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Leaphorn & Chee #17
Skeleton Man
Hailed as "a wonderful storyteller" by the New York Times, and a "national and literary cultural sensation" by the Los Angeles Times, bestselling author Tony Hillerman is back with another blockbuster novel featuring the legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee.
Former Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn comes out of retirement to help investigate what seems to be a trading post robbery. A simple-minded kid nailed for the crime is the cousin of an old colleague of Sergeant Jim Chee. He needs help and Chee, and his fiancée Bernie Manuelito, decide to provide it.
Proving the kid's innocence requires finding the remains of one of 172 people whose bodies were scattered among the cliffs of the Grand Canyon in an epic airline disaster 50 years in the past. That passenger had handcuffed to his wrist an attaché case filled with a fortune in—one of which seems to have turned up in the robbery.
But with Hillerman, it can't be that simple. The daughter of the long-dead diamond dealer is also seeking his body. So is a most unpleasant fellow willing to kill to make sure she doesn't succeed. These two tense tales collide deep in the canyon at the place where an old man died trying to build a cult reviving reverence for the Hopi guardian of the Underworld. It's a race to the finish in a thunderous monsoon storm to see who will survive, who will be brought to justice, and who will finally unearth the Skeleton Man.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2004
907 people are currently reading
2354 people want to read
About the author
Tony Hillerman
220 books1,848 followersTony Hillerman, who was born in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma, was a decorated combat veteran from World War II, serving as a mortarman in the 103rd Infantry Division and earning the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. Later, he worked as a journalist from 1948 to 1962. Then he earned a Masters degree and taught journalism from 1966 to 1987 at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he resided with his wife until his death in 2008. Hillerman, a consistently bestselling author, was ranked as New Mexico's 25th wealthiest man in 1996. - Wikipedia
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February 28, 2020
In 1956, two airliners crashed over the Grand Canyon, killing 172 people and leaving their remains scattered along the Canyon. In Skeleton Man, Tony Hillerman has created a novel based off the event and set nearly fifty years later. This is the seventeenth novel in the series, featuring Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo tribal police force. By this time, Leaphorn has retired, but pops in occasionally to assist Chee in his investigations, and in this book, he basically plays a small cameo role.
These novels are set on the borderlands between New Mexico and Arizona, and this one takes place mostly in the area around the Grand Canyon. It opens when a young Indian man named Billy Tuve attempts to pawn a diamond that’s worth $20,000 for $20.00. As a young boy, Billy suffered a head injury in a rodeo accident that left him somewhat mentally challenged, and he’s arrested and charged with stealing the diamond from a trading post.
Billy claims that the diamond was given to him by a mysterious old man at the bottom of the
Grand Canyon in trade for a shovel. He also says that the old man had many other diamonds just like it.
Enter a woman named Joanna Craig. Craig’s father, a diamond courier, was on one of the planes that crashed into the canyon in 1956. Handcuffed to his wrist was a briefcase containing a fortune in valuable diamonds. Many years later, someone floating down the river reported seeing an arm sticking out of the water with a handcuff attached to it. But before they could retrieve it, it was swept away by the water and never found.
Joanna’s father was also flying home with a special diamond to give her mother who was then pregnant with Joanna. The two were not yet married and the diamond was to be her mother’s wedding gift. Joanna’s mother had letters from her father documenting the relationship, rejoicing in the pregnancy, and confirming the marriage plans. But the father’s very wealthy family refused to accept this evidence and refused to acknowledge either Joanna or her mother and the two were left to fend for themselves.
Joanna has always borne a grievance for the way her mother was treated and wants the link to her father confirmed. When news of the diamond surfaces, she races to Arizona in the slim hope that the diamonds might lead her to what’s left of her father’s arm. DNA tests on the arm could prove paternity.
Jim Chee steps into the case in an effort to protect Billy Tuve and to determine how he actually came into possession of the diamond, especially after someone else tells a similar story. Could there really be an old man passing our diamonds at the bottom of the Grand Canyon?
Unfortunately, of course, the news of the discovery will also attract some unsavory characters who hope to find the diamonds and otherwise profit themselves, and all of this will come to a stunning climax at the bottom of the canyon in the middle of a tremendous monsoon rain storm.
The attraction of these books lies in large part in the settings, which Hillerman so vividly creates and in the Navajo and Hopi customs and beliefs which are integral to the stories. This is not the strongest book in the series; personally, I prefer the earlier books where Leaphorn was the central character, but it’s still a good one and should not be missed by fans of the series.
These novels are set on the borderlands between New Mexico and Arizona, and this one takes place mostly in the area around the Grand Canyon. It opens when a young Indian man named Billy Tuve attempts to pawn a diamond that’s worth $20,000 for $20.00. As a young boy, Billy suffered a head injury in a rodeo accident that left him somewhat mentally challenged, and he’s arrested and charged with stealing the diamond from a trading post.
Billy claims that the diamond was given to him by a mysterious old man at the bottom of the
Grand Canyon in trade for a shovel. He also says that the old man had many other diamonds just like it.
Enter a woman named Joanna Craig. Craig’s father, a diamond courier, was on one of the planes that crashed into the canyon in 1956. Handcuffed to his wrist was a briefcase containing a fortune in valuable diamonds. Many years later, someone floating down the river reported seeing an arm sticking out of the water with a handcuff attached to it. But before they could retrieve it, it was swept away by the water and never found.
Joanna’s father was also flying home with a special diamond to give her mother who was then pregnant with Joanna. The two were not yet married and the diamond was to be her mother’s wedding gift. Joanna’s mother had letters from her father documenting the relationship, rejoicing in the pregnancy, and confirming the marriage plans. But the father’s very wealthy family refused to accept this evidence and refused to acknowledge either Joanna or her mother and the two were left to fend for themselves.
Joanna has always borne a grievance for the way her mother was treated and wants the link to her father confirmed. When news of the diamond surfaces, she races to Arizona in the slim hope that the diamonds might lead her to what’s left of her father’s arm. DNA tests on the arm could prove paternity.
Jim Chee steps into the case in an effort to protect Billy Tuve and to determine how he actually came into possession of the diamond, especially after someone else tells a similar story. Could there really be an old man passing our diamonds at the bottom of the Grand Canyon?
Unfortunately, of course, the news of the discovery will also attract some unsavory characters who hope to find the diamonds and otherwise profit themselves, and all of this will come to a stunning climax at the bottom of the canyon in the middle of a tremendous monsoon rain storm.
The attraction of these books lies in large part in the settings, which Hillerman so vividly creates and in the Navajo and Hopi customs and beliefs which are integral to the stories. This is not the strongest book in the series; personally, I prefer the earlier books where Leaphorn was the central character, but it’s still a good one and should not be missed by fans of the series.
March 29, 2016
She peered at her desk calendar, looked up again at the once-legendary lieutenant, and said, "And you are...?"
A knife-to-the-heart question when delivered in a building where one has worked most of one's adult life, given orders, hired people, and become modestly famous for a mile or two in every direction.
