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Rating: 
Summary: Jim Chee is not the Slim Man!
Review: Jim Chee takes himself seriously, but Tony Hillerman only wants to tell you a great story while inclucating in you some respect for a culture you may not know. If you've read Hillerman, I don't need to tell you much. The first Chee books are wonderful because they are the development of the character. If you started with later novels, go back and read the early ones! This collection is a great place to start! Ah, but then you'll be hooked, and you'll have to buy all of Hillerman's work! DO IT!! Your reading will tell you much more than my enthusiams will do here!ASM
Rating:
Summary: Jim Chee is not the Slim Man!
Review: Jim Chee takes himself seriously, but Tony Hillerman only wants to tell you a great story while inclucating in you some respect for a culture you may not know. If you've read Hillerman, I don't need to tell you much. The first Chee books are wonderful because they are the development of the character. If you started with later novels, go back and read the early ones! This collection is a great place to start! Ah, but then you'll be hooked, and you'll have to buy all of Hillerman's work! DO IT!! Your reading will tell you much more than my enthusiams will do here! ASM
Rating:
Summary: Three Jim Chee Mysteries
Review: Three Jim Chee Mysteries
---"People of Darkness"---
"The mole, his hunting place is darkness."
"The mole, his hunting song is silence."
Sgt Jim Chee of the Navaho tribal police is asked by the wife of Benjamin J. Vines to retrieve a mysterious box stolen from her husband's safe while he was away. When mister vines returns he tells Chee that it was all a mistake and hands Chee a check. We all know Chee can not let this lay still so the mystery leads him to people that use a mole for their talisman "The people of Darkness" and it appears that something (or someone) is killing them all off.
The mystery is fair and Tony Hillerman does not hide clues or surprise suspects to the last minute so it is not too hard to guess most of the plot or who the good guys and bad guys are. We are introduced to the Navaho concept of witches and Mary Landon who will play parts (if she survives) in future novels. In the process we get a vivid description of the four corners and other areas near buy. In People of darkness he picks up a Lota Burger and I have eaten a few of them my self. In future books we will be introduced to the Navaho Taco. For the anthropologist in us he describes many sings and ways.
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---"The Dark Wind"---
"A dark wind has entered his soul"
"Enemies unseen... Fears unspoken...... A dark wind has entered his soul"
Navajo Tribal Police Sgt. Jim Chee seems to be batting zero; so far he has not been able to solve a series of seemingly unrelated crimes. In an area that was joint use land between the Navaho and the Hopi (now Hopi) Sgt Jim Chee is given the task of finding the vandal that keeps destroying a windmill placed there to make Hopi life easer. He hears an airplane landing in the dark of night with no lights. The plane crashes and leaves a dying pilot. Also a dead man sitting up against a rock with a note in his hand saying if you want it back contact...
Sgt Chee is told that it is probably drugs and federal jurisdiction. Chee is not supposed to go anywhere near or have anything to do with the case. He has his own problems with the mill, a missing thief, and a mysterious ritual death. Naturally he listens, and can not help it if they overlap.
One of the reasons for reading Hillerman's books maybe more important than the overlying mystery is the descriptions of the area and the Ways of the Navaho and Hopi. Hillerman suggests you also read "The Book of the Hopi" by Frank Waters.
Not as intricate as the book but still fun is the movie "Dark Wind" (Lou Diamond Phillips as Officer Jim Chee, Fred Ward as Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn)
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---"The Ghost Way"---
Shoot out at the Wash-O-Mat
A Shoot out at the Shiprock Wash-O-Mat leads to a puzzle that only Jim Chee with his knowledge of the Ghostway and of death rituals can try to peace together. Related is a disappearance of a school girl (Margaret Sosi) will lead Jim from the New Mexico landscape to the Los Angeles area. There with Hillerman's gift for description we also get a contrasting look of the different worlds. Will He find the girl and what does the puzzle spell out, or will it ever become clear?
This is a close continuation of "People of Darkness" so many of the descriptions and people were previously defined in that book. The reason people read Hillerman is mostly for the descriptions of the places and people his characters encounter. As seen in previous books, in the description of Margaret and other characters, he incorporates his real life experience with World War II and its aftermath.
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