Leaphorn and Chee will be hundreds of miles apart when they reach the same conclusion in this quite complex and multi-layered mystery. Plot encompasses
Anasazi pottery, anatomy, and possible migration routes. L&C at their best ( )

Visiting Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee in the pages of a Hillerman mystery is the next best thing to sleeping under the stars in Navajo country, wondering if there is magic in the sky above.

A Thief of Time has atmosphere to spare, and a complex plot. Leaphorn and Chee are also fleshed out more than usual in this terrific entry. Both men are dealing with personal issues as this mystery begins. Chee hasn't quite figured out how he feels about Mary leaving him because he could not leave his Navajo way of life behind, and move to the city with her. He is smitten with a pretty Navajo attorney named Janet, but she's with someone else. Leaphorn, meanwhile, is on terminal leave and retiring after an unexpected death which has hit home.

Neither man can explain Leaphorn's obsession with finding a missing pot hunter named Eleanor Friedman-Bernal. Perhaps Leaphorn is simply distracting himself from the pain. All that is clear is that a Navajo would not be involved; because according to Navajo tradition, stealing pots would make one a Thief of Time.

Chee's allowing a rather large backhoe get stolen right under his nose will have ties to Leaphorn's investigation. Once more the young policeman with an appreciation for the old ways of the Navajo will be investigating with Leaphorn all across the Navajo territory. This one stretches all the way up into Utah, and then down the San Juan River. Leaphorn's recollection of another death will tie-in with Eleanor's disappearance, who was collecting pots made by the mysterious Anasazi. Was something she discovered worth killing for?

Leaphorn and Chee will be hundreds of miles apart when they reach the same conclusion in this quite complex and multi-layered mystery. One will have to race to the other as things turn ugly, and two very different men will find common ground when Leaphorn asks the unexpected of young Chee.

This one is a real gem in this fine series. Hillerman's description of the thousand foot cliffs along the San Juan River at night, and a starry sky filled with Navajo mystery create an unforgettable portrait of the America's Southwest. A terrific read! ( )

Hillerman's Navajo police stories kept me entertained. ( )

I remember reading most if not all of the Leaphorn and Chee books, back some years. I thought they were well written and good distractions from the then work-a-day world. I still remember scenes from them, but get mixed up as to which of the books the scenes were from.

For those not familiar, they were Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels. ( )

This mid-series Leaphorn & Chee novel seems to suffer a bit from ennui. Leaphorn's wife has died (in a previous volume) and he is now contemplating ending his career. Without his driving force, the story just feels stilted and extremely slow-moving.

Essentially, it's a so-so mystery involving pottery thieves and academic conflicts among the archaeologists studying the Anasazi ruins. ( )