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Leaphorn & Chee #4
People of Darkness
A dying man is murdered. A rich man's wife agrees to pay three thousand dollars for the return of a stolen box of rocks. A series of odd, inexplicable events is haunting Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police and drawing him alone into the Bad Country of the merciless Southwest, where nothing good can survive . . . including Chee. Because an assassin waits for him there, protecting a thirty-year-old vision that greed has sired and blood has nourished. And only one man will walk away.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1980
About the author
Tony Hillerman
199 books1,671 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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March 28, 2024
LE VIE DEI BIANCHI
Questo dipinto di sabbia ha potere guaritore.
Per vincere il nemico, bisogna conoscerlo.
Qualcuno riferisce questa massima a Mandela. E ci può stare. Anche se per me suona tanto Sun-Tzu in “L’arte della guerra”.
In ogni caso, Jim Chee è stato cresciuto all’insegna di una massima molto simile: impara la via dei bianchi. Impara a conoscere i bianchi.
I bianchi sono il nemico tout court (e viceversa, i nativi americani sono il nemico dei bianchi senza se e senza ma).
Ma Jim Chee vuole conoscere le vie dei bianchi, vuole sapere tutto dei bianchi, non perché li reputa nemici: certo non ha incondizionata fiducia in loro – ma la sua vera motivazione sta tra la curiosità e la fascinazione. Jim Chee ha studiato antropologia, e conoscere i bianchi rientra nel suo interesse antropologico.
Poi però inizia a lavorare per la polizia tribale Navajo col grado di sergente. E alla fine di questa sua prima storia (mi risulta che siano tre in tutto, ma poi ce n’è un maggior numero intrecciate all’altro personaggio seriale creato da Hillerman, un altro poliziotto Navajo, Joe LipHorn: queste sono almeno una dozzina) potrebbe entrare a far parte dell’FBI: la sua domanda è stata accettata, lo aspetta il corso di formazione. Ma vorrà davvero lasciare la polizia della sua gente?
Ship Rock, la montagna sacra dei Navajo.
Jim Chee è un navajo del clan dei Dimee.
Tony Hillerman, invece, era un bianco e la pagina Wikipedia così lo descrive: Profondo conoscitore del mondo dell'ovest statunitense e delle riserve indiane, nelle sue opere miscela temi polizieschi, thriller e spiritualismo indiano.
Tutto vero. In questo romanzo la storia gialla, il mistero da risolvere è interessante, e anche a suo modo originale: petrolio e uranio, trivellazioni ed esplosioni, e poi la solita ben nota avidità. Ma diventa ancora più succulento per l’ambientazione in New Mexico in una riserva indiana, con i Navajo protagonisti.
Ed è vero anche che Hillerman racconta di spiritualismo indiano: sciamani, stregoni, magia, rituali di purificazione… Il tutto insaporito dal mitico frutto di un cactus, il peyote, droga allucinogena potente e misteriosa.
Studioso e saggista di questi argomenti, li tratta con tono di autenticità, con rispetto, senza eccessi.
Non dimentica il paesaggio che serie come Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, e ancor prima, i dipinti di Georgia O’Keefe ci hanno insegnato a conoscere: rocce, deserto, montagne, cieli pazzeschi. Questa storia è immersa anche nella neve: è impressionante immaginare il vulcano estinto di Mont Taylor coperto di neve, i fiocchi bianchi coprire la nera lava.
E lì, il personaggio attorno a cui ruota tutta la storia, dove inizia e dove finisce, si fa costruire una casa negli anni Quaranta nientepopodimenoché dall’architetto Frank Lloyd Wright. La casa è questa qui sotto:
Jim Chee è dotato di serena ironia, agisce con tempi pacati ma non rallentati, ha spirito realistico e positivo, il che suona non poco ossimorico.
Una menzione speciale merita la copertina: ben visibile, quasi dominante, una tigre - animale che non solo non compare, ma non è neppure nominato per sbaglio.
The Fir Tree House è l’unico progetto interamente firmato da Frank Lloyd Wright in New Mexico, uno dei suoi meno noti.
Interno della Fir Tree House costruita per Arnold Friedman nel 1948.
Questo dipinto di sabbia ha potere guaritore.
Per vincere il nemico, bisogna conoscerlo.
Qualcuno riferisce questa massima a Mandela. E ci può stare. Anche se per me suona tanto Sun-Tzu in “L’arte della guerra”.
In ogni caso, Jim Chee è stato cresciuto all’insegna di una massima molto simile: impara la via dei bianchi. Impara a conoscere i bianchi.
I bianchi sono il nemico tout court (e viceversa, i nativi americani sono il nemico dei bianchi senza se e senza ma).
Ma Jim Chee vuole conoscere le vie dei bianchi, vuole sapere tutto dei bianchi, non perché li reputa nemici: certo non ha incondizionata fiducia in loro – ma la sua vera motivazione sta tra la curiosità e la fascinazione. Jim Chee ha studiato antropologia, e conoscere i bianchi rientra nel suo interesse antropologico.
Poi però inizia a lavorare per la polizia tribale Navajo col grado di sergente. E alla fine di questa sua prima storia (mi risulta che siano tre in tutto, ma poi ce n’è un maggior numero intrecciate all’altro personaggio seriale creato da Hillerman, un altro poliziotto Navajo, Joe LipHorn: queste sono almeno una dozzina) potrebbe entrare a far parte dell’FBI: la sua domanda è stata accettata, lo aspetta il corso di formazione. Ma vorrà davvero lasciare la polizia della sua gente?
Ship Rock, la montagna sacra dei Navajo.
Jim Chee è un navajo del clan dei Dimee.
Tony Hillerman, invece, era un bianco e la pagina Wikipedia così lo descrive: Profondo conoscitore del mondo dell'ovest statunitense e delle riserve indiane, nelle sue opere miscela temi polizieschi, thriller e spiritualismo indiano.