You know one thing that I really enjoy about Hillerman's books? He is a fan of happy endings. The book usually works out pretty amazing, with the good guys being rewarded and the bad guys being punished. I really like that.
Bernie and Chee are making plans to When Cowboy's mentally disabled cousin Billy tries to pawn a $20,000 diamond for $20, he lands in jail accused with theft and possible murder. Cowboy enlists Chee's help to get his cousin out of jail.
But before the men can bail Billy out, he's freed by a rich white woman who is on a quest. A quest to find the source of the diamond that Billy claimed to have gotten from a certain Skeleton Man? No, she wants to find the severed arm of her father - the only thing that can prove her relation to him and help her gain his vast inheritance.
With an evil lawyer out to stop her from getting her father's money, some hired killers, some other greedy people after the diamonds - Bernie, Chee and Cowboy find they've landed in some hot water.
...
It's hard for me to understand people who are obsessed with diamonds. I have zero interest in diamonds, ZERO. It's kind of weird to read about all these people scouring the canyons and killing each other over some diamonds. *shaking my head*
I also don't understand Chandler, the hired killer. He's obsessed with luxury.
Plymale sighed, took a sip from whatever he was drinking. Something iced. Slightly green. Certainly too expensive to be Chandler's normal beverage these days. He loved the taste of such luxury on his tongue.
He's constantly fantasizing about rich foods, rich drinks, "expensive women"... and I just don't get it. I like being comfortable - I definitely don't like living hand-to-mouth and I have intimate experience with not having enough to eat and not knowing where your next meal's coming from if you're even lucky enough to have a next meal coming - but at the same time I don't crave being rich. Middle class (actual middle class, not upper middle class OC lawyer doctor shit) is about the height of my aspirations. Being able to feed yourself and your family, pay the rent on an apartment every month, maybe have a car if you live far enough away from the city to need one.
But this whole fetishizing of wealth is extremely weird to me. I see magazines and tv shows where it's seen as glamorous to be ostentatiously wealthy. And I have to say I don't feel the need to have all that stuff. Five cars, a heated pool, servants, your kids all have BMWs and Coach purses, more space in a huge house than one knows what to do with... And when I see and deal with rich people in real life (which is quite frequently) they never seem to know what to do with their money. They're always renovating. Renovating, rebuilding, renovating, etc. etc. If I were a rich woman, it would be education and travel all the way. So much school, so much traveling. I have no idea why you have to renovate your already beautiful house six times. o.O I have no idea why you are determined to renovate your house six times but "can't afford" to pay your employees a living wage or tip your waitress a decent 20% tip.
Hillerman is in himself very conflicted on this. He reminds me of James Bond.
What?
Yeah. Tony Hillerman reminds me of James Bond. James Bond was conflicted and fucked-up when it came to wealth. James Bond loved nice things: expensive cars, expensive alcohol, expensive cigarettes, "expensive" women, and expensive clothes. But on the other hand, James Bond sneered at and hated the wealthy. He saw them as soft and stupid. Some of Ian Fleming's books were very interesting studies on this subject, especially perhaps For Your Eyes Only.
Hillerman celebrates the poor. I like his books because his heroes are living just above poverty level, in trailers, on the Reservation. No one can afford cell phones. Those who can afford a car, drive beat-up cars. They live on cheap fried food and instant coffee.
Hillerman paints this lifestyle as very noble and good and unselfish and "right" unlike the "greedy white men" who enjoy luxurious things like running water. Not joking, Chee and Bernie are going to be living in a trailer. With no running water and no flushing toilets. However, can I just point out that these books made Hillerman an extremely rich man. HE certainly wasn't living "close to nature" in a trailer with no flushing toilet. "Let's glamorize the lives of the poor, but dine on steak every night" seems to be a VERY common attitude I find in people. Living in poverty isn't "glamorous" or "noble" or "close to nature" or whatever Hillerman is trying to say here. Living in poverty fucking sucks, there's nothing romantic about it. And that's all I have to say about THAT.
Tl;dr - A solid mystery and a rather fun entry in Hillerman's Navajo Mystery series.
*Not trying to slam Hillerman, 1.) I know fuck-all about him as a person and 2.) He's dead. But it grates my cheese when well-off people write these kind of "poor people are the salt of the earth" novels. Fuck that shit. Have you ever eaten food out of a dumpster? Because you HAD to, not because you are rich and decided it would be fun to be a freegan? Don't ever try to tell me that poverty is some kind of noble, romantic thing. It's shit.
On the other hand, I'm a hypocrite. I love reading books about poor people, I love when the heroes of the book are not rich people and are people who appreciate the joys in the little things like being able to afford a meal out or saving up to go to a film. I love reading about characters I can relate to, like Louisa in Me Before You. So please take my ranting with a grain of salt. But then again, in Me Before You, I don't think they were glamorizing the life Louisa was living with her family and her shit jobs.
A knife-to-the-heart question when delivered in a building where one has worked most of one's adult life, given orders, hired people, and become modestly famous for a mile or two in every direction.
You know one thing that I really enjoy about Hillerman's books? He is a fan of happy endings. The book usually works out pretty amazing, with the good guys being rewarded and the bad guys being punished. I really like that.
Bernie and Chee are making plans to When Cowboy's mentally disabled cousin Billy tries to pawn a $20,000 diamond for $20, he lands in jail accused with theft and possible murder. Cowboy enlists Chee's help to get his cousin out of jail.
But before the men can bail Billy out, he's freed by a rich white woman who is on a quest. A quest to find the source of the diamond that Billy claimed to have gotten from a certain Skeleton Man? No, she wants to find the severed arm of her father - the only thing that can prove her relation to him and help her gain his vast inheritance.
With an evil lawyer out to stop her from getting her father's money, some hired killers, some other greedy people after the diamonds - Bernie, Chee and Cowboy find they've landed in some hot water.
...
It's hard for me to understand people who are obsessed with diamonds. I have zero interest in diamonds, ZERO. It's kind of weird to read about all these people scouring the canyons and killing each other over some diamonds. *shaking my head*
I also don't understand Chandler, the hired killer. He's obsessed with luxury.
Plymale sighed, took a sip from whatever he was drinking. Something iced. Slightly green. Certainly too expensive to be Chandler's normal beverage these days. He loved the taste of such luxury on his tongue.
He's constantly fantasizing about rich foods, rich drinks, "expensive women"... and I just don't get it. I like being comfortable - I definitely don't like living hand-to-mouth and I have intimate experience with not having enough to eat and not knowing where your next meal's coming from if you're even lucky enough to have a next meal coming - but at the same time I don't crave being rich. Middle class (actual middle class, not upper middle class OC lawyer doctor shit) is about the height of my aspirations. Being able to feed yourself and your family, pay the rent on an apartment every month, maybe have a car if you live far enough away from the city to need one.
