Lake Powell, a man-made lake near Rainbow Bridge that was created by damming the Colorado and San Juan Rivers in 1963.

When the author picked up her late father’s long-running mystery series with Spider Woman’s Daughter in 2013, she brought back the characters of the Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, his proteges Sergeant Jim Chee and Officer Bernadette (Bernie) Manuelito. Leaphorn has retired, Chee has finally grown up, and Bernie has turned into an excellent cop ready to stretch her wings.

But Chee and Bernie are married, and happily so. Except for the times when Chee gets stuck as the officer in charge at the Shiprock office of the Navajo Police and is temporarily acting as his wife’s boss.

Bernie’s considering becoming a detective, while Chee’s been a cop more than long enough to be getting a bit worn down by the job. He’s at the point where his options are to get promoted into management – which is too much like politics for his taste, keep doing what he’s doing – even though that’s already getting old and sour, or find something new.

Or go back to something old. When we first met Chee back in People of Darkness, he was training with his uncle to become a hatááłii or medicine man, a practitioner of the Navajo sacred healing ceremonies. But Chee’s uncle died years ago, if he truly wants to pick up that training, he will need to find a practitioner willing to teach him.

So as the story opens, Chee and Bernie are miles apart. She has returned home to go back to work, and to check on her elderly mother and her sometimes wayward younger sister. And almost immediately finds herself neck deep – possibly literally – in a case that will test her decision to become a detective – and test whether or not everything that goes along with that job is what she really wants.

She’s in way over her head – and will need skill, courage AND luck to break the surface.


The Rainbow Bridge and surrounding canyon seen from the Navajo Mountain side
Meanwhile, Chee is at Rainbow Bridge, the Sacred Bridge of the title, letting the peace of the place help him see into his own heart. But, like so many cops on vacation – at least in fiction – he finds himself back on the job when he looks down into Lake Powell and discovers the body of someone who will never break the surface again.

Bernie’s case is wrapped up in 21st century problems – drugs and the money they bring, along with all of the ills that follow in their wake. In the case of the K’e Hemp Farm, those ills include human trafficking, forced labor, paying workers in illegally-grown marijuana instead of cash – and the murders necessary to cover it all up.

The case that Chee has fallen into – or that the dead man he found has fallen out of – is rooted in older and deeper motives. In the resentments that still swirl around the lake and all the sacred places that were drowned to create it, but also the motive for the oldest crime in the book – the jealousy that drove Cain to kill Abel.

So Chee is trying to unravel a knot of emotions, while Bernie is trying to protect herself from being tied up in a net of drugs, money and murder. Neither case is easy, and both have the potential to provide their personal dilemmas with an all too permanent solution.

Escape Rating B: I love this series. I loved the original, and I love the way that the author has picked up her father’s torch and brought these characters into the present. So this entry in the series, as always, was a visit with some old and dear friends.

But I was hoping that this book would break the grade “B” reading week I’ve been having, and it just didn’t. It could be me, it could be that everything I’m picking up is turning into “B for Blah” whether it really is or not. But this entry in the series fell just a bit flat for me.

Some of that may be due to Leaphorn being absent entirely. Even though he’s more-or-less retired, his perspectives and insights always add some depth to the story. So I missed his presence.

Also, this revival of the series has been centered on Chee and Bernie and they usually spend at least some of each story in the same place working on the same or parallel cases. While it makes sense that they need some time on their own to think about their respective careers, they are miles apart and all-too-frequently completely out of contact with each other.

And on my third hand, Bernie’s part of the story didn’t quite gel for me. She goes undercover into the middle of a very dangerous drug operation, but she’s not remotely trained for it, she doesn’t have any reliable backup, and she’s in over her head to the point where she nearly drowns in it. It all veered very close to “heroine in jeopardy” in ways that felt cliched – but possibly entirely too real. One of the villains definitely bordered on “bwahaha” territory.

But if the point, at least from the perspective of her police superiors along with all the alphabet agencies tagging along on this case, was to throw her into the deep end to see if she sank or swam, well, mission accomplished. Howsomever, something about the combination of how extremely important the case was vs. just how underprepared she was didn’t quite match up.