Tutto vero. In questo romanzo la storia gialla, il mistero da risolvere è interessante, e anche a suo modo originale: petrolio e uranio, trivellazioni ed esplosioni, e poi la solita ben nota avidità. Ma diventa ancora più succulento per l’ambientazione in New Mexico in una riserva indiana, con i Navajo protagonisti.
Ed è vero anche che Hillerman racconta di spiritualismo indiano: sciamani, stregoni, magia, rituali di purificazione… Il tutto insaporito dal mitico frutto di un cactus, il peyote, droga allucinogena potente e misteriosa.
Studioso e saggista di questi argomenti, li tratta con tono di autenticità, con rispetto, senza eccessi.
Non dimentica il paesaggio che serie come Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, e ancor prima, i dipinti di Georgia O’Keefe ci hanno insegnato a conoscere: rocce, deserto, montagne, cieli pazzeschi. Questa storia è immersa anche nella neve: è impressionante immaginare il vulcano estinto di Mont Taylor coperto di neve, i fiocchi bianchi coprire la nera lava.
E lì, il personaggio attorno a cui ruota tutta la storia, dove inizia e dove finisce, si fa costruire una casa negli anni Quaranta nientepopodimenoché dall’architetto Frank Lloyd Wright. La casa è questa qui sotto:
Jim Chee è dotato di serena ironia, agisce con tempi pacati ma non rallentati, ha spirito realistico e positivo, il che suona non poco ossimorico.
Una menzione speciale merita la copertina: ben visibile, quasi dominante, una tigre - animale che non solo non compare, ma non è neppure nominato per sbaglio.
The Fir Tree House è l’unico progetto interamente firmato da Frank Lloyd Wright in New Mexico, uno dei suoi meno noti.
Interno della Fir Tree House costruita per Arnold Friedman nel 1948.
November 2, 2015
The 4th (fourth) Navajo book by Hillerman.
This time, our MC is not Joe Leaphorn, but the more mystical and traditionally Navajo Jim Chee.
Jim Chee is a great Navajo policeman and has a job offer on the table to become and FBI agent which he is considering - he can become an FBI agent and live in the white world or he can choose to become a Navajo holy man and live in the Navajo world. He hasn't decided what he wants to do yet.
When Jim Chee is hired by some rich white folks to find a secret sealed box that was stolen by the People of Darkness, Chee doesn't know if he should take the job. Especially since immediately afterwards the white police chief comes to him and leans on him HARD.
Who stole the box? What was inside that was so important?
...
This was a good and entertaining mystery.
It's also the first book in which Hillerman introduces a central female character. One Mary Landon.
She and Chee meet when he is following a lead.
A pretty lady, and Chee recognized the look. He had seen it often at the University of New Mexico - and most often among Anglo coeds enrolled in Native American Studies courses. The courses attracted Anglo students, largely female, enjoying racial/ethnic guilt trips. Chee had concluded early that their interest was more in Indian males than in Indian mythology. Their eyes asked you if you were really any different than the blond boys they had grown up with.
So, basically, she just wants to date him because he's a Native American and she's curious and sees it as being adventurous. It doesn't matter that he's Jim Chee - a person, an individual - it matters that he's Native American.
Another Navajo male, adequately scrubbed and trimmed, would have been just as interesting to the blue-eyed woman. Fair enough. At the moment, he was particularly interested in whites, and white women.... And he'd never really known the white girls. Their curiosity had put him off. But Mary Landon he would study.
Uh-huh. So as you can see here, Chee has the same problem. He starts dating the woman just because she's white and he's curious. He's supposed to be researching white people (by orders of his shaman uncle), and I guess he figures getting romantically and sexually involved with a white woman - any white woman, they're all basically the same (>.<) - will be a great start in his anthropology study.
*Carmen sighs, puts her head in her hands*
I just CANNOT understand this. I just CANNOT understand people who are like this. My advice is to get romantically involved with people you like and enjoy being around - skin color be damned.
Also, you can't extrapolate. I know people love to extrapolate, but you really can't. Mary Landon is no more representative of white women than Chee is of Navajo men.
Also, you can see that the author really respects Native American cultures and always clearly defines what tribe and even what subsection of tribe the Native American character is from, but there is no mention of Mary's ethnicity. She could be Irish-American, German-American, French-American, or whatever combination - apparently the author doesn't give a fuck and neither does Chee. o.O
...
Is Chee a mensch?
No. Nothing in this book indicated to me that Chee is a mensch. I was so happy with Hillerman's other MC, Joe Leaphorn, who definitely has strong mensch-like qualities.
The only thing Chee does that was even remotely exciting to me (romantically/sexually) was
"I have to finish these pots," she said.
"I'll do it for you," Chee said.
Helping Mary finish doing the dishes after he asked her out at a function she was at. That's it. The end of behavior that would make me excited about Chee as a man.
...
And Mary Landon, the woman Chee latches onto for this little white-woman experiment of his, is the most ANNOYING woman. I have no idea how he could stand being in a room with her for 20 minutes, much less be saying stuff at the end of the book like
She was a woman among women. She made him happy. She was a friend. She made him feel like singing. She deserved nothing but beauty all around her.
CARMEN: "... ... Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME with this shit?!?!?!? This woman makes me want to tear my hair out and you are saying you have serious feelings for her?!?!?!!? Of all the white women in the world, you had to pick this one!?!?!? And seriously, guys, SERIOUSLY, I understand that a pretty face and a good pair of legs will get a woman very far, but PLEASE tell me that men aren't completely blind to a woman's personality. Is a good body and a pretty face all it takes for a man to fall in love with a woman? Do things like attitude, personality, and intelligence just not factor into it at all?"
I just can't with this shit. I had ZERO idea of why Chee didn't break it off with this woman after their first date. WHY.
