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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
A murder investigation; some violence; the cultural dispossession of Native remains is the ethical core
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Barely any
Mild content
Emotional Intensity
Some
The specific injustice of institutions holding the bones of the dead from communities that consider the ground sacred; Leaphorn and Chee operating outside their reservation territory
What this book is about
Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is investigating the theft of ancient Navajo artifacts from the Smithsonian and other museums — bones removed from their burial sites by a woman protesting the institution's collection of Native remains. Officer Jim Chee, separately, is involved in a homicide case that seems unrelated. Tony Hillerman's ninth Leaphorn/Chee novel braids the two investigations together in Washington D.C., far from the Navajo reservation, examining what happens when the specific injustices of museum collecting practices and political corruption intersect with the kind of violence Hillerman's world is built around.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
ninth Leaphorn/Chee novel by Tony Hillerman; Washington D.C. setting
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