Cave of Bones
Anne Hillerman brings together modern mystery, Navajo traditions, and the evocative landscape of the desert Southwest in this intriguing entry in the Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito series.