Hillerman has thus far not impressed me with his writing of females. He tends to make them weak, whiny, annoying, spiteful, manipulative, and entitled. I hope this changes or there's going to be a lot of angry Carmen in the future.
...
I'm also a bit concerned about Chee's police work. "Oh, he's a great cop... even the FBI want him, blah blah blah." Let me tell you what he does: he takes his date, Mary, on a police investigation with him. ON A POLICE INVESTIGATION. And they get shot at. They are running around, the bad guy is shooting at them - he actually succeeds in hitting Chee - Mary's grabbed a gun, she's returning fire... And I'm thinking what the hell? What kind of MORON brings a woman on a "date" of a police investigation?!?!!? Did he think this was going to be a fucking picnic?!?!!
YES. He LITERALLY thought it was going to be a picnic. He PACKED A PICNIC LUNCH for the two of them and brought his date and his picnic basket along for the ride. >.< I can't even with this shit! WTF, dude?!!?! What on earth was he THINKING?!?!?!!?
I'm sorry, I could not take him seriously as an officer of the law after that. I know it was 1980 and things were a bit more lax, but COME ON.
...
Tl;dr - Even though this book was driving me UP THE WALL in regards to Mary and Chee's relationship - if you could even call this a relationship, what a joke - the mystery was good and engaging. It kept me entertained and was a quick read. I still think Hillerman's best so far is Dance Hall of the Dead by a wide margin.
P.S. This mystery isn't very difficult. I figured it out halfway through.
This time, our MC is not Joe Leaphorn, but the more mystical and traditionally Navajo Jim Chee.
Jim Chee is a great Navajo policeman and has a job offer on the table to become and FBI agent which he is considering - he can become an FBI agent and live in the white world or he can choose to become a Navajo holy man and live in the Navajo world. He hasn't decided what he wants to do yet.
When Jim Chee is hired by some rich white folks to find a secret sealed box that was stolen by the People of Darkness, Chee doesn't know if he should take the job. Especially since immediately afterwards the white police chief comes to him and leans on him HARD.
Who stole the box? What was inside that was so important?
...
This was a good and entertaining mystery.
It's also the first book in which Hillerman introduces a central female character. One Mary Landon.
She and Chee meet when he is following a lead.
A pretty lady, and Chee recognized the look. He had seen it often at the University of New Mexico - and most often among Anglo coeds enrolled in Native American Studies courses. The courses attracted Anglo students, largely female, enjoying racial/ethnic guilt trips. Chee had concluded early that their interest was more in Indian males than in Indian mythology. Their eyes asked you if you were really any different than the blond boys they had grown up with.
So, basically, she just wants to date him because he's a Native American and she's curious and sees it as being adventurous. It doesn't matter that he's Jim Chee - a person, an individual - it matters that he's Native American.
Another Navajo male, adequately scrubbed and trimmed, would have been just as interesting to the blue-eyed woman. Fair enough. At the moment, he was particularly interested in whites, and white women.... And he'd never really known the white girls. Their curiosity had put him off. But Mary Landon he would study.
Uh-huh. So as you can see here, Chee has the same problem. He starts dating the woman just because she's white and he's curious. He's supposed to be researching white people (by orders of his shaman uncle), and I guess he figures getting romantically and sexually involved with a white woman - any white woman, they're all basically the same (>.<) - will be a great start in his anthropology study.
*Carmen sighs, puts her head in her hands*
I just CANNOT understand this. I just CANNOT understand people who are like this. My advice is to get romantically involved with people you like and enjoy being around - skin color be damned.
Also, you can't extrapolate. I know people love to extrapolate, but you really can't. Mary Landon is no more representative of white women than Chee is of Navajo men.
Also, you can see that the author really respects Native American cultures and always clearly defines what tribe and even what subsection of tribe the Native American character is from, but there is no mention of Mary's ethnicity. She could be Irish-American, German-American, French-American, or whatever combination - apparently the author doesn't give a fuck and neither does Chee. o.O
...
Is Chee a mensch?
No. Nothing in this book indicated to me that Chee is a mensch. I was so happy with Hillerman's other MC, Joe Leaphorn, who definitely has strong mensch-like qualities.
The only thing Chee does that was even remotely exciting to me (romantically/sexually) was
"I have to finish these pots," she said.
"I'll do it for you," Chee said.
Helping Mary finish doing the dishes after he asked her out at a function she was at. That's it. The end of behavior that would make me excited about Chee as a man.
...
And Mary Landon, the woman Chee latches onto for this little white-woman experiment of his, is the most ANNOYING woman. I have no idea how he could stand being in a room with her for 20 minutes, much less be saying stuff at the end of the book like
She was a woman among women. She made him happy. She was a friend. She made him feel like singing. She deserved nothing but beauty all around her.
CARMEN: "... ... Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME with this shit?!?!?!? This woman makes me want to tear my hair out and you are saying you have serious feelings for her?!?!?!!? Of all the white women in the world, you had to pick this one!?!?!? And seriously, guys, SERIOUSLY, I understand that a pretty face and a good pair of legs will get a woman very far, but PLEASE tell me that men aren't completely blind to a woman's personality. Is a good body and a pretty face all it takes for a man to fall in love with a woman? Do things like attitude, personality, and intelligence just not factor into it at all?"
I just can't with this shit. I had ZERO idea of why Chee didn't break it off with this woman after their first date. WHY.
Hillerman has thus far not impressed me with his writing of females. He tends to make them weak, whiny, annoying, spiteful, manipulative, and entitled. I hope this changes or there's going to be a lot of angry Carmen in the future.
...
I'm also a bit concerned about Chee's police work. "Oh, he's a great cop... even the FBI want him, blah blah blah." Let me tell you what he does: he takes his date, Mary, on a police investigation with him. ON A POLICE INVESTIGATION. And they get shot at. They are running around, the bad guy is shooting at them - he actually succeeds in hitting Chee - Mary's grabbed a gun, she's returning fire... And I'm thinking what the hell? What kind of MORON brings a woman on a "date" of a police investigation?!?!!? Did he think this was going to be a fucking picnic?!?!!