But this whole fetishizing of wealth is extremely weird to me. I see magazines and tv shows where it's seen as glamorous to be ostentatiously wealthy. And I have to say I don't feel the need to have all that stuff. Five cars, a heated pool, servants, your kids all have BMWs and Coach purses, more space in a huge house than one knows what to do with... And when I see and deal with rich people in real life (which is quite frequently) they never seem to know what to do with their money. They're always renovating. Renovating, rebuilding, renovating, etc. etc. If I were a rich woman, it would be education and travel all the way. So much school, so much traveling. I have no idea why you have to renovate your already beautiful house six times. o.O I have no idea why you are determined to renovate your house six times but "can't afford" to pay your employees a living wage or tip your waitress a decent 20% tip.
Hillerman is in himself very conflicted on this. He reminds me of James Bond.
What?
Yeah. Tony Hillerman reminds me of James Bond. James Bond was conflicted and fucked-up when it came to wealth. James Bond loved nice things: expensive cars, expensive alcohol, expensive cigarettes, "expensive" women, and expensive clothes. But on the other hand, James Bond sneered at and hated the wealthy. He saw them as soft and stupid. Some of Ian Fleming's books were very interesting studies on this subject, especially perhaps For Your Eyes Only.
Hillerman celebrates the poor. I like his books because his heroes are living just above poverty level, in trailers, on the Reservation. No one can afford cell phones. Those who can afford a car, drive beat-up cars. They live on cheap fried food and instant coffee.
Hillerman paints this lifestyle as very noble and good and unselfish and "right" unlike the "greedy white men" who enjoy luxurious things like running water. Not joking, Chee and Bernie are going to be living in a trailer. With no running water and no flushing toilets. However, can I just point out that these books made Hillerman an extremely rich man. HE certainly wasn't living "close to nature" in a trailer with no flushing toilet. "Let's glamorize the lives of the poor, but dine on steak every night" seems to be a VERY common attitude I find in people. Living in poverty isn't "glamorous" or "noble" or "close to nature" or whatever Hillerman is trying to say here. Living in poverty fucking sucks, there's nothing romantic about it. And that's all I have to say about THAT.
Tl;dr - A solid mystery and a rather fun entry in Hillerman's Navajo Mystery series.
*Not trying to slam Hillerman, 1.) I know fuck-all about him as a person and 2.) He's dead. But it grates my cheese when well-off people write these kind of "poor people are the salt of the earth" novels. Fuck that shit. Have you ever eaten food out of a dumpster? Because you HAD to, not because you are rich and decided it would be fun to be a freegan? Don't ever try to tell me that poverty is some kind of noble, romantic thing. It's shit.
On the other hand, I'm a hypocrite. I love reading books about poor people, I love when the heroes of the book are not rich people and are people who appreciate the joys in the little things like being able to afford a meal out or saving up to go to a film. I love reading about characters I can relate to, like Louisa in Me Before You. So please take my ranting with a grain of salt. But then again, in Me Before You, I don't think they were glamorizing the life Louisa was living with her family and her shit jobs.
June 23, 2024
Tony Hillerman has been recognized and lauded for his storytelling of the American Southwest. The foundation for all of that has been the tales of the Navaho police involving Joe Leaphorn, and then, Jim Chee.
This tale includes some of the other familiar characters: Bernie Manuelito (now to be married with Chee), Cowboy Dashee, Captain Largo and Louisa Bourbonette. It has some interesting aspects of both Navaho and Hopi culture.
There is little mystery in this story. We know who the “bad guys” are and what they want. We are taken through a 1950s airplane crash which littered the Grand Canyon with bodies. One particular body is of great interest decades later. It is important to a woman because it was her father, and it is important to others because one arm may still be attached to a attaché case containing a fortune in diamonds. A young Hopi man might be the key to resolving all these issues. It’s when the guns come out that things get exciting. The confluence of various individuals with cross-purposes needing to cross paths with results undetermined….made more extreme by what Mother Nature can do to those caught at the bottom of the Canyon when thunderheads roll in with a downpour in the offing.
I enjoyed the story and the cultural touches such as:
“Bernie had been conditioned from toddling years to look upon everything alive as fellow citizens of a tough and unforgiving natural cosmos. Each and all, be they schoolgirl, scorpion, bobcat, or vulture, had a role to play and was endowed with the good sense to survive---provided good sense was used. Thus, Bernie was not afraid of snakes….”
I employed both the book and the audio book this time and noted that George Guidall has a comfortable voice that is particularly able to convey the pace and nuance of the main characters from America’s Southwest. I felt that this did not carryover to characters from other locales.
4*
This tale includes some of the other familiar characters: Bernie Manuelito (now to be married with Chee), Cowboy Dashee, Captain Largo and Louisa Bourbonette. It has some interesting aspects of both Navaho and Hopi culture.
There is little mystery in this story. We know who the “bad guys” are and what they want. We are taken through a 1950s airplane crash which littered the Grand Canyon with bodies. One particular body is of great interest decades later. It is important to a woman because it was her father, and it is important to others because one arm may still be attached to a attaché case containing a fortune in diamonds. A young Hopi man might be the key to resolving all these issues. It’s when the guns come out that things get exciting. The confluence of various individuals with cross-purposes needing to cross paths with results undetermined….made more extreme by what Mother Nature can do to those caught at the bottom of the Canyon when thunderheads roll in with a downpour in the offing.
I enjoyed the story and the cultural touches such as:
“Bernie had been conditioned from toddling years to look upon everything alive as fellow citizens of a tough and unforgiving natural cosmos. Each and all, be they schoolgirl, scorpion, bobcat, or vulture, had a role to play and was endowed with the good sense to survive---provided good sense was used. Thus, Bernie was not afraid of snakes….”
I employed both the book and the audio book this time and noted that George Guidall has a comfortable voice that is particularly able to convey the pace and nuance of the main characters from America’s Southwest. I felt that this did not carryover to characters from other locales.
4*
October 23, 2012
Tony Hillerman used to be one of my favorite authors, but he did that thing a lot of authors do with long-running series: said he was done writing Leaphorn/Chee mysteries, but then kept writing them. After the stinker that was The Sinister Pig, I was almost afraid to read Skeleton Man, since it's the next to last book Hillerman wrote before he died, and I'd rather remember Hillerman in his glory days, when Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee were still fresh and sharp and coming at their Navajo ways from two different viewpoints: Leaphorn the veteran, the pragmatic realist who has no patience for superstitions, and Chee the rookie, the traditional Navajo who wants to be a cop and a medicine man.
Skeleton Man was better than The Sinister Pig, but it brought nothing new to the series or the characters. I mean, it also does what all long-running detective series do and start to become as much about the characters' personal lives as whatever case they are working on this book. Chee is now engaged to Bernadette Manuelito, who was first introduced several books ago as a love interest for Chee, who has been notoriously unlucky in love since he first appeared way back in the early books to share the spotlight with Leaphorn. But that's about all this book is: an update on Bernie and Chee.
The actual plot involves a plane crash fifty years ago that left a suitcase full of diamonds handcuffed to a dead man's wrist at the bottom of a canyon in the reservation. Now, fifty years later, someone wants those diamonds, and the dead man's daughter wants his arm so she can use DNA testing to prove he was her father. We get a repeat of the previous book in that basically you've got a rich villain sending a hired thug to do his dirty work, so it's another white dude showing up to cause trouble.
