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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
A police officer's murder; the investigation involves Navajo cultural practice and individual silence
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Barely any
Mild content
Emotional Intensity
Some
The specific challenge of understanding a silence that has its own integrity; Chee's friendship with the dead officer as a motivation that colors his investigation
What this book is about
Officer Jim Chee's friend is killed, and an elderly Navajo shaman named Ashie Pinto is found nearby — drunk, holding a gun, apparently responsible. But Chee cannot accept that the case is as simple as it appears. Lieutenant Leaphorn investigates separately, and the two inquiries circle the same question: what actually happened, and what is Pinto protecting by not speaking. Tony Hillerman's tenth Leaphorn/Chee novel is the most focused on the ethics of confession and silence — why someone would protect a secret that is destroying them — and uses the shaman's silence as a mystery of character rather than evidence.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
tenth Leaphorn/Chee novel by Tony Hillerman
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