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. ( )

The latest Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito novel in series. Bernie finds herself going undercover for 24 hrs to get the info she needs to break up a drug ring on the Navajo Nation. She gets into a mess when her cover is blown. An interesting story of saving herself and accomplishing her task. Meanwhile, Chee finds a dead body while searching for a sacred cave while on a spiritual journey. He is called upon to help the local Navajo police in trying to discover who is responsible. He figures it out, but finds himself in a touchy situation. An interesting read, as usual but a little too unrealistic in the way everything tied up so well in the end.Kirkus: Even though he sorely needs a break from his job with the Navajo Nation police, Sgt. Jim Chee, hiking the area around Lake Powell alone, really misses his wife, Officer Bernadette Manuelito. Little does he know that their separation is about to get much more fraught.A fresh corpse Jim finds in the lake turns out to be that of Curtis Walker, the younger brother of Bernie?s clan brother, Doug Walker. At first glance Curtis appears to have drowned, and no wonder, since he couldn?t swim. But he?s actually died from head injuries inflicted before he tumbled into the lake. Deputized by Park Service chief ranger Ted Morris to put a sympathetic face on the questions that must be put to Doug?s Navajo connections, Jim finds himself with an embarrassment of riches, since Doug?s work with Laguna Blue Watercraft Sales and Rental, his brother?s Antelope Canyon Tours, and aging archaeologist Dr. Peter Hendrix provide possible motives for his murder ranging from bad romance to ecopolitics. While Jim is talking to a bevy of interested parties, Bernie is plopped into a case of her own when a hitchhiker who?s pleaded for her help is run over repeatedly by a Mercedes that speeds away before she can identify the driver. Because of persistent rumors of skulduggery at Dino Begay Perez?s K?? Hemp Farm, a task force is assembled to investigate possible links between KHF and the dead man, and Bernie?s asked to go undercover as a casual worker at the farm to gather information. What, as even she wonders explicitly, could go wrong?An overcrowded, overplotted, and depressingly timely mashup of personal and systemic crimes.

(2022) Chee is accidentally brought into an investigation of a suspicious death of a man involved in starting up an archeological tourism company. Turns out he was murdered by a family friend who thought he was intruding in the family and cheating with his wife. Bernie goes undercover to try to resolve the hit and run death she witnesses of an Asian man. He turns out to be a chemist/botanist who was working for a cannibas company that was into more than medicinal cures. This book is one of the lamest and weakest of the books written by Anne. Too many coincidences, lack of logic and just plain too convenient of plot twists. Didn't really like it very much.KIRKUS: Even though he sorely needs a break from his job with the Navajo Nation police, Sgt. Jim Chee, hiking the area around Lake Powell alone, really misses his wife, Officer Bernadette Manuelito. Little does he know that their separation is about to get much more fraught.A fresh corpse Jim finds in the lake turns out to be that of Curtis Walker, the younger brother of Bernie's clan brother, Doug Walker. At first glance Curtis appears to have drowned, and no wonder, since he couldn't swim. But he's actually died from head injuries inflicted before he tumbled into the lake. Deputized by Park Service chief ranger Ted Morris to put a sympathetic face on the questions that must be put to Doug's Navajo connections, Jim finds himself with an embarrassment of riches, since Doug's work with Laguna Blue Watercraft Sales and Rental, his brother's Antelope Canyon Tours, and aging archaeologist Dr. Peter Hendrix provide possible motives for his murder ranging from bad romance to ecopolitics. While Jim is talking to a bevy of interested parties, Bernie is plopped into a case of her own when a hitchhiker who's pleaded for her help is run over repeatedly by a Mercedes that speeds away before she can identify the driver. Because of persistent rumors of skulduggery at Dino Begay Perez's K'? Hemp Farm, a task force is assembled to investigate possible links between KHF and the dead man, and Bernie's asked to go undercover as a casual worker at the farm to gather information. What, as even she wonders explicitly, could go wrong?An overcrowded, overplotted, and depressingly timely mashup of personal and systemic crimes.Pub Date: April 12, 2022ISBN: 978-0-06-290-836-0Page Count: 320Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Melodramatic, and the dialog was wooden. Not for me. I only read a little over one half. ( )

Chee goes on an expedition to find a sacred cave in behalf of Leaphorn and finds a dead body in the water, which leads to a murder investigation. Meanwhile, Bernie witnesses a murder on the highway that propels her into an undercover operation at a hemp factory. Each worries about the other, and each is right to be worried, as the danger escalates for both.. ( )