The entire story is framed as Joe Leaphorn ("the legendary Leaphorn" as he is referred to umpteen times) telling the story to his old fart buddies around coffee - this is the pretext to even get him involved in the book at all. There is a little bit of interaction with some Hopi Indians (hence the double-meaning of the title; there is a very loose connection to a Hopi myth), and the climax is resolved by an act of nature.
This is really just a short story that Hillerman padded out to (barely) novel length.
I can only recommend Skeleton Man for true Hillerman fans who just want to finish the series. There won't be any more Chee/Leaphorn novels, after all. But the earlier books in the series are well worth reading; start with The Blessing Way.
Skeleton Man was better than The Sinister Pig, but it brought nothing new to the series or the characters. I mean, it also does what all long-running detective series do and start to become as much about the characters' personal lives as whatever case they are working on this book. Chee is now engaged to Bernadette Manuelito, who was first introduced several books ago as a love interest for Chee, who has been notoriously unlucky in love since he first appeared way back in the early books to share the spotlight with Leaphorn. But that's about all this book is: an update on Bernie and Chee.
The actual plot involves a plane crash fifty years ago that left a suitcase full of diamonds handcuffed to a dead man's wrist at the bottom of a canyon in the reservation. Now, fifty years later, someone wants those diamonds, and the dead man's daughter wants his arm so she can use DNA testing to prove he was her father. We get a repeat of the previous book in that basically you've got a rich villain sending a hired thug to do his dirty work, so it's another white dude showing up to cause trouble.
The entire story is framed as Joe Leaphorn ("the legendary Leaphorn" as he is referred to umpteen times) telling the story to his old fart buddies around coffee - this is the pretext to even get him involved in the book at all. There is a little bit of interaction with some Hopi Indians (hence the double-meaning of the title; there is a very loose connection to a Hopi myth), and the climax is resolved by an act of nature.
This is really just a short story that Hillerman padded out to (barely) novel length.
I can only recommend Skeleton Man for true Hillerman fans who just want to finish the series. There won't be any more Chee/Leaphorn novels, after all. But the earlier books in the series are well worth reading; start with The Blessing Way.
September 20, 2025
“Some of them call him Skeleton Man. Supposed to be the Guardian of the Underworld, and the spirit who greeted the first Hopis when they came up from the dark world they had been living in. This spirit told them how to make their religious migrations and where to live when they finished doing that. And the big thing about him for the Hopis, this spirit taught them not to be afraid of death.”
Skeleton Man is the seventeenth novel by Tony Hillerman in the series about the Native American heritage and culture in the American Southwest particularly in the Four Corners area as told through the experiences of Leaphorn and Chee as the law enforcement officers with the Navajo Nation Tribal Police over the years. Now that Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn has retired, he steps forward to help with the exoneration of a slow and simple kid under arrest for robbing the trading post of Shorty McGinnis, and taking a valuable diamond. But Billy Tuve maintains that he received the diamond he tried to pawn from a mysterious old man in the canyon. However, his story has has captured the attention of many strangers to the Navajo lands with questionable motives.
At the core of this suspenseful story is the tale of John Clarke with a case of diamonds chained to his left wrist as he was involved in a plane crash between two passenger airplanes as they collided over the Grand Canyon over fifty years ago killing all aboard and scattering the remains and luggage and assorted debris for miles. He left behind a pregnant fiancé waiting at the altar. When young Hopi, Billy Tuve tries to pawn one of the Clarke diamonds, there is the usual jurisdictional squabbles between the Navajo Tribal Police and the FBI, as former Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee begin to try to sort through the wild stories told by both Billy Tuve and Shorty McGinnis. Complicating this scenario is that Jim Chee’s fiancé, Bernie Manuelito, formerly with the Navajo Tribal Police, has also come along to the Grand Canyon and may be in danger as well as the daughter of John Clarke, anxious to earn the truth about her father, partly as a tribute to her mother. A lot of threads including a flash flood at the bottom of the canyon, adding to the suspense and mystery. It is in this book that Hillerman explores the mesa country of Arizona and delves into more of the beliefs and rituals of the Hopi. As with all of Hillerman’s novels in this series, there is an enticing combination of the beautiful Southwest linking the allure of tribal mysticism, desert landscapes, and contemporary culture.
September 3, 2025
Another very compelling and interesting entry in the Leaphorn/Chee novels by Tony Hillerman. I have not even come close to reading all of this series but have been reading them off and on since seeing the very enjoyable TV series based on the books, Dark Winds. This one involves an airline disaster that happened decades ago in 1956 when two planes collided over the Grand Canyon. A young feebleminded Hopi named Billy Tuve gets arrested and blamed for a trading post robbery after he tries to pawn a diamond worth $20,000 for only $20.00. Turns out that a man on one of the planes that crashed back in 1956 was carrying a briefcase full of rare diamonds that were handcuffed to his wrist. Tuve claims that he traded a folding shovel for the diamond years earlier to an old man in a sacred-to-the Hopi area of the Canyon. The surfacing of this diamond brings in the interest of a woman who is trying to prove that she is the daughter of the man who was carrying the diamonds to claim her inheritance. Rumor had it that the arm bone of the man was still attached to the diamond case which could be used to extract DNA and prove he was her father. And of course the people who did get the inheritance are out to stop her from proving that she is the rightful heir. Leaphorn, although retired from the Tribal Police, is there to glean as much information as he can about this and Chee and his fiancé, Bernie Manuelito are there to help Tuve prove his innocence. So will they be able to find the man with the diamonds?
I enjoyed this one very much. I thought the story was compelling and as stated in the preface of the book, the collision of the airliners central to the plot was real and triggered the creation of the FAA and its flight safety rules. This made the story all the more interesting and Hillerman's descriptions of the Grand Canyon area added a lot to the narrative. His knowledge of the Hopi and their religious beliefs also added to the story. And of course his character development is top notch. I really need to start at the beginning of this series and read all the books I have missed so far.
I enjoyed this one very much. I thought the story was compelling and as stated in the preface of the book, the collision of the airliners central to the plot was real and triggered the creation of the FAA and its flight safety rules. This made the story all the more interesting and Hillerman's descriptions of the Grand Canyon area added a lot to the narrative. His knowledge of the Hopi and their religious beliefs also added to the story. And of course his character development is top notch. I really need to start at the beginning of this series and read all the books I have missed so far.
May 20, 2023
I promised myself after I retired that I would go back and reread all of the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee novels in the order that they were written. This book involves an airplane crash over the Grand Canyon, missing diamonds and proof that a child was a direct descendant due a large inheritance. Chee, Leaphorn and Manuelito are all involved with Bernie being the most directly involved.
Want to read
November 14, 2020Wrong review! But didn't delete because of the nice little thread below. Maybe I will read this one day--it appears that it might be one of the better ones.
February 27, 2018
Second Read: This is an especially good book. A really good book club book too. This was a selection of the month from a book group. While I enjoyed it, I have read many of Tony Hillerman's books and would consider this one very average. Joe Leaphorn, a primary character in earlier books is now retired, but makes a cameo/walk-on appearance in this book, playing no significant part in advancing the plot.