Chee’s case made more sense – and/or it felt more like the cases that make up the backbone of the entire series. It was a mix of the traditional, the historic, and the contemporary with a thoughtful exploration of the characters involved. Although I did figure out whodunnit long before the reveal, I still enjoyed that part of the journey quite a bit.

In short, I liked parts of this one, but not as much overall as I usually do. But it’s always good to see how these characters are doing, and I’m curious about whether Leaphorn is going to come back from his unexpected trip to Hawaii married to his longtime companion. And I really want to find out what decisions Bernie and Chee make about their careers, their life together, and whether or not they plan to plunge ahead and have children – which will also have impacts on those careers and that life.

So sign me up for the next book in this series whenever it comes along – hopefully around this time next year.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chee helps investigate the murder of a camper while Manuelito goes undercover at a marijuana farm and investigates another murder. Leaphorn is only mentioned in passing. Well written, good action. Recommended.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very, very enjoyable for me. The characters are very likeable and very familiar . . . I think I've read all the series so far, written first by Tony Hillerman and then carried on (with addition of Chee's Navajo police wife) by his daughter, Anne.

The places in this particular book (Rainbow Bridge, Antelope Canyon, Lake Powell, Navajo Mountain, etc.) were described so well and appreciated so much by Jim Chee as he was making a sort of pilgrimage, thinking about his career and life choices. Chee and Bernie were apart for almost the entire novel, each involved in a separate case, but their relationship (and Bernie's with her mother and sister) still a vital part of the story.

Chee's case, at Rainbow Bridge, was the more engaging (although I did figure it out very early).
Neither case was the strong point of the book, they both had flaws in the plotting, but I overlooked that completely in the pleasure of being back in beautiful Navajo country with favorite characters.

[Tom Orsi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty disappointing. I don’t know why Anne Hillerman tries to fit two unrelated stories in one book. It’s irritating to have the flow of one interrupted by the other. The Chee part of the book was closer to what her father would have written, bringing in the landscape and culture. The Bernie part of the book wasn’t very believable, with a multi-agency operation that would have made the keystone cops look like professionals. Good adventure, I suppose, but not believable.

[Les Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a case of one man’s meat is another man’s poison. I’m not going to criticise the book, but I just didn’t enjoy it.

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police is on a personal mission. Hiking deep into Antelope Canyon on Lake Powell in Arizona, he is seeking out a cave containing ancient carvings and wall paintings, drawn by prehistoric ancestors of the Indian Nations. This popular recreational area has attracted boaters, campers and hikers for over 50 years. But as demand for more water amidst the ballooning population growth draws the lake’s capacity ever lower, the sacred drawings are being exposed.

Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, Chee’s former partner and mentor, had discovered the drawings made perhaps thousands of years ago and shared sketches and photographs with a renowned aging archaeologist. Chee is hiking into the depths of the canyon to explore the region armed with a crudely drawn map. Always drawn to the ways and beliefs of the ancient Navajo, Chee is also on a personal retreat to decide his future as a police officer. He remains interested in helping people, but sometimes issuing speeding tickets and breaking up bar fights don’t live up to his expectations of what policing is supposed to mean.

As Chee tops a ridge on the rugged landscape, he pulls out his binoculars to stand in awe of the sacred Rainbow Bridge. As he looks down at the lake, he spots something bobbing in the water along the shoreline far below. He makes his way down the precarious gravel trail and realizes it’s a human body in a lifejacket floating face down. Unable to reach the shore in the treacherous footing, he takes pictures, then climbs back up the trail where he spots a camping tent that is zipped shut. After finding that it’s uninhabited, he looks inside and sees a few pot shards and other illegal artifacts. As he scans the area with his binoculars, he can make out ancient drawings carved on the rocks: concentric circles, shields, handprints, four-legged creatures with antlers.

Chee has already missed his ride back, so he reports the body to the people at the dock. It will be another night under the stars to ponder his future before returning to his wife, fellow officer Bernadette Manuelito. Whether the signs carved on the rocks are clan markings, records of successful kills, or were just drawn for their beauty, they reflect humanity’s long-held wish not to pass away unnoticed. Chee wonders what stories the old ones tell to explain Rainbow Bridge, and if, like himself, they view it as a link to another reality.

