Anne Hillerman

Lost Birds is written by Anne Hillerman.
Published in April 2024, Lost Birds continues the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito mystery series.
We are involved in several complex, overlapping and thought-provoking ‘cases’ happening simultaneously.
Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito give their ‘all’ to solve a murder investigation, an explosion, adoptees looking for their birth parents, feral dogs attacking sheep, extortion, gambling debts and personal family crises.
They work with honor, respect and cultural sensitivity.
I am always impressed with the characterizations, the plots and cultural insights these stories provide.
Another brilliant title by Anne Hillerman *****… (altro)

Having spent time in Arizona and New Mexico and Utah, it's interesting to me to learn something about the area in terms of the first peoples that lived on the land. Bernadette Manuelito and her husband, Jim Chee, are both officers with the Navajo Police and they honour the traditions of their people. As far as I know, Anne Hillerman is not herself indigenous but she seems very knowledgeable about the people she writes about.

Although Manuelito and Chee are married they spend most of this book apart. Chee decided to explore around Lake Powell where his mentor, Joe Leaphorn, said he once saw a cave filled with sacred drawings. Manuelito, after touring Antelope Canyon with her sister, headed back to work. Both encountered dead bodies in their separate journeys. Chee saw a dead man in the water in a remote cove and he was asked by the local police to help investigate his death. Manuelito was on the highway when she saw an Asian man by the side of the road who seemed to be in distress. Moments later she witnessed the man being run over and then the vehicle left the scene of the crime. Later she found a backpack containing marijuana and notes in Chinese in her car and she realized the hit and run victim must have placed it there. The man was a scientist at a hemp farm that had been granted a license by the Navajo Nation based on the involvement of a Navajo elder. Now the elder has disappeared and various authorities are investigating the farm. Manuelito is perfect for undercover work on the farm but her supervisor is worried she may also come to harm. Chee doesn't like the idea very much either but he understands his wife's drive to find out what's going on. After all, he's on an investigation himself that may bring him into harm's way. Turns out everyone was right to worry about this undercover assignment because the people now in charge of the hemp farm are bad actors and they will stop at nothing to reap the profits of the drugs developed on their farm. A promising new treatment for seizure disorders is one possibilty

From what I've seen online, it seems that the Hillerman father and daughter are quite well accepted by the Navajo people despite not being of Navajo heritage. It seems a contrast to how W. P. Kinsella was castigated for cultural appropriation for his short stories set on a reserve in Alberta. I always thought Kinsella's work was very respectful of the First Nations people but I say that as a white settler descendant. Maybe I just wouldn't see what was wrong with his depictions.… (altro)

First of all, this is not a Leaphorn and Chee Novel. It is a Manuelito Novel—Bernadette Manuelito being the wife of Jim Chee. Leaphorn is quickly put into a coma and Chee is presented as kind of a tiresome, bungling husband, while Manuelito solves the crime. I had not read Thief of Time, so the mystery lacked coherence. I read Tony Hilerman's second novel, Dance Hall of the Dead, and picked up Spider Woman's Daughter to see how Anne did taking over for her father. Not so well, as far as I can tell. While there is the obligatory Southwest scenery and Native American culture, the emasculation of the main characters and a weak mystery, leave much to be desired, making this book a dead end for the series.… (altro)