The plot revolves around a true-life plane crash over the Grand Canyon. The crash, which resulted in two planes and all passengers falling from the sky, happened in 1956. All other events in the book - the diamond courier, the hermit in the canyon, the inclusion of the crash in local Native legends and myths - are fictional. Joanna Craig, the woman in search of her presumed father's bones (he was the diamond courier) moves the action along, but was not a particularly sympathetic character. As a result, I didn't care whether she was successful in her quest and really only read the book in order to enjoy Hillerman's love of the area and its people.
If you haven't read any of Hillerman's "Navajo" books, this is not a good starting point. Go to your local library or bookstore and find the earlier books. You'll really enjoy learning about Navajo and Hopi customs and you'll want to travel to the region. Leaphorn is a marvelous fictional character, but of course he eventually does have to retire. Sadly, that seems to have weakened the series
First Read: It's one the best Tony Hillerman I've ever read before. This book has very little to do with the Indian Lore and traditions that a lot of the other Hillerman books have, and it moved right along without a hitch. Not too many characters either, of course except Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. But the other charaters were interesting and it was a well thought out mystery, who dunnit kind of thing. And at 240 pages it was just right. Highly Recommend.
The plot revolves around a true-life plane crash over the Grand Canyon. The crash, which resulted in two planes and all passengers falling from the sky, happened in 1956. All other events in the book - the diamond courier, the hermit in the canyon, the inclusion of the crash in local Native legends and myths - are fictional. Joanna Craig, the woman in search of her presumed father's bones (he was the diamond courier) moves the action along, but was not a particularly sympathetic character. As a result, I didn't care whether she was successful in her quest and really only read the book in order to enjoy Hillerman's love of the area and its people.
If you haven't read any of Hillerman's "Navajo" books, this is not a good starting point. Go to your local library or bookstore and find the earlier books. You'll really enjoy learning about Navajo and Hopi customs and you'll want to travel to the region. Leaphorn is a marvelous fictional character, but of course he eventually does have to retire. Sadly, that seems to have weakened the series
First Read: It's one the best Tony Hillerman I've ever read before. This book has very little to do with the Indian Lore and traditions that a lot of the other Hillerman books have, and it moved right along without a hitch. Not too many characters either, of course except Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. But the other charaters were interesting and it was a well thought out mystery, who dunnit kind of thing. And at 240 pages it was just right. Highly Recommend.
March 4, 2024
In 1956, an airplane crash happened. Years later, a slow kid is caught trying to pawn a diamond, lost in the crash. Leaphorn, retired, but on his way to be a PI, tires to help the kid out. It's a tangled web. Bernie is starting to take over the series, and it seems like Anne Hillerman is writing more of the book.
April 1, 2016
I love Tony Hillerman and his books set in the 4 corners of America- New Mexico, Arizona etc. I had read them all about 25 years ago and so I thought enough time had elapsed to listen to the audio on the way to my grandkids.
As it was going along I realized the character, Bernie, was really irritating me. First of all, I dislike women who do stupid things to prove to a man that she is just as good as he is. Please. Then as I was gritting my teeth, I realized it was the voice the narrator gave her. It was whiny and nails on the chalkboard sounding. It ruined the story completely for me. Her voice sounded nothing like it did in my head.
The power of the written word.
As it was going along I realized the character, Bernie, was really irritating me. First of all, I dislike women who do stupid things to prove to a man that she is just as good as he is. Please. Then as I was gritting my teeth, I realized it was the voice the narrator gave her. It was whiny and nails on the chalkboard sounding. It ruined the story completely for me. Her voice sounded nothing like it did in my head.
The power of the written word.
October 11, 2022
I started reading this series again after many years and this novel is my new favorite because of the suspense and the location being the Grand Canyon. l love the characters of the Navaho police Leaphorn, Chee and "Bernie".
November 13, 2017
Another fine Hillerman Novel. An airplane crash, a cheated heiress, and a crooked lawyer. This creates a good plot for a good Navajo Mystery
July 30, 2008
Interesting idea but honestly so short that with some editing it could almost have been a short story. Just winding down the series with the old retired Navajo police Lt Joe Leaphorn now marginally involved in the goings-on, and mostly by phone.
This could have been so much more but perhaps readers of this series of books aren't interested in having a fine portrait painted of character and locale nor details of landscape. Perhaps they've read it all before. Standing on its own without the background of other Hillerman books with these characters and set in Arizona however it's disappointing.
This could have been so much more but perhaps readers of this series of books aren't interested in having a fine portrait painted of character and locale nor details of landscape. Perhaps they've read it all before. Standing on its own without the background of other Hillerman books with these characters and set in Arizona however it's disappointing.
December 5, 2018
Tony Hillerman was one of the best. Authentic. Good story. Wonderful characters with colorful names. I enjoyed the multiple povs esp the female one. I could read his stuff all day.
I once met him in an elevator at a writers' conference years and years ago. He was so nice and came across as a happy man, all smiley-faced. I can almost still hear his rich, full voice. We talked for the length of an elevator ride. Really made the conference for me.
I once met him in an elevator at a writers' conference years and years ago. He was so nice and came across as a happy man, all smiley-faced. I can almost still hear his rich, full voice. We talked for the length of an elevator ride. Really made the conference for me.
June 16, 2015
CD/unabridged: Book 17 of the Joe Leaphorn & Jimmy Chee series. I've listened to two other books by Hillerman and he is a very good story teller. This one was written about four years before Hillerman's passing and is short. I was surprised to see that it was unabridged and only six discs.
In this one Leaphorn, retired, recounts the story of an airplane that crashed in to another and fell to the Grand Canyon while trying to prove the innocence of a simple man. I like it because I learned something; most of it doing with Indian culture. In a flashback, you learn the story of how Chee and Bernie went into the GC to find the diamonds and the wrist. The ending was a little fulfilling. I've read several novels that have a "male rain" that wipes out everything. (Another one, just this year.) It was an easy out and shortened the storytelling.
George Guidall does a great reading with a lot of flavor of the west.
In this one Leaphorn, retired, recounts the story of an airplane that crashed in to another and fell to the Grand Canyon while trying to prove the innocence of a simple man. I like it because I learned something; most of it doing with Indian culture. In a flashback, you learn the story of how Chee and Bernie went into the GC to find the diamonds and the wrist. The ending was a little fulfilling. I've read several novels that have a "male rain" that wipes out everything. (Another one, just this year.) It was an easy out and shortened the storytelling.
George Guidall does a great reading with a lot of flavor of the west.
April 30, 2025
Another fun read!
Chee and Bernie are engaged and there's a little friction in their new relationship but luckily Bernie communicates better than Chee.
In 1956 two planes collided over the Grand Canyon. Hillerman takes this actual tragedy and creates a mystery around one of the victims.
And there's a mentally challenged man whose accused of a crime because he has a diamond that he says, came from the Grand Canyon.
