One of the Best: Tony Hillerman is a wonderful author. A Scared Clown is a very outstanding mystery book.
In little town, Shiprock, Officer Chee and Detective Leaphorn discover a human skeleton. Whoever that was, was brutally murdered and it is up to them to crack the mystery. The characters in this book are described where you can just picture what they look like and what everything else looks like. The author, Mr. Hillerman, did a good job with imagery. It felt as if I were there with them trying to solve the mystery. The author kept me interested with his diction. I couldn't stop reading the book, I just kept going.
I recommend people to read this book if they are into mystery books, because I know they will feel the same way I did when I opened the book and when I closed the book.

Mr. Hillerman leaves his two main characters, uncharacteristically, in happy personal places at the close of this complicated mystery. Another nice development is watching the beginning of Leaphorn & Chee working together professionally on purpose, instead of by coincidence. The beginnings of the friendship that I remembered begin here. ( )

Author's Note: ..."Tano is not a Hopi village and the descriptions in this book do not represent Hopi religious activities."

Navajo Tribal Police Officers Chee and Lieutenant Leaphorn work, uneasily, together to solve a killing at the mission school and then murder strikes at Tano, seemingly outside their jurisdiction. But the two killings seem to be related with the odd behavior of a runaway student. But nothing is what it seems. ( )

This was my first introduction to Hillerman and I'm glad I made the leap.
A fascinating look at Native American culture.I also enjoyed the protagonist--caught between modern Americanism and ancient traditions--quite well. ( )

Good mystery. Mr. Hillerman writes with a nice balance of suspense, action, mystery and romance. His characters are very human and understandable. These stories are also illuminating about the Southwest culture. ( )