YES. He LITERALLY thought it was going to be a picnic. He PACKED A PICNIC LUNCH for the two of them and brought his date and his picnic basket along for the ride. >.< I can't even with this shit! WTF, dude?!!?! What on earth was he THINKING?!?!?!!?
I'm sorry, I could not take him seriously as an officer of the law after that. I know it was 1980 and things were a bit more lax, but COME ON.
...
Tl;dr - Even though this book was driving me UP THE WALL in regards to Mary and Chee's relationship - if you could even call this a relationship, what a joke - the mystery was good and engaging. It kept me entertained and was a quick read. I still think Hillerman's best so far is Dance Hall of the Dead by a wide margin.
P.S. This mystery isn't very difficult. I figured it out halfway through.
January 4, 2024
🪶 🪶 I loved the chapters on Navajo spirituality and in this particular novel there was lots on their witchcraft beliefs and how spells can be reversed to afflict those who cast them. Nevertheless, the book does move slowly, slowly and methodically, which doesn’t have to be a criticism, just an observation about style which suits some and not others. It’s a complex and convoluted plot. The story does pick up considerably when the Navajo tribal police officer, Chee, is being hunted by a stone cold killer. You get a very strong image of that psychopath. However you don’t get a very strong image of Chee’s female partner who is blonde, blue-eyed and one dimensional. Not sure why Hillerman didn’t spend more time making her real. In any case, I will probably try another in the series - I think there are 26 novels and now it’s on AMC TV entitled Dark Winds - but without the Navajo spirituality aspect and the focus on the tribal police officers I wouldn’t be that interested.
🪶 So, having watched the trailer for the series Dark Winds Season 2, I can tell they’re using this book People of Darkness for the script. Watch the trailer and you’ll spot the vacant-eyed psychopathic killer right away (aka The Blonde Man). As I mentioned in my review, the story picks up considerably (after scads of pages of dialogue) once he creeps into it with his tools of the trade. I’ll bet they’ve streamlined the text and made it more effective.
🪶 AND I was right. I just watched Episode 1 of Season 2 and they ditched the excessive dialog I felt was bogging the story down and cut to the chase. Instead of the stone killer showing up after a third of the novel is done he is there from the get go. And while including some necessary information (but not all - yet) the show, as is necessary for TV and film, moves ahead like a .38 caliber bullet. Not just in terms of action. But also in terms of Navajo culture - the Navajo belief in the spirit world breaks into the storyline in force.
🪶 So, having watched the trailer for the series Dark Winds Season 2, I can tell they’re using this book People of Darkness for the script. Watch the trailer and you’ll spot the vacant-eyed psychopathic killer right away (aka The Blonde Man). As I mentioned in my review, the story picks up considerably (after scads of pages of dialogue) once he creeps into it with his tools of the trade. I’ll bet they’ve streamlined the text and made it more effective.
🪶 AND I was right. I just watched Episode 1 of Season 2 and they ditched the excessive dialog I felt was bogging the story down and cut to the chase. Instead of the stone killer showing up after a third of the novel is done he is there from the get go. And while including some necessary information (but not all - yet) the show, as is necessary for TV and film, moves ahead like a .38 caliber bullet. Not just in terms of action. But also in terms of Navajo culture - the Navajo belief in the spirit world breaks into the storyline in force.
February 20, 2018
Although the title sounds a bit biblical (recalling Isaiah 9:2), the “people of darkness” are, according to Jim Chee, who turns up for the first time here in a Hillerman mystery, the Dine’etse-tle, the humblest of Navajo predators: moles. In this case the title also refers to a group of Dinee Native American Church members, suspected of stealing a mysterious box of mementos from a wealthy Anglo who got rich quick in the New Mexico uranium boom. Jim Chee is no sooner on the case, however, than the rich Anglo starts to do his best to discourage him. The people of darkness seem also to have been falling sick and dying off over the years, as Jim Chee discovers, and one of them barely escapes being blown to bits in chapter 1, while checking into the cancer ward at UNM hospital in Albuquerquqe.
As Officer Chee works to figure things out, he is stalked by the extremely sinister Colton Wolf, a hit man, who, as the Dinee would say, “behaves as if he has no family”—and, indeed, he doesn’t, which helps explain how he turned out as he did. It’s interesting to find Hillerman taking us inside the mind of a bad guy quite this much. For long stretches, Wolf eclipses Jim, who is off sleuthing somewhere while Wolf meticulously plans Jim’s demise. This leads to higher octane suspense than in some Hillerman mysteries, which I thought was nicely handled.
This is our first introduction to Jim Chee, who is still torn between the bilagaana world (a training course at the FBI in DC is imminent) and his Dinee roots. He still aspires to become a hataali (singer/healer) and passes the time memorizing ritual chants for Nightway during long drives across the Rez. (His use of a tape recorder to help in the process was a surprise—the Navajo Traditional Apprenticeship Project in recent years has taken a dim view of scholarship recipients using such devices, so it’s hard to imagine Jim’s maternal uncle and teacher would approve.) Although Jim has yet to encounter Janet Peet (who is presumably still back east somewhere, shopping for Prada handbags), a blonde, blue-eyed school teacher from Crownpoint catches his eye and joins him in his misadventures. (Jim it’ll never work.)
As Officer Chee works to figure things out, he is stalked by the extremely sinister Colton Wolf, a hit man, who, as the Dinee would say, “behaves as if he has no family”—and, indeed, he doesn’t, which helps explain how he turned out as he did. It’s interesting to find Hillerman taking us inside the mind of a bad guy quite this much. For long stretches, Wolf eclipses Jim, who is off sleuthing somewhere while Wolf meticulously plans Jim’s demise. This leads to higher octane suspense than in some Hillerman mysteries, which I thought was nicely handled.