And now I'm on to Tony Hillerman's last book in the series. His daughter continues the series and my dad thinks she does a credible job of it. So I look forward those too.
On a sad note. I am leaving goodreads by the end of the May. I have a new account with storygraph that I am setting up. They allow you to transfer all your goodreads data and reviews.
My user name is dirtyMartini
Chee and Bernie are engaged and there's a little friction in their new relationship but luckily Bernie communicates better than Chee.
In 1956 two planes collided over the Grand Canyon. Hillerman takes this actual tragedy and creates a mystery around one of the victims.
And there's a mentally challenged man whose accused of a crime because he has a diamond that he says, came from the Grand Canyon.
And now I'm on to Tony Hillerman's last book in the series. His daughter continues the series and my dad thinks she does a credible job of it. So I look forward those too.
On a sad note. I am leaving goodreads by the end of the May. I have a new account with storygraph that I am setting up. They allow you to transfer all your goodreads data and reviews.
My user name is dirtyMartini
October 1, 2019
Mr. Hillerman expands his scope by going under the horizon: the bottom of the Grand Canyon, a very unfamiliar and unique place. This is a straightforward story with all the action focused in one location.
I think it would make a good movie if Hollywood didn’t try to sex it all up.
I think it would make a good movie if Hollywood didn’t try to sex it all up.
August 18, 2019
Tony Hillerman gives Joe Leaphorn a rest in this novel, although he begins it as if telling his buddies the story of the Skeleton Man case. Filmmakers like that device, you know, when they zoom in close up on a character's face, then fade into the past action. The problem with this device is that it needs to be done with care, i.e. the person who's remembering and telling the story needs to be present for everything being told. So, for example, in Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, at the beginning we see an old guy at a military cemetery and he's looking at gravestones. He stops at one, the camera zooms in on him in close up, and then we see the beginning of the story -- a story about a group of men who risk their lives to save a private who's the last surviving son in the Ryan family. Then at the end, we learn that the person who was remembering was actually Ryan himself, except he couldn't have remembered 3/4 of the movie because he wasn't present for the action. And so it is with this mystery novel that begins with Leaphorn remembering the Skeleton Man case. I kept reading on faith that Leaphorn would be playing a prominent role in the story, but he doesn't. It's really Jim Chee, Cowboy Dashee, and Bernie Manuelito who are the prominent players.
Having said that, my one problem with this novel, I enjoyed once again the mixture of Native American myths with contemporary action, and the time in the Grand Canyon. I don't think Hillerman has taken his readers to the Grand Canyon before. I had not known how important a role the Grand Canyon plays in Hopi religious ceremonies, or that there are people who live in it.
Jim Chee agrees to help Cowboy Dashee find the evidence that will exonerate Dashee's cousin, Billy, who's developmentally challenged. Billy has been accused of robbing a trading post because he tried to pawn a diamond -- a real diamond -- worth thousands of dollars. Where'd the diamond come from? How did the trading post owner have it? And is there more than one? Turns out that it all goes back to a horrific plane crash in 1956 when 2 planes collided over the Grand Canyon, killing everyone on board both planes. John Clarke, heir to the wealthy Clarke estate, was on one of those planes, transporting almost 100 diamonds back to New York. His daughter wants to find her father's remains to get his DNA and prove that she's his daughter and heir to the estate rather than the Foundation run by the Plymale law firm. Plymale sends a bounty hunter to stop anyone from getting evidence to wrench the inheritance, i.e. millions of dollars, away from the Foundation. Joe Leaphorn talks to the owner of the trading post that was robbed and passes on the information to Chee and Dashee. It seems there's someone in the Grand Canyon giving away diamonds just as Billy claimed, and they need to find him to prove Billy got his diamond from him and not from robbing the trading post.
As usual, Hillerman weaves together the threads of the story to create a fast-paced and suspenseful plotline with a very satisfying ending. I especially enjoyed all the action in the Grand Canyon. And it was fun to find out if Skeleton Man really exists or remains a myth.
Another fun Navajo mystery from Tony Hillerman -- couldn't give it five stars because of that use of the memory device that doesn't really work well for this story. But I still recommend it for Hillerman fans if they haven't yet read it, and for mystery readers interested in something different.
Having said that, my one problem with this novel, I enjoyed once again the mixture of Native American myths with contemporary action, and the time in the Grand Canyon. I don't think Hillerman has taken his readers to the Grand Canyon before. I had not known how important a role the Grand Canyon plays in Hopi religious ceremonies, or that there are people who live in it.
Jim Chee agrees to help Cowboy Dashee find the evidence that will exonerate Dashee's cousin, Billy, who's developmentally challenged. Billy has been accused of robbing a trading post because he tried to pawn a diamond -- a real diamond -- worth thousands of dollars. Where'd the diamond come from? How did the trading post owner have it? And is there more than one? Turns out that it all goes back to a horrific plane crash in 1956 when 2 planes collided over the Grand Canyon, killing everyone on board both planes. John Clarke, heir to the wealthy Clarke estate, was on one of those planes, transporting almost 100 diamonds back to New York. His daughter wants to find her father's remains to get his DNA and prove that she's his daughter and heir to the estate rather than the Foundation run by the Plymale law firm. Plymale sends a bounty hunter to stop anyone from getting evidence to wrench the inheritance, i.e. millions of dollars, away from the Foundation. Joe Leaphorn talks to the owner of the trading post that was robbed and passes on the information to Chee and Dashee. It seems there's someone in the Grand Canyon giving away diamonds just as Billy claimed, and they need to find him to prove Billy got his diamond from him and not from robbing the trading post.
As usual, Hillerman weaves together the threads of the story to create a fast-paced and suspenseful plotline with a very satisfying ending. I especially enjoyed all the action in the Grand Canyon. And it was fun to find out if Skeleton Man really exists or remains a myth.
Another fun Navajo mystery from Tony Hillerman -- couldn't give it five stars because of that use of the memory device that doesn't really work well for this story. But I still recommend it for Hillerman fans if they haven't yet read it, and for mystery readers interested in something different.
August 17, 2011
The following elements are involved in this book: a severed limb, a diamond heist, a mid-air collision between two airplanes, and a mummified corpse.
Wouldn’t you think at least ONE of those would be exciting on some level?
If you’re human, you would. And Mr. Hillerman would owe you an apology. Probably even an apology involving baked goods. An apolo-cake. An aPielogy. At least that way you would walk away with SOMETHING.
There were two female characters in this book that I didn’t even realize were separate characters until about halfway through. This is not a good thing. If you’re on a date with someone and only halfway through do you realize that the person you picked up earlier in the evening is not the person you are currently sharing movie popcorn with, I would question how well the date was going. You should immediately end this date. And probably make some hospital appointments.
Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s my natural distaste for mysteries. It’s not that I’ve read a lot of them, but the idea of surprise, in general, is very unappealing to me. I don’t care about surprise parties, I don’t care if I know what I’m eating for dinner, and I always snooped around the house and found my Christmas gifts early. Which is a really good thing because sometimes your mom gets you a guitar, and sometimes you see it and say, “Oh shit!” because you asked for a guitar months ago, but now you REALLY don’t want a guitar because you know you’re going to suck at it. So thank god you looked around in her bedroom before Christmas morning because at least now you can put on a brave face.