Back in Shiprock, Bernie is driving home when a hitchhiker desperately tries to get into her locked passenger door. He throws something into her partially opened rear door window as he calls out in a foreign language, then dashes onto the highway where an oncoming car heads directly for him and strikes him. The driver proceeds to make a U-turn and purposely runs him over again. Horrified, Bernie flags down a UPS truck and takes hold of the situation before calling for assistance. When she gets home, she notices a bag in the backseat that reeks of marijuana. At the police station, she takes it to the evidence room where they find, among the victim’s personal belongings, 20 bags of marijuana buds and two unlabeled pill bottles --- one containing a USB drive and another that looks like medication.

Bernie had been bringing up the subject of taking the exam to become a detective, and after witnessing the brutal murder, she becomes even more determined to find out why this desperate man was killed. Well-versed in computers, she requests to be assigned undercover at the lab to find out more about the operation. She is given the USB drive, dyes her hair, uses facial putty for a disguise, and applies for a job there.

Anne Hillerman’s protagonists are in personal danger as they pursue justice. Chee finds himself in peril as he discovers that a man he once thought of as a friend has turned on him. Bernie is caught using the USB drive to derive information from the company’s computer. Her captors threaten to kill her mother; she is tased and tied up before making a horrific escape from the lab.

Thus begins a dual novel about Native American history and the challenges to preserve sacred sites and artifacts, and the battle between profiteering and protection. The same dilemma looms. Would building more motels and recreational sites around national monuments benefit the public, or would it cause irreversible damage to what are classified as sacred archaeological sites? Without being preachy, Hillerman creates an exciting and informative tale that seeks to place these double-edged Catch-22s on a personal level, linking the modern-day quandary of legal vs. illegal to need vs. desire.

Reviewed by Roz Shea

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that Anne Hillerman is continuing this series, and making it her own. Even though this one was at times a little too predictable, the story held me firmly in it's grip. And I also loved that at the end of the audio version (I don't know if the print version is the same), there is a short section with one of the Navajo code talkers from WWII speaking the Navajo words used in the story, and providing a translation of those words. What a great way to honor and pay respect to those elders!

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel reading this series it's a fine line between writing an idiots guide to the Navajo Nation and writing an actual crime/mystery procedural..

Sometimes the Navajo explanations are dumped into the middle of a scene...maybe clumsily written...which takes away from the scene .

As a newish reader to the series ..I never read the original Tony Hillerman series and do enjoy the two main characters Chee and Bernie.

Though I do look forward to their first argument..still in the honeymoon part of their relationship

[Debbie Wentworth Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Jim Chee visits the Sacred Bridge and assesses his future, he discovers a dead body floating in Lake Powell. Because the park service has little experience investigating what may be a murder, they ask his boss to lend him to them for the investigation. Chee discovers that the victim is the brother of a new acquaintance of Chee's and that he had some enemies. But did they hate him enough to kill him? Or did he die accidentally?

Meanwhile, Chee's wife Bernie witnesses a hit-and-run murder of a Chinese man on her way to work. The attack seems to be linked to a hemp farm on Navajo lands. Bernie's investigation takes her into undercover danger but threatens her mother with dementia and her sister too.

I enjoyed this story. Anne Hillerman did a great job maintaining the character of Jim Chee as created by her father, Tony Hillerman. I knew the culprit in the Chee subplot quite early. I found the Navajo traditions enlightening and fascinating. There was little, if any, offensive language. I look forward to reading more in the series.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot tell the difference between the Hillerman father and daughter’s writing. Both give detailed and vivid descriptions of place and the people they write about. This is such a great series. I am sorry not to have seen the TV series.

[Jen Canary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this from a character point of view, but I found both of the mysteries to be pretty obvious which is where I subtracted a star. Still enjoying this series though and hopefully the next one will be better on the mystery front.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Chee is taking a brief vacation and while hiking, he noticed a dead man in the lake. Although it is out of his jurisdiction, he is asked to stay and help with the investigation. It doesn't take long before he is involved in the murder of the man, who was killed by blunt head wounds rather than a drowning victim. In the meantime, his wife, Bernadette, is studying for a promotion to captain and caring for her mother and sister.
As an officer, Bernie is sent undercover to the Navajo (?) Nation for investigate the hemp farm. On the drive, she witnesses a man walking on the highway who is purposefully run over (twice) by an expensive car which left the scene. She contacts 911 and stops to aid assistance. He is dead.
Both Jim and Bernie are caught up in murder cases without the other's knowledge and their safety is at risk as they each try to solve the problems they encounter in the law enforcement training. Too many twists and turns are against each of them as the storyline unfolds. Anne Hillerman has written an amazing thriller/murder mystery and historical novel which educates readers of Lake Powell and the Navajo and Pueblo nations which formerly lived in that region before the massive Lake was flooded and became a place for water enthusiasts.
Hillerman has researched the artwork majestically preserved on the stone walls, the culture and ointments/tonics of the people, the cave dwellings, and their sacred beliefs. It's a fascinating read of secrets once hidden beneath Lake Powell are now visible due to the lake's lower water table as the water has disappeared due to evaporation from climate change.
Excellent read! Highly recommended.

