Dark Wind (original 1982; edition 1983)

Jim Chee has three cases on his hands. He is trying to identify a "John Doe", he is trying to find the former employee of one of the local Trading Posts who left with a fair amount of native jewelry, and he is trying to find out who is damaging a windmill - repeatedly.

While he is keeping watch over the windmill one night he hears a plane flying low overhead and soon hears a crash. He is the first on the scene but is soon told that this case belongs to the FBI and the narcotics people. But, Jim, being Jim, can't completely stay out of it, especially once it starts involving his other three cases.

This one was fun, not exactly complicated but with a few twists and turns that keep you reading. I enjoyed it, a fun, fast read. ( )

Jim Chee is on his own to sort through difficult crimes such as windmill vandalizing, bootlegging, robbery and drug-runners who have been murdered. Oops scratch that last off the list. He is definitely NOT looking into that. How can he help it if his other investigations keep leading him right to clues for the murder?
This may be my favorite solo Chee novel. No women to complicate issues, we get to see Chee at his best. A puzzle solver, seeking wholeness in answers. I missed Joe Leaphorn, but Chee was fine on his own. ( )

The second Jim Chee mystery, when he is transferred to Captain Largo's team at Window Rock. He has to work differently, as a stranger in the area, and the difference shows. This episode explores the Hopi more than the Navajo, a nice contrast. The basic story centers on what appears to be drug smuggling in the Painted Desert, but too many things go wrong, and Chee has to figure out how to harmonize the disparate factors of Navajo, Hopi and white cultural values to properly sort out the puzzle. As always, a compelling tale. ( )

Violent and evocative of the Southwest. ( )

good book: "The Dark Wind" is a very interesting book. It has a lot of suspense and Hillerman takes you into the book with his descriptions. This book is a murder mystery that keeps you thinking. It also keeps getting weirder as you read.
The book starts with three Hopi Indians walking up a trail and discovering a boot lying in the middle of it. They walk up the trail a little ways more and discover a dead body. The body was reported and picked up some time after the three Hopis discovered it. by the time it was recovered it couldn't be identified. Later in the book Jim Chee (the main character) is told to watch a windmill that has been vandalized two times before. in the middle of the night Chee hears a plane flying low, but cant see any lights from it. a short while later he hears a crash and goes to investigate. When he gets there he finds two people dead and one that is almost dead. He trys to find out what happened form the one that is alive, but he dies before he can say anything.
The book keeps going like this getting Chee mixed up in all of it. Chee knows he didn't do anything wrong, but he is the only one that thinks that he is innocent. Over all I would recommend this book to any body that likes mysteries or that just wants a book that makes you think and makes you feel like your right there with the characters