Mystery and surprise are overrated, in my opinion. And some of the best things in life don’t have mystery in them. I like pizza. I know I like pizza. No mystery there, yet time and again I order pizza. Sex. There can be some level of mystery there, but rarely is there a twist ending, and usually when there is someone is really unhappy about it and spends the evening with an ice pack.
The other problem is that I’m supposed to discuss this with a book club tomorrow. What the hell am I going to say? I have a couple potential ideas:
“Hey, wasn’t that a neat book?”
“I didn’t think that book was so neat? What about you?”
“That cover sure is neat.”
I really can’t think of one good reason to read this book. I mean, come on. A severed arm! And nothing!? If you can’t make something happen with a severed arm, you have no business on my bookshelves
Wouldn’t you think at least ONE of those would be exciting on some level?
If you’re human, you would. And Mr. Hillerman would owe you an apology. Probably even an apology involving baked goods. An apolo-cake. An aPielogy. At least that way you would walk away with SOMETHING.
There were two female characters in this book that I didn’t even realize were separate characters until about halfway through. This is not a good thing. If you’re on a date with someone and only halfway through do you realize that the person you picked up earlier in the evening is not the person you are currently sharing movie popcorn with, I would question how well the date was going. You should immediately end this date. And probably make some hospital appointments.
Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s my natural distaste for mysteries. It’s not that I’ve read a lot of them, but the idea of surprise, in general, is very unappealing to me. I don’t care about surprise parties, I don’t care if I know what I’m eating for dinner, and I always snooped around the house and found my Christmas gifts early. Which is a really good thing because sometimes your mom gets you a guitar, and sometimes you see it and say, “Oh shit!” because you asked for a guitar months ago, but now you REALLY don’t want a guitar because you know you’re going to suck at it. So thank god you looked around in her bedroom before Christmas morning because at least now you can put on a brave face.
Mystery and surprise are overrated, in my opinion. And some of the best things in life don’t have mystery in them. I like pizza. I know I like pizza. No mystery there, yet time and again I order pizza. Sex. There can be some level of mystery there, but rarely is there a twist ending, and usually when there is someone is really unhappy about it and spends the evening with an ice pack.
The other problem is that I’m supposed to discuss this with a book club tomorrow. What the hell am I going to say? I have a couple potential ideas:
“Hey, wasn’t that a neat book?”
“I didn’t think that book was so neat? What about you?”
“That cover sure is neat.”
I really can’t think of one good reason to read this book. I mean, come on. A severed arm! And nothing!? If you can’t make something happen with a severed arm, you have no business on my bookshelves
November 25, 2013
I love that this is told as a story from the past - Lt. Leaphorn tells the story of how a woman came from New York to try to find a bone from her father killed in a major airliner crash. This would give her sole inheritance to a large business empire but those that have control now try to stop her. Plus there are diamonds involved...lots of diamonds. Needless to say, Bernie and Jim Chee are almost peripheral to the story but they end up married and helping the woman claim her birthright. There's one more written by Hillerman and now his daughter is resuming the series so it will be interesting to see where the characters and storylines go.
November 3, 2014
I've had this book for a long time, sent to me by Linda, who enjoyed Hillerman's novels. I read another one of his Joe Leaphorn books some years ago and don't remember liking it much. This one, however, is great. It's a very interesting story related to a 1956 plane crash in the Grand Canyon(a disaster that really happened, collision of two passenger liners before the advent of air traffic control) and some lost diamonds. If I'd been able to spare the time, I would have read the entire book in one day.
Very, very good. I highly recommend it.
Very, very good. I highly recommend it.
May 30, 2016
After I started listening to this, I discovered I've already listened to it - perhaps on one of my earlier trips cross country? Anyways, it's a good one, with the usual skipping between points-of-view. I've been watching the series (Netflix? Amazon Prime?) and Leaphorn is depicted a bit differently (now that my memory has been refreshed) with the book. It was fun to re-listen. Great reader, too...George Guidall.
November 30, 2016
The only thing going for this novel was that Chee and Bernie finally get together and plan to marry. Bernie loves Chee for who he is, and them planning for their married future on the reservation was enduring. There was a villain with a wealth fetish, and the descriptions of his elaborate meals made me want to slap him. The appealing Cowboy Dashee helped solve the crime along with the "legendary" Leaphorn. At this stage, this series is just limping to the finish line.
September 24, 2025
Another good Hillerman mystery, this one weaving a story around a true event. The true event was an airline crash in the Grand Canyon in 1956 killing 128 people. In this story several people are interested in finding a package of precious diamonds apparently lost in the crash. Well done.
July 19, 2012
I'm rereading the Tony Hillerman series about the southwest and Navajo nation. His characters demonstrate a deep and clear understanding of the people and the land. I recommend them all.
August 13, 2024
La storia è ambientata nel New Mexico.
La quarta di copertina dice molto del libro e pure troppo. In qualche parte l'autore è ripetitivo ma i personaggi e il contesto sono piuttosto originali. Non è frequente leggere di polizia tribale e di spiriti maligni che vigilano sui sentieri del Gran Canyon.
Nel complesso la lettura risulta scorrevole e quindi godibile.
La quarta di copertina dice molto del libro e pure troppo. In qualche parte l'autore è ripetitivo ma i personaggi e il contesto sono piuttosto originali. Non è frequente leggere di polizia tribale e di spiriti maligni che vigilano sui sentieri del Gran Canyon.
Nel complesso la lettura risulta scorrevole e quindi godibile.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2012
There are a lot of things to like about this book, which is my first Hillerman experience, but I think my favorites were the characters. This is not the first book in the series, and I was a little confused for the first couple of pages, but it didn’t take long for me to warm to the very human characters and feel like I was right there with them.
In the ‘50s, two planes collided over the Grand Canyon, killing everyone on board and sending a rain of debris and body parts over the canyon. It was the worst airline disaster of its time, and had lasting ramifications on several of the characters in this book. Joanna Craig was deprived of both a father and a fortune when he died in the crash carrying a valise full of diamonds shackled to his arm. One of the diamonds was intended for Joanna’s mother, who was pregnant with Joanna at the time. When Joanna’s father died, his family refused to acknowledge their relationship, or that Joanna was his daughter. As a result, his family’s fortune went to a “nonprofit” organization, since no parts of his body were found and identified and Joanna cannot prove she is his heir.
Now, however, new evidence has come to light. A young Hopi named Billy Tuve is in trouble for trying to pawn a diamond for $20. He is being accused of robbing a store to get it, but he claims a strange man in the Grand Canyon gave it to him as a trade for a folding shovel. His story jibes with tales of a dismembered arm found floating in the Colorado River, chained to a valise, that washed away before anyone could get to it, and when a story about another person trading a jackknife for a diamond from a strange old man starts going around, Tuve’s friends investigate.
