Coyote Waits (1990)

Idly rummaging through some used books on the salvaged table at the village recycling station, the cover of this book caught my eye. Seeing it was one of Tony Hillerman's books, I began thumbing through it and recognized the book as one of the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series I'd read (likely in the 1990s).

Academics, murderous villainy, rattlesnakes, skinwalkers, and even Butch Cassidy all mix in the twists of this tale. Coyote is a trickster in much of Native American myth, and Coyote's imposed fate plays a guiding role in the solution of this plot's puzzle. 'Gently impressive mystery fiction' is the best phrase I've come across to describe Tony Hillerman's writing.

I've found Tony Hillerman's books an enjoyable pastime over the years, and having spent a little time in the Four Corners region could easily visualize the settings. ( )

Landscape and realism great as usual, but killing off Delbert Nez felt awkward,
as did the oddly paced Vietnamese sequences, making the mystery tough to follow. ( )

Chee & Leaphorn and historian seeking evidence of Butch Cassidy

Enjoyable series and this one doesn't disappoint. Character development was especially enjoyable as were the evocative landscape descriptions. There were a couple implausible aspects with the inclusion of Ji, an extraneous Vietnamese character which didn't add to the storyline . However, intertwining the Coyote myth with a current murder mystery was clever. ( )

A mystery involving American Indian policemen Chee and Leaphorn and the murder of another policeman with the usual informative Navajo anthropology.