This is our first introduction to Jim Chee, who is still torn between the bilagaana world (a training course at the FBI in DC is imminent) and his Dinee roots. He still aspires to become a hataali (singer/healer) and passes the time memorizing ritual chants for Nightway during long drives across the Rez. (His use of a tape recorder to help in the process was a surprise—the Navajo Traditional Apprenticeship Project in recent years has taken a dim view of scholarship recipients using such devices, so it’s hard to imagine Jim’s maternal uncle and teacher would approve.) Although Jim has yet to encounter Janet Peet (who is presumably still back east somewhere, shopping for Prada handbags), a blonde, blue-eyed school teacher from Crownpoint catches his eye and joins him in his misadventures. (Jim it’ll never work.)
April 1, 2020
Enjoyed this installment way more than the previous one, Listening Woman. Interesting crime/murders and way more plausible efforts by Tribal Police Officer Jim Chee. I feel like I read all of these as they came out in late 1970's/early 1980's, but thankfully have no memory of the specifics!
Why I'm reading this: Continuing to need comfort reading, connecting with old friends in the Navajo nation, during this time of lack of concentration due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Why I'm reading this: Continuing to need comfort reading, connecting with old friends in the Navajo nation, during this time of lack of concentration due to the coronavirus pandemic.
October 30, 2024
For me, this was the most exciting book of the series so far. If you read the other reviews read the one by Murray, it's worded far better than I could ever do. He talks about the TV series "Dark Winds" specifically Season 2 episode one which uses this book as the script. He suggests watching the trailer which I did and I'm hooked!
Note: profanity
Note: profanity
March 22, 2013
* a long overdue celebration of Navajo culture, April 24, 2005 *
Tony Hillerman gives Anglos like me who grew up near the Navajo Nation and other reservations and are curious about these cultures but have no real means of accessing them a way of learning more about them and how members interact with mainstream America in modern times. I've read 5-6 Hillerman titles, and I've enjoyed each one. But this one is an especially good one.
If you like Hillerman's books, try The Shaman Sings and others from the Charlie Moon Mystery series by James D. Doss. These books are set in the Ute reservation of southern Colorado and, to my mind, they portray the Utes and Ute culture in a way that is equally realistic and detailed and respectful to what Hillerman does for Navajos. These books celebrate Native cultures in a way that is long overdue.
In addition, there is a series of novels about a Mayan detective in the Cancun area of the Yucatan Peninsula that are a pretty good read. I tried to track down the name of the author with an Amazon search, but I had no luck. I'll add that name and a couple of titles to this review later if I can track it down.
PS I notice that Hillerman has also published several non-fiction titles. If you enjoyed this book and his other fiction, some of these may be worth checking out, as well. I plan to do so.
Tony Hillerman gives Anglos like me who grew up near the Navajo Nation and other reservations and are curious about these cultures but have no real means of accessing them a way of learning more about them and how members interact with mainstream America in modern times. I've read 5-6 Hillerman titles, and I've enjoyed each one. But this one is an especially good one.
If you like Hillerman's books, try The Shaman Sings and others from the Charlie Moon Mystery series by James D. Doss. These books are set in the Ute reservation of southern Colorado and, to my mind, they portray the Utes and Ute culture in a way that is equally realistic and detailed and respectful to what Hillerman does for Navajos. These books celebrate Native cultures in a way that is long overdue.
In addition, there is a series of novels about a Mayan detective in the Cancun area of the Yucatan Peninsula that are a pretty good read. I tried to track down the name of the author with an Amazon search, but I had no luck. I'll add that name and a couple of titles to this review later if I can track it down.
PS I notice that Hillerman has also published several non-fiction titles. If you enjoyed this book and his other fiction, some of these may be worth checking out, as well. I plan to do so.
May 29, 2013
Published in 1978, one of the early Jim Chee. Takes place in the areas of New Mexico through which we were traveling, the continental divide, Grant, Albuquerque. Reading this series is good anywhere, but reading them in the places evoked by Hillerman is awesome.
November 2, 2016
We first meet Jim Chee in this novel, who serves as a counter weight to the older and gruffer Leaphorn. Chee is a spiritual man and believes in the Navajo way, so when given two career choices, he chooses to remain in the Four-Corners region with his girlfriend. Although I read this book many years after it's publication, it didn't seem too dated, and I enjoyed the mystery.
October 24, 2017
A fine novel by Tony Hillerman. Wonderful mystery set in the four corners area. A good read.
February 27, 2024
I love the small, shallow treks into Navajo culture and traditions entertwined in an exciting weave of clarity and confusion. I use the spelling entertwine rather than intertwine intentionally. You enter into a bit of clarity and come out with a confusion, enter again into an area of clarity and again come out with confusion, all circling a mystery of who wants to kill a Navaho man who is already withing hours of death? Who wants to kill a dead Navajo. Navajos don't care about corpses, Mr. Hillerman explains why in a 3 mm dip into Navajo culture. On the other hand Whites don't care about dead Indians. This is clear. So, why was the corpse stolen and who wanted to steal it? And why? An Indian dead of bone cancer.
Jim Chee is called in on a burglary at the house of a very rich white man. The man is out of town and his wife wants the stolen box of mementos returned before her husband gets back home. She is certain the box was taken because it held items important to the local Peyote-based Church, The People of Darkness. He learns the dead Navajo was the Peyote Chief and had tried unsuccessfully to get some things from the husband. Chee investigates.
But it is not just one Navajo dead of cancer. It is 7 dead of either bone cancer or leukemia and one shot in the head, all of whom were either related or in the same church with 3 of them the Peyote Chief. That defies all mathematical probabilities. Especially the one who was shot. Chee saw the Navajo who was shot getting into a truck with another man after talking with him for a bit. The Navajo is the one who stole the box and Chee is going to recover it to return it. But when he gets there, way out on the rez, the box is gone but the Navajo is there, shot. The man he had come out there with knew Chee had seen them, believes he had followed them out there and Chee knows he is also in danger now.
