The Blessing Way (1970)

The mystery aspect of this book was weak in many ways because it felt that he handed us the killer on a silver platter, so there wasn't a lot of guessing as to why the characters were in the dire situations that they found themselves in, but what greatly enhances the rating of this particular book is the sheer immersion into Native American culture that it contains. Hillerman does an excellent job of making these scenes feel authentic, which is important when someone is not totally related to the culture like Hillerman (Hillerman is a white male, but was raised around the Navajo culture in his youth according to additional content in the kindle edition.)

The book tends to focus to heavily on a side character in this first book of Leaphorn, but I imagine it was because he was originally just a side character that wasn't supposed to be that prominent at all in the book but Hillerman was asked to make him a bigger character by his editor. I imagine in the subsequent novels featuring him that he has more of a role and prominence. If you can get past this fact since it is the first novel in the series then you will greatly enjoy what he produces here.

As previously stated the mystery aspect is a little obvious and the moments are not that shocking when certain revelations occur. This still makes the mystery aspect of the book fine in my opinion because not every mystery needs to be a guessing game for the reader. Sometimes it needs to be handing them all the pieces so they can focus on other aspects of the novel, which as stated I think the Native American aspects were what needed to be focused in on in this first novel in the series, so we had a grasp on what the rest of the series would look like. It wasn't the best book I have read this year, but it was a quick read that I completed in one day, which makes it a great book in my opinion because you don't have to sit with it for a long period of time. You can just have a new experience with a new culture in the matter of one day! ( )

A creepy, well written mystery that is a perfect October read. A great blend of supernatural and mystery.

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I have nothing profound to say about this book. It's a fairly straight-forward mystery made more interesting by its focus on the Navajo, their lands and their culture. I misjudged what was really going on which made the plot more interesting as the truth began to come out.

I came to this with a bit of preconception—mainly that Joe Leaphorn, the Navajo police officer, was the major character. I was a little surprised to find that he's pretty much second banana here to the anthropologist, Bergen McKee (not a Navajo, as you might guess by the name). I didn't mind particularly; the book is still distinctly centered away from mainstream American culture and I suspect Joe will play a more significant role in later books in the series. ( )

Well, this was a treat. I decided to reread my Hillerman before I gave them away, but I didn't have this one, so I downloaded it from the library. And I discovered that I'd never read it before! It's Hillerman's debut Joe Leaphorn mystery. We meet Joe as a young policeman, and several other members of the general cast of the series. It's clear (and Hillerman confesses as much) that Joe was meant to be a minor character until his publisher encouraged revisions, and even then, a professor doing field work has a more prominent place in the story.

In typical Hillerman fashion, we are presented with a story of a witch, in this case a Wolf, as well as a ne'er-do-well young Navajo trying to hide from the law in the rough canyon lands. But the young Navajo ends up dead, and the professor ends up in the thick if it. There's a young woman, a greedy set of young men intent on making their fortunes, an Enemy Way ritual. Any more than that would be telling. ( )

Witchcraft appears to be involved in the death of an Indian, whose body is found in Many Ruins Canyon, and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is charged with the task of solving the crime.

A lot of reviews for this book say it’s not the best book in the series. Even Hillerman himself apparently agrees that it’s not the best introduction to the series, even though it is the first book. The reviews are right that Hillerman is still trying to find the best way to tell the story and as such, the story’s focus isn’t always as tight as it should be. But I’ve always liked to start at the beginning of a series.

A lot of the complaining in the reviews was that Leaphorn isn’t always acting like Leaphorn, and apparently shows characteristics of Chee, a character that comes later in the series. Another complaint often voiced was that Leaphorn wasn’t the main character of this book, but the Caucasian Dr. Bergan McKee. But if you’ve never read a book in this series before, like me, than none of these things are noticeable, let alone annoying! So please, don’t let the reviews stop you from starting this series at the beginning.

The Blessing Way has a well worked out plot, with a twist I didn’t work out until it was revealed. But what I liked most was the Navajo culture and way of thinking that was so central to the book. It felt like stepping into another world, or perhaps I could better say: seeing our world through different eyes. I liked this book and if the series gets better as is said, that’s a very nice bonus when I’m reading the rest! ( )