The Wailing Wind

The Wailing Wind
by Tony Hillerman

3 of 5 stars

When Navajo tribal police officer Bernie Manuelito pokes a drunk passed out in the front seat of his pickup truck and the drunk turns out to be stone dead, Bernie entangles herself in the latest of Hillerman's Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn mysteries. The Wailing Wind contains all the classic elements this mystery series: Something worth killing for (in this case, a long lost gold mine), good bad guys, stories of the Dineh culture, uncooperative Feds, and descriptions of the Southwest that make you pack your bags and buy a plane ticket to Gallup.

There are 16 or 17 books in the Chee/Leaphorn series, and I think this is the 12th one I've read. So for me, some of the mystery was missing. I think I had the major plot points worked out about half way through. But I don't think the mystery is the main reason I read this series. I read these because I like the characters: Leaphorn, the (now) retired police lieutenant; Chee, the younger, brash officer with a deep connection to Navajo spirituality; and the reservation landscape, a lively character in itself. OK, the main reason is to read some fluff in between bigger, weightier books, but I do like the characters, and The Wailing Wind provides further development for each character. If you haven't read any books in this series, I probably wouldn't recommend this as your first; maybe Theif in Time. My recommendation: Read this book from atop a mesa anywhere in the Four Corners region. Even better if a nasty thunderstorm is heading your way.