Things get a little complicated, though, when not only Joanna Craig tries to get close to Billy Tuve to find the diamonds. The law firm that controls her inheritance also wants the diamonds, and the arm, found. Joanna doesn’t care about the diamonds; she only wants her father’s arm so she can prove she is really his daughter through DNA evidence. The Plymale firm wants the arm so they can make it disappear and they can hang onto Joanna’s inheritance…and the diamonds. Billy Tuve’s cousin, deputy Cowboy Dashee, and his friend, tribal policeman Jim Chee, just want to find the diamonds to back up Billy’s story and prove he didn’t commit a robbery. All these motives collide, along with a fierce rainstorm and flash flooding, in the Grand Canyon when they all head down the sacred Hopi Salt Trail in search of a hermit known as Skeleton Man.
This was a quick but compelling read that didn’t take long to suck me in and make me want to know the outcome. It’s also an “easy read,” not simplistic, but very comfortable to sit down and get into, and very easy to get back to if you’ve had to put it down. It left me with a desire to spend more time with his delightfully-drawn characters. I felt like I was right there in the Southwest, listening to Indian lore and feeling the hot, baking sun. Thankfully, Mr. Hillerman has written a number of books to take me back there.
In the ‘50s, two planes collided over the Grand Canyon, killing everyone on board and sending a rain of debris and body parts over the canyon. It was the worst airline disaster of its time, and had lasting ramifications on several of the characters in this book. Joanna Craig was deprived of both a father and a fortune when he died in the crash carrying a valise full of diamonds shackled to his arm. One of the diamonds was intended for Joanna’s mother, who was pregnant with Joanna at the time. When Joanna’s father died, his family refused to acknowledge their relationship, or that Joanna was his daughter. As a result, his family’s fortune went to a “nonprofit” organization, since no parts of his body were found and identified and Joanna cannot prove she is his heir.
Now, however, new evidence has come to light. A young Hopi named Billy Tuve is in trouble for trying to pawn a diamond for $20. He is being accused of robbing a store to get it, but he claims a strange man in the Grand Canyon gave it to him as a trade for a folding shovel. His story jibes with tales of a dismembered arm found floating in the Colorado River, chained to a valise, that washed away before anyone could get to it, and when a story about another person trading a jackknife for a diamond from a strange old man starts going around, Tuve’s friends investigate.
Things get a little complicated, though, when not only Joanna Craig tries to get close to Billy Tuve to find the diamonds. The law firm that controls her inheritance also wants the diamonds, and the arm, found. Joanna doesn’t care about the diamonds; she only wants her father’s arm so she can prove she is really his daughter through DNA evidence. The Plymale firm wants the arm so they can make it disappear and they can hang onto Joanna’s inheritance…and the diamonds. Billy Tuve’s cousin, deputy Cowboy Dashee, and his friend, tribal policeman Jim Chee, just want to find the diamonds to back up Billy’s story and prove he didn’t commit a robbery. All these motives collide, along with a fierce rainstorm and flash flooding, in the Grand Canyon when they all head down the sacred Hopi Salt Trail in search of a hermit known as Skeleton Man.
This was a quick but compelling read that didn’t take long to suck me in and make me want to know the outcome. It’s also an “easy read,” not simplistic, but very comfortable to sit down and get into, and very easy to get back to if you’ve had to put it down. It left me with a desire to spend more time with his delightfully-drawn characters. I felt like I was right there in the Southwest, listening to Indian lore and feeling the hot, baking sun. Thankfully, Mr. Hillerman has written a number of books to take me back there.
June 24, 2020
I picked this up at random, thinking that it might just be a fun, light read. However, I think that there is a line between light and fun, and just not that good. This book definitely went over that line.
The story begins with a plane crash above the Grand Canyon, where there are no survivors and it is a struggle to find any complete bodies, as everything's just scattered around. However, one of these people was taking a bunch of diamonds with him, and these are starting to suddenly turn up. It then follows a bunch of (ex-)policepeople trying to uncover the story to clear someone's name, the daughter of the diamond man who is trying to get her inheritance by finding his arm, and a bunch of baddies who want to prevent the aforementioned for their own gain.
However, there were just no twists and turns? I feel like I'm spoiling the book when just giving a synopsis, because the entire book did not surprise. The characters were flat, the writing was clunky (and sometimes just SO tropy, with those repeated sentences that just remind you of the one time you tried creative writing), and there was just nothing really going on. I've read some of these types of books before, but usually there was something in them. Look at Angels and Demons for instance - say what you want, but it's extremely compelling, and you actually want to know what's happening. Here, I felt everything was clear from the beginning. Sure, you don't know how it'll end exactly, but looking back on it I not once felt like something was actually at stake. I think that's the main problem with this book: where were the stakes? As I mentioned, it's following all these people trying to find diamonds/an arm, but there was no reason whatsoever for me to sympathize with any of the perspectives. It all just felt quite pointless. It also was just 80% build-up (like the first 200 pages, tbh), then 15% action, and the last few pages were just a kind of wrap-up where everyone was conveniently sitting down and recounting how everything had turned out in the aftermath. And some of these things were just so convenient.
That being said, I am completely unfamiliar with anything Native American and the book did give me some insight in that (though it wasn't own voices, but like), so that was cool.
I am just feeling quite disappointed, because I know there are such gems to be found in the more 'commercial fiction' side of things. This just wasn't one of them, in spite of the numerous diamonds (ha-ha).
The story begins with a plane crash above the Grand Canyon, where there are no survivors and it is a struggle to find any complete bodies, as everything's just scattered around. However, one of these people was taking a bunch of diamonds with him, and these are starting to suddenly turn up. It then follows a bunch of (ex-)policepeople trying to uncover the story to clear someone's name, the daughter of the diamond man who is trying to get her inheritance by finding his arm, and a bunch of baddies who want to prevent the aforementioned for their own gain.
However, there were just no twists and turns? I feel like I'm spoiling the book when just giving a synopsis, because the entire book did not surprise. The characters were flat, the writing was clunky (and sometimes just SO tropy, with those repeated sentences that just remind you of the one time you tried creative writing), and there was just nothing really going on. I've read some of these types of books before, but usually there was something in them. Look at Angels and Demons for instance - say what you want, but it's extremely compelling, and you actually want to know what's happening. Here, I felt everything was clear from the beginning. Sure, you don't know how it'll end exactly, but looking back on it I not once felt like something was actually at stake. I think that's the main problem with this book: where were the stakes? As I mentioned, it's following all these people trying to find diamonds/an arm, but there was no reason whatsoever for me to sympathize with any of the perspectives. It all just felt quite pointless. It also was just 80% build-up (like the first 200 pages, tbh), then 15% action, and the last few pages were just a kind of wrap-up where everyone was conveniently sitting down and recounting how everything had turned out in the aftermath. And some of these things were just so convenient.
That being said, I am completely unfamiliar with anything Native American and the book did give me some insight in that (though it wasn't own voices, but like), so that was cool.
I am just feeling quite disappointed, because I know there are such gems to be found in the more 'commercial fiction' side of things. This just wasn't one of them, in spite of the numerous diamonds (ha-ha).
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