

Loading... The Wailing Wind (2002)by Tony Hillerman
![]() No current Talk conversations about this book. The Wailing Wind is a good suspenseful story from the very beginning to the end. Leaphorn was able to solve a mystery that seemed to have had no clues. The situations are believable as well as the characters. The story gets a solid four stars in this review. Do you know, I watched many episodes of that BBC show, 'Doc Martin.' I could not help but think that there would be some sort of cosmic retribution for the way the writers, producers and actors portrayed the poor S. O. B. That is how I think of this particular Tony Hillerman novel. That poor girl didn't have to die like that. We really need to have more empathy and compassion for our fellow human beings. 'Nuff said. (And I apologize for any spoilers that may be apparent). This Tony Hillerman story was written with a thin plot that wandered from the theme of The Wailing Wind, not what I expect from Hillerman’s Navajo detective series. The backstory was skilfully interwoven with the present developments in a cold case, but Hillerman’s descriptions of the landscape and traditional Navajo ways appeared as if by rote, which lacked its usual liveliness. My major disappointment was Bernie’s budding romance with Chee takes off in this narrative. This is a pleasant development after the ill-suited attraction to Mary Landon and the incompatible Janet Pete. The scenes where Bernie is sleuthing for the right plant habitat ( I finished reading [Wailing Wind] by [[Tony Hillerman]]. This is the twelveth novel in this series and the quality of this series has not diminished one bit. There is so much in this novel about the religious differences between the Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo. I think the addition of Louisa and Bernadette has allowed Hillerman to put more of these bits into the novel. Bernadette's concern about the taboos on touching a dead body and the consequences of doing so for her and her family add to the mystery. If nothing else these novels have pointed out to me that these Native Americans of the Southwest are very different groups with very different religious views that caused trouble between them for centuries, even though they live in relative proximity. Sort of like the Sunni and Shiite and the Protestants and Catholics. While I liked the plotting, character development and interpersonal interactions of the four major characters in this novel - Chee, Leaphorn, Bernadette, & Louisa, I found their dialog very stilted. It may be that Hillerman is trying to convey things about the culture but at times the dialog sounded like it was straight from a 1930's radio soap opera or drama. It seemed very cliched to me. The plot was great. This was one of the most complex plots so far in this series, and it showed tremendous depth and nuance. It is surprising to me that he packed so much into such a short novel. (230 pages in my edition) If I was to compliment nothing else in this novel, I would compliment it for that alone. This was a fine example of tight and compact writing and editing. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesLeaphorn/Chee (15) Is contained inJoe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Mystery Series Complete Set by Tony Hillerman, Volumes 1-18. Also known as the Navajo Tribal Police Mystery Novels. (Titles include: The Blessing Way / Dance Hall of the Dead / Listening Woman / People of Darkness / The Darkwind / The Ghostway / Skinwalkers / A Theif of Time / Talking God / Coyote Waits, / Sacred Clowns / The Fallen Man / The First Eagle / Hunting Badger / The Walking Wind / The Sinister Pig / Skeleton Man / Shape Shifter) by Tony Hillerman Is abridged in
Nothing had seemed complicated about the old "Golden Calf" case. A con game had gone sour. Wealthy old Wiley Denton had shot the swindler, called the police, confessed, and done his short prison time. No mystery there, except why did the rich man's bride vanish? And now, papers found by Sergeant Jim Chee and Officer Bernie Manuelito in a new homicide case connect the victim to Denton and to the mythical Golden Calf Mine. No library descriptions found. |
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54 — Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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To Officer Bernie Manuelito the man curled on the truck seat was just another drunk—which got Bernie in trouble for mishandling a murder scene—which got Sgt. Jim Chee in trouble with the FBI—which drew ex-Lieutenent Joe Leaphorn out of retirement into an old crime he longed to forget. Legends of the area’s lost gold mines join the mountains and canyons of the Navajo Reservation as elements of Hillerman’s plot, but this tale turns on an obsessive love and memories of a missing woman’s voice wailing in the darkness. (