Jim Chee is called in on a burglary at the house of a very rich white man. The man is out of town and his wife wants the stolen box of mementos returned before her husband gets back home. She is certain the box was taken because it held items important to the local Peyote-based Church, The People of Darkness. He learns the dead Navajo was the Peyote Chief and had tried unsuccessfully to get some things from the husband. Chee investigates.
But it is not just one Navajo dead of cancer. It is 7 dead of either bone cancer or leukemia and one shot in the head, all of whom were either related or in the same church with 3 of them the Peyote Chief. That defies all mathematical probabilities. Especially the one who was shot. Chee saw the Navajo who was shot getting into a truck with another man after talking with him for a bit. The Navajo is the one who stole the box and Chee is going to recover it to return it. But when he gets there, way out on the rez, the box is gone but the Navajo is there, shot. The man he had come out there with knew Chee had seen them, believes he had followed them out there and Chee knows he is also in danger now.
December 31, 2021
Serving on the Navajo Tribal Police Force might seem a strange calling for Jim Chee. The Navajo abhor death: “Death robbed the body of its values. Even its identity was lost with the departing chinli. What the ghost left behind was something to be disposed of with a minimum of risk or contamination to the living. The names of the dead were left unspoken, certainly not carved in stone.” (p.7) Chee reflects on this contrast between the Whites and his own culture as he passes the gravestone of Dillon Charley prominently located near the mansion of Benjamin Vines.
Vines' wife has asked Chee to recover a stolen box of her husband's keepsakes. The box is of no monetary value, she assures him, just photos, some rocks, and other mementos of his youth. She claims the box was stolen by the “People of Darkness” – a common term for the Peyote Cult, their talisman being the mole, Dine'etse-tle (translated as the people of darkness). This would be a private gig for which she is offering generous payment.
The next day, Benjamin Vines contacts Chee claiming that his wife stole the box. Mystery solved! He presses Chee to accept a hefty payment as reimbursement for time and travel.
Chee's base is Crownpoint, New Mexico, about 2-1/2 hours' drive northwest of Albuquerque. Long drives give him ample time to consider a chain of puzzling events: the missing/no longer missing box containing nothing of value, the outsized payments the Vines have offered him, Benjamin Vines' past connection with the peyote cult of which Dillon Charley was a leader, the apparent theft of the late Emerson Charley's body from the hospital where he died of cancer, and a deadly 30-year old oil drilling accident that occurred when six members of the peyote cult failed to report for work and therefore escaped certain death. Yet, he is forced to admit he is “a Navajo cop simply exercising his curiosity. A crime of no particular importance. A total lack of jurisdiction.” (p.117)
Hillerman introduces the character of Mary Landon, a potential love interest in this book. She teaches at the Laguna Pueblo School so she know bits of Pueblo lore, but nothing of the Navajo. Although she provides more opportunity for Chee to consider the differences between Whites and the Dinee, that cultural gap made the romantic connection seem improbable. Mary comes off in this book as brittle and humorless, although she does help move the plot forward.
Hillerman includes fewer mythological references than in many of his other books. A significant image is the raw beauty of Tzoodzil (Mt. Taylor), its base a rough black network of basalt forming the malpais (“bad country” in Spanish). Tzoodzil is one of the four sacred peaks created by First Man to guard the land of the Dinee. The black channels created from ancient volcanic eruptions hint of Mole's domain. “He was the symbol of the dark underground, with access to those strange dark subsurface worlds through which the Dinee rose in their evolution toward human states.” (p.37)
The novel is also less evocative of nature than many of Hillerman's novels. However, it provides much insight into Chee's personality. Solving crimes does not elate him or elicit a sense of justice accomplished. The close contact with evil leaves him numb. Only a Navajo cleansing ceremony will restore harmony to his damaged spirit.
Vines' wife has asked Chee to recover a stolen box of her husband's keepsakes. The box is of no monetary value, she assures him, just photos, some rocks, and other mementos of his youth. She claims the box was stolen by the “People of Darkness” – a common term for the Peyote Cult, their talisman being the mole, Dine'etse-tle (translated as the people of darkness). This would be a private gig for which she is offering generous payment.
The next day, Benjamin Vines contacts Chee claiming that his wife stole the box. Mystery solved! He presses Chee to accept a hefty payment as reimbursement for time and travel.
Chee's base is Crownpoint, New Mexico, about 2-1/2 hours' drive northwest of Albuquerque. Long drives give him ample time to consider a chain of puzzling events: the missing/no longer missing box containing nothing of value, the outsized payments the Vines have offered him, Benjamin Vines' past connection with the peyote cult of which Dillon Charley was a leader, the apparent theft of the late Emerson Charley's body from the hospital where he died of cancer, and a deadly 30-year old oil drilling accident that occurred when six members of the peyote cult failed to report for work and therefore escaped certain death. Yet, he is forced to admit he is “a Navajo cop simply exercising his curiosity. A crime of no particular importance. A total lack of jurisdiction.” (p.117)
Hillerman introduces the character of Mary Landon, a potential love interest in this book. She teaches at the Laguna Pueblo School so she know bits of Pueblo lore, but nothing of the Navajo. Although she provides more opportunity for Chee to consider the differences between Whites and the Dinee, that cultural gap made the romantic connection seem improbable. Mary comes off in this book as brittle and humorless, although she does help move the plot forward.
Hillerman includes fewer mythological references than in many of his other books. A significant image is the raw beauty of Tzoodzil (Mt. Taylor), its base a rough black network of basalt forming the malpais (“bad country” in Spanish). Tzoodzil is one of the four sacred peaks created by First Man to guard the land of the Dinee. The black channels created from ancient volcanic eruptions hint of Mole's domain. “He was the symbol of the dark underground, with access to those strange dark subsurface worlds through which the Dinee rose in their evolution toward human states.” (p.37)
The novel is also less evocative of nature than many of Hillerman's novels. However, it provides much insight into Chee's personality. Solving crimes does not elate him or elicit a sense of justice accomplished. The close contact with evil leaves him numb. Only a Navajo cleansing ceremony will restore harmony to his damaged spirit.
