The Wailing Wind Book

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by: Tony Hillerman

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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: Rating: - Another great Hillerman mystery! If you have enjoyed any of Tony Hillerman's previous novels set in the "Four Corners", you will surely enjoy reading "The Wailing Wind". As before, Mr. Hillerman brings together the legendary Joe Leaphorn with younger Sergeant Jim Chee. Together they work to solve a recent murder as well as reopen an old homicide investigation that seemed to everyone to be an open and shut case, to everyone but "Lieutenant" Leaphorn. With the addition of Officer Bernie Manuelito and Leaphorn's lady Professor (introduced in 'Coyote Waits'), the new foursome make an odd, but compelling quartet. As always, there are fascinating bits of Navajo mythology expertly weaved into the tale. My thanks to Mr. Hillerman for another fine mystery that keeps you interested until the final chapter, and hungry for the next book! Rating: - Leaphorn and Chee wear well In a Hillerman novel the Navajo embody a serene kind of patience where people never interrupt, hear everything that is said and wait as long as it takes for the whole story to be told. They accept as proven facts religious teachings and traditions that outsiders might consider frivolous superstitions. Add in a Tribal Police Force that combines dedication, logic and training with these deep rooted principles, and you get a group of investigators who always get to the bottom of things, usually making task oriented modern counterparts like the FBI look pompous and ineffective along the way. Officer Bernadette Manuelito discovers a body in an abandoned pickup truck, and there's probably a connection to a five-year-old homicide and the search for a lost gold mine. Sgt. Jim Chee, whom Bernie sees as friend, potential boyfriend and arrogant boss all at the same time, wants to shield her from embarrassment when she mishandles a piece of evidence at the crime scene. Chee's old boss, the "legendary" retired Lt. Joe Leaphorn who's always hanging around when something happens, solves that problem and begins his own investigation of the interlocking mysteries. Hillerman's characters grow naturally from story to story. Watch the relationship between Bernie and Chee evolve and see how Leaphorn faces the realities of retirement but is still sharp enough to earn most of the respect he formerly commanded. As always Hillerman maintains a consistent pace throughout. His craftsmanship and George Guidall's expert reading of the audiobook comfortably bring the audience in sync with the tempo and direction of the Navajo investigators. When the puzzle finally is solved, we realize that all the pieces were on the table from the beginning. The picture that emerges, however, like the characters that put it together, incorporates subtleties we didn't expect to see. A more logical response to a wailing wind five years earlier, for example, would have prevented a tragic and unnecessary death, and we never will know what the old shaman James Peshlakai said, did or did not do. This is my fourth Hillerman novel. While I've enjoyed them all, I would call "The Wailing Wind" the most satisfying. Rating: - Nice to be back in Navajo country Officer Bernadette Manuelito had become a full-fledged member of Tony Hillerman's cast of characters, allowing us to see events through her eyes as well as those of Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn and expanding the range of emotions and insights to be explored. The story of "The Wailing Woman" is not terribly complex -- a white man has been found shot to death on the Navajo reservation and circumstances tie the crime to an older unsolved mystery: why did the beautiful young wife of a wealthy local oil man disappear at the same time her husband killed a conman who was trying to cheat him over information about a long-lost fabled gold mine? It was a mystery which troubled Leaphorn even in retirement, and he cannot resist the opportunity to again try to find the answer. This novel does not delve so deep into Indian religion and culture as some of Hillerman's books, but as usual his characters are complex and subtle. And, as has been the case with most of the novels in this series for several years, the personal stories of his characters evolve a little further.

The Wailing Wind Book

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