Stargazer by
Anne Hillerman
It almost
seems impossible that Tony Hillerman’s first Joe Leaphorn detective novel was
published fifty years ago. His daughter Anne has carried on his mesmerizing
descriptions of the Four Corners area and traditional Navaho history admirably
in her sixth continuation book titled Stargazer. Her emphasis has changed over time as
Leaphorn has now retired to become a sort of grandfather advisor while leaving
the detection to a younger investigative duo--Jim Chee and his wife Bernadette
Manuelito. In particular Ms. Kellerman
has focused on the development of Bernadette Manuelito, the policewoman wife of
Chee, who is now thinking about getting off the beat and applying for promotion
to Detective.
In this
outing Chee, who is lovingly always called Cheesburger by Bernadette’s mother,
takes a back seat by unhappily riding the desk while his superior takes some
time away from the job. Meanwhile
Bernadette is putting the miles on her “unit” doing the work that always makes
up the majority of a law officer’s work.
It all
starts in a straight forward fashion with the simple job of serving a warrant
for cattle blocking a road. That leads to a dead body in a car, and a complicated
entanglement of murder, drugs, a dead baby, and an abused young women. The body
turns out to be a brilliant young scientist at a huge radio telescope located
in the wilds just west of Las Lunas, NM. Is it murder or suicide? Manuelito is assigned
to join the investigation because the estranged wife of the victim is an old
college friend of hers The web gets murky when this woman suddenly confesses to
killing the scientist. Manuelito believes
the woman is lying to protect someone and her investigation into other possible
suspects eventually leads her to a
deadly climax under a canopy of stars in a remote desert area.
The
Hillerman mysteries (from both father and daughter) are pretty standard by most
measures, but the central characters are more human and engaging than most
whodunnits. Add to this the melding of
Navaho lore and the beauty of the descriptions of the southwestern dessert and
the books begin start to rise easily into the realm of special. I will admit that familiarity with the southwest,
where books are set, has added to my enjoyment. If you have been to the Four Corners,
Canyon de Chelly, Window Rock, Shiprock, Chinle, or even just driven I 40 from Albuquerque to Flagstaff, you will be primed to start the series. I know
I look for each new addition as it comes out.