February 28, 2023
I promised myself after I retired that I would go back and reread all of the Joe Leaphorn novels in the order that they were written. This is the fourth and it a introduces the character of deputy Jim Chee. The story line follows a spinoff of the Native American Church known as the People of Darkness with the mole as their totem. The mystery is that 6 members who avoided a oil well explosion died a few years after from cancer and then the son of one also died of cancer. A fast paced and engaging read
June 17, 2022
More like 3.5.
September 29, 2014
If you get my news feed, you can see I've been gobbling up Tony Hillerman this summer, and this title is a standout, although limited to the younger Navajo detective of Hillerman's pair of beloved sleuths. Hillerman's writing is so subtle and pervasive, a good writer shows character rather than tells it, and Hillerman expresses it with scent, sound and touch--blank space in the form of wind, the reservation badlands, the politeness of a people who let the space linger to be certain to listen well. The books teach Navaho culture pervasively, but without being campy, lecture-ridden, or cliched. Instead, the culture moves the plot, the investigation, the motivation of the characters, the questions that are asked, the questions that are not asked. Slowly, a world view is painted that reveals secrets hidden from the foreign culture of the non-dinee, and mysteries are solved that evade white culture. Interwoven in the traditional culture and beliefs are motives of modern-world greed, political intrigue, bureaucratic and government institutions, multiple and competing jurisdictions, and sorting out the threads of the competing cultural influences is the great pleasure that Hillerman gives his readers.
As a white reader aware of modern political discussions around white privilege, the conservative ruling class asks "why should I care?" Though Hillerman passed away before questions were posed in this fashion, his novels subtly but forcefully show that diversity in culture and ethnicity gives the person inherent value and strengths of perspective and outcome that are unattainable from a homogeneous ruling class. Detectives Leaphorn and Chee, by being themselves, solve problems and solve crimes in ways that are unfathomable to the elite white male FBI and state law enforcement.
As a white reader aware of modern political discussions around white privilege, the conservative ruling class asks "why should I care?" Though Hillerman passed away before questions were posed in this fashion, his novels subtly but forcefully show that diversity in culture and ethnicity gives the person inherent value and strengths of perspective and outcome that are unattainable from a homogeneous ruling class. Detectives Leaphorn and Chee, by being themselves, solve problems and solve crimes in ways that are unfathomable to the elite white male FBI and state law enforcement.
July 6, 2017
This is the story that Chee gets introduced, as Hillerman explained, because he had foolishly signed away the rights to Leaphorn and refused to write more books that were going to benefit others. I'm not sure if he meant TV or movie rights. Chee is a more traditional Navajo than Leaphorn, torn between Shaman or law enforcement as possible careers. He becomes friends with Mary, who I disliked, a white woman who seemed pretty negative and self centered to me. The mystery is why would a box be stolen from the guy's safe, and why would he want it back so badly. Or rather, the wife is trying to get it back for him. She is pretty clueless, being the second wife and not knowing a critical part of her husband's past. There is a very smart killer in this book, who plans his kills very carefully. Chee and Mary unfortunately witness a murder and so the killer goes after them. Will Chee survive? Will he solve the murder which has a nice amount of history attached to it? Read and find out. This is probably a bit more than a 3 but not really a 4 star. Recommended to Hillerman fans.
January 27, 2018
People of Darkness is a mystery involving Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee as he investigates a series of perplexing events including a mysterious theft and the murder of a dying man. As the plot unfolds, Chee is drawn deeper into the Navajo tribal lands in New Mexico including the four corners area. Hillerman is noted for his beautiful descriptions of the southwest and the ways of the Navajo people; he doesn't disappoint. Sergeant Chee is interesting in that he is struggling with his two worlds, that of the Navajo as he is studying to be a shaman and his evolving role as part of the Navajo Tribal Police. This was a page-turner.
December 27, 2019
Tony Hillerman is always a pleasure to read, and returning to Jim Chee (or Joe Leaphorn) is like getting back together with a childhood friend.
This book is not as grounded as many of Hillerman's books; there are huge conspiracies and a professional hit-man, with a lot of coincidences in timing. I definitely wouldn't recommend it for anyone who's never read Hillerman before, but if you've enjoyed his work before, I definitely urge you to read it!
This book is not as grounded as many of Hillerman's books; there are huge conspiracies and a professional hit-man, with a lot of coincidences in timing. I definitely wouldn't recommend it for anyone who's never read Hillerman before, but if you've enjoyed his work before, I definitely urge you to read it!
August 22, 2023
Not bad, but not the best.
March 25, 2024
Second reading. I have to admit I picked it up again because they AMC filmed it last year and I needed a memory refresher.
Leaphorn isn't in this book. It is Jim Chee all the way.
B. J. Vines' house has been burglarized and all they took was a box from his safe. Mrs. Vines wants it back before BJ returns from the hospital (?). Tries to hire Chee to find it. When Vines he returns he tells Chee he needn't bother because it isn't missing. A man is killing people, including the people who took the box - the People of Darkness or worshippers of a native church involving the peyote lord. Peyote is illegal and the sheriff harasses them.
Years ago, the members of the church had been warned to stay away from work one day. This particular day the oil well blew up. What did these people know? Because everyone else got blown up leaving a bone here and a bone there, virtually unidentifiable.
I have been reading the Hillerman books since the mid-80s when I came across Dance Hall of the Dead at my brother's SO's house.
Leaphorn isn't in this book. It is Jim Chee all the way.
