The Dark Wind  by Tony Hillerman

Number five in the Leaphorn and Chee series by Hillerman, this book features vengeance and of course, justice. Almost frontier justice. Only Jim Chee is in this story. No Joe Leaphorn. And Chee’s been transferred to the Tuba City subagency office of the Navajo Tribal Police, which is in Arizona.

Chee is working three supposedly unrelated cases. Someone is sabotaging a windmill. An unidentified body was found, his face, fingers and toes sliced off. And a burglary of a trading post. To top it off, drug smugglers bring the feds into Chee’s land and Chee gets involved in another case he’s repeatedly warned to stay away from.

This is a good mystery. It wasn’t easily figured out. I had my suspicions, but Hillerman did a good job of introducing other red herrings keeping me guessing. Multiple threads are weaved together throughout this story. Some suspense. A thrilling ending. A plethora of fascinating Navajo culture. And pages and pages of weather, which is an important part of the culture.

Missing, though, from what I remember of the Leaphorn / Chee series, is the clever banter and strong friendship between Chee and Leaphorn. There are some other quirky characters introduced to try and fill that void.

Another interesting thing about reading this book was no cell phones and no social media. This book was written in 1982. Honestly, I didn’t miss any of the modern stuff at all. The story kept me engaged.

Some mild profanity. No f-bombs and only one s-bomb. No on page sex. And the violence is muted.

Overall, a fun read with well-rounded characters, deep setting, and an engaging story. I’ll rank it number four of the books I’ve read so far this year. And it makes six good reads. No duds yet.

1. The Record Keeper by Charles Martin
2. The Samaritan’s Patient by Chevron Ross
3. The Maid by Nita Prose
4. The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman
5. A Vanishing Act by Edwina Kiernan
6. Cali’s Hope by John Matthew Walker

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