This is my first book this year. I picked up the audiobook version. The narrator irritated me by pronouncing "altitude' as "attitude' throughout most of the book. ie... "atltude indicator" became "attitude indicator." But, I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt, as the print book is probably correct. Now we get to the book itself. This is a book about an "average Joe" who finds himself facing his mortality. He gets a chance to spend five days contemplating his life while facing what he thinks is certain death. I found this book compelling, from a perspective that I felt I was in the cockpit of the shuttle with Kip Dawson, feeling as though when he poured out the story of his life, that his story resonated not only with me, but with countless other "average Joes" in the world. This book has risen to one of my new favorites. The author mixes a blend of "Murphy's Law" scenarios, the technical aspects of space flight (which he does superbly), politics, and the deep soul-searching of a man facing death. Superb!

Tony Hillerman is one of my all-time favorite authors. Skeleton Man is a mystery set in the backdrop of the Navajo Nations, focusing on retired LT Joe Leaphorn of the NTP coming out of retirement to help SGT Jim Chee solve an old mystery of a jewel robbery. As usual, the story weaves the Navajo culture into the story, making it fascinating. Hillerman's ability to describe the scenes and people along with his ability to weave a story makes this a great read!

This is probably one of the best of Hillerman's Leaphorn-Chee detective series. Inspired by an actual manhunt on the Navajo Nations in which the FBI gave up the chase, concluding the suspects dead (what else could you say after the suspects disappeared into the vastness that is Navajoland.) Retired NTP Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn assists Sergeant Jim Chee and Officer Bernadette Manuelito on a hunt for the robbers of the Ute Casino and the killing of a security officer and the wounding of another. Hillerman uses his extensive knowledge of Navajoland terrain, culture, history, and the general politics of all things related to this area to masterfully craft a story that keeps you invested to the end. Also has a surprise twist at the end.

This was one of my favorite books. True, it seems that the bad guy was pointed out early and there wasn't much to wonder about. What I liked the most was the history and cultural similarities between the Hmong and Navajos, and how LT Leaphorn and Tommy hit is off, There was the usual history lesson about the Navajos, focusing on the Long Walk from Bosque Redondo, and a "Woven Sorrow" rug, supposedly burned in a gallery fire but winds up in a magazine photo. The "Shapeshifter" is actually a criminal who seems to continually be reinventing himself. One of the most evil antagonists Leaphorn has faced

A shooting at the Laundromat at the Navajo Nations leaves one man dead, one wounded. When SGT Jim Chee is sent to investigate a missing girl and a stolen horse, he finds the man who was wounded, dead, buried in Navajo tradition on the mountain. But not quite... Being a shaman in training himself, he spots the discrepancy in the body preparation which no true traditional would have made. He finds another puzzle. Why would a traditional Navajo like Ashey Begay, make this kind of mistake in burying his kin? And where was he? This puzzle takes Chee off the reservation to Los Angeles in pursuit of the missing girl, and the old man. He crosses paths twice with an assassin who is assigned to kill the girl and all the other witnesses in a crime committed in the big city of LA. In all of his searching, Chee struggles with the entanglement with a white school teacher who is bent on marrying him and making a white man out of him. As usual, Hillerman weaves a compelling story in great detail to the weather, the landscape, and within the backdrop of Navajo land. Great read

A Hopi eagle poacher, the murder of a Navajo Tribal Policeman, a missing vector control agent sudying bubonic plague cases among the prairie dog burrows... Follow retired NTP Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and acting Lieutenant Jim Chee on their search for the truth. This story is full of angles, troubles between local law enforcement on the reservation and the FBI, along with the return back to the reservation of Chee's half Navajo ex-fiance turned public defender that makes this novel a spellbinding story. Hillerman weaves the theme of plague and the study of antibotic resistant pathogens expertly. In the backdrop of the Navajo nations, he weaves so many elements together, but keeps you guessing until the end whodonit.

Sacred Clowns examines both the Navajo and Hopi cultural and religeons, steeping the murder mystery in a rich cultural tapestry that Hillerman was known for. As always, the story involves the human elements of both Chee and Leaphorn, their love lives and their personal struggles. This has it all.. mystery, politics, history, intrigue, and yes, two murders to solve.