B. J. Vines' house has been burglarized and all they took was a box from his safe. Mrs. Vines wants it back before BJ returns from the hospital (?). Tries to hire Chee to find it. When Vines he returns he tells Chee he needn't bother because it isn't missing. A man is killing people, including the people who took the box - the People of Darkness or worshippers of a native church involving the peyote lord. Peyote is illegal and the sheriff harasses them.
Years ago, the members of the church had been warned to stay away from work one day. This particular day the oil well blew up. What did these people know? Because everyone else got blown up leaving a bone here and a bone there, virtually unidentifiable.
I have been reading the Hillerman books since the mid-80s when I came across Dance Hall of the Dead at my brother's SO's house.
July 18, 2017
As always, the Navajo people and their ways and habits are handled with delicacy, charm, and completeness.
it seems simple enough. A wife, Rosemary Vines, simply reported a burglary. However, she did not want her husband, Ben, (BJ) to know; why? It was a box of mementos, the only thing missing in the huge ranch house, which her husband never let her see. Why?
It develops, though they had been married for some time, there was 25 years missing from his past. She suspected there were things in the box he had saved from that missing time.
Then there were the deaths of people under mysterious circumstances. Jim Chee relentlessly follows the trails at no small danger to himself, or to Mary, an extraneous character, included, I suppose, because he needed a foil to explain things to and to us. There was a hired killer, Colton Wolf, hired by BJ, in case the various people didn't die soon enough.
Masterful.
it seems simple enough. A wife, Rosemary Vines, simply reported a burglary. However, she did not want her husband, Ben, (BJ) to know; why? It was a box of mementos, the only thing missing in the huge ranch house, which her husband never let her see. Why?
It develops, though they had been married for some time, there was 25 years missing from his past. She suspected there were things in the box he had saved from that missing time.
Then there were the deaths of people under mysterious circumstances. Jim Chee relentlessly follows the trails at no small danger to himself, or to Mary, an extraneous character, included, I suppose, because he needed a foil to explain things to and to us. There was a hired killer, Colton Wolf, hired by BJ, in case the various people didn't die soon enough.
Masterful.
February 18, 2009
I never tire of Hillerman. I got to read this book while flying directly over the area it was set. One of the older titles, this is where Chee first meets Mary Landon. This novel is particularly suspenseful, even for a Hillerman, as Chee is matched against a hitman who is more force than human. As always, a fun read all the way to the last page.
December 16, 2023
I've been on a bad streak lately. I need to dive back into a Robert Dugoni. I just couldn't get into this book. I skimmed through most of it. I would have stopped halfway, but someone said there was a twist at the end and they turned it into the TV show Dark Winds. It was okay, but nothing spellbinding. I wouldn't recommend this book.
March 18, 2011
I have not been reading these in order, but I enjoy the pace and thoughtfulness of the action. It was nice to finally see how Chee and Mary finally meet. I'm A Huge Tony Fan. Really like what he does, and how he presents his work. Was VERY sorry when he died.
January 8, 2012
Another splendid Hellerman read. Engrossing and interesting. He does a masterful job of folding Navajo myths, religion and ways into a detective/mystery story plus the description of New Mexico scenery is wonderful. And, I really like the character of Jim Chee.
February 12, 2018
I love Tony Hillerman's books. He writes like a dream, about interesting situations with real moral dimensions. You care about the characters - there are no anti-heroes in this book, only three dimensional villains and a wonderful hero in Jimmy Chee. I cannot recommend his books enough.
December 27, 2020
An audiobook this time; I read all the Leaphorn/Chee books as they were published over the years.
The first of the series to have Jim Chee, a traditional Navajo, as the main character. I enjoyed the glimpses at Navajo culture & thinking even more than the story itself. Hillerman also has a gift for making the northern New Mexico landscape come alive, too.
I'm glad I was familiar with the characters and even remembered bits of the story, otherwise it would have been hard to follow on audio. A fun read & I'll probably revisit more of these early titles in the series.
The first of the series to have Jim Chee, a traditional Navajo, as the main character. I enjoyed the glimpses at Navajo culture & thinking even more than the story itself. Hillerman also has a gift for making the northern New Mexico landscape come alive, too.
I'm glad I was familiar with the characters and even remembered bits of the story, otherwise it would have been hard to follow on audio. A fun read & I'll probably revisit more of these early titles in the series.
January 14, 2021
Why is a paid killer stalking Navaho's that were involved in the Peyote Church of the Navahos?
Peyote was supposed to allow you to have visions and Chee is looking literally for a box of rocks that has been stolen from a uranium entrepreneur. The wife has asked him to find them. Hillerman gives you a good description of the assassin and what makes him tick. We also learn more about the Navaho people. I find the creation story and the belief in witches to be interesting. Chee is one of the people, but meets Mary in this book. He is being drawn to the white world. I especially like the section where he tries to solve the mystery by thinking like a white man. I have already started another in the series.
Peyote was supposed to allow you to have visions and Chee is looking literally for a box of rocks that has been stolen from a uranium entrepreneur. The wife has asked him to find them. Hillerman gives you a good description of the assassin and what makes him tick. We also learn more about the Navaho people. I find the creation story and the belief in witches to be interesting. Chee is one of the people, but meets Mary in this book. He is being drawn to the white world. I especially like the section where he tries to solve the mystery by thinking like a white man. I have already started another in the series.
September 26, 2019
Not badly written, just... dull. Dull story with dull characters. There's real potential in Chee's character-a traditionalist Navajo wanting to become a shaman- but here he is just this bland tribal cop, not doing much in a boring yet a bit all over the place plot.
All the parts explaining Navajo traditions are really interesting though, saved the book from a lower rating.
All the parts explaining Navajo traditions are really interesting though, saved the book from a lower rating.
July 30, 2023
All about Chee this time as he continues to try to understand the world of white people...and stay alive as one of them hunts him down. Navajo justice is a good dose of karma.
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