Our history with Colorado, surrounding states and Lake Powell:
In 1963 the area between the Colorado and Sanjuan Rivers were dammed up to form the massive Lake Powell, a man-made lake which became the second largest lake in the USA. It took 17 years to fill the lake which, for a time, became a new playground for the world's weathy. By 2000, the lake had dropped considerable and by 2017 Lake Powell was less than 40% full.
In the 1980's we had owned a condo for family snow skiing and summer hiking, biking and fresh air activity away from the city. On an excursion of a day trip across Colorado, we drove over the mountains to visit Lake Powell and decided to invite friends for a week on a houseboat. That began summers of renting jet skis, ski boats & equipment and houseboats for vacations on that gorgeous crystal blue lake with ease. The wealthy had moved on; the lake was fun, fairly safe and the water sparkled like blue glass. Ideal for hours of skiing!
Little did I know the history at that time. By 1988, we drove from eastern NE through CO, AZ (including hiking the Grand Canyon), NM & UT and saw, walked, climbed the fabulous sand dunes, cliff dwellings, and the gorgeous Navajo and Pueblo artwork majestically imbedded in the stone walls forever. Finally, I began to realize the significance and history the lake was covering, and I wanted to know much more! At the time, Lake Powell was generating money for the economy; people living in nearby communities were not comfortable talking about the destroyed history of entire communities, families & homes. It was a painful subject. Still is.

"The Sacred Bridge" by Anne Hillerman caught my attention at the library and I hoped some of my questions might be answered in this historical novel. To my delight, she has researched the lives, customs and shares some of the beliefs of the Navajo and Pueblo communities which lived in the valley before Lake Powell was filled with water and they were forced out. Artifacts remain in the cave dwellings aka their homes, artwork covers the stone walls, and a history of their generations of families is intact in lovely pictures, lithographs, and other charts or ways of preserving memories.

And there are dark secrets still hidden beneath the water.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all of the books in Tony Hillerman's mystery series featuring Navajo Tribal Police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. I was so excited when his daughter Anne continued the series, but focused on Jim Chee and his wife Officer Bernadette Manuelita.

In this book, Bernie is a little over her head when she goes undercover at a hemp farm. I love Bernie, but the more interesting of the two cases in the story is the one her husband Jim Chee is working on. He is on a short vacation, but gets involved in a murder case, a sharp contrast to the beautiful Antelope Canyon/Lake Powell area at which the crime occurs. There are some scary and sad moments in this book, but the story ends on a satisfying, positive note.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up because I live in the Southwest and the descriptive writing about the area was beautiful. I’ve always loved the Hillerman books (both father and daughter), but this one didn’t connect as well for me. Can’t really explain why - just not as strong as some of the others. Would recommend though and can’t wait for the next one.

[Marshall Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Anne Hillerman book.

[Jo Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chee discovers a floating body in Lake Powell while Bernie witnesses a horrific hit and run. Each investigates these incidents in another great mystery by Anne Hillerman.

[Ari Maayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a friend of Tony, Ann’s father and naturally I read everything that he ever wrote. So I have read all of Ann’s books as well. She’s a great writer and I am grateful to her for continuing the novels of the Navajo tribal police, Chee, Leahorn and Manuelito. I was Navajo Tribal Archeologist and I am also grateful to Ann for bringing to life the Dinetah, the land of the Dine that I love so much. GREAT JOB!!! Thanks Ann!!!

[Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chee and Manuelito excel in this worthy continuation of the Hillerman series. Two mysteries each ride to a relatively climactic end. Nice time with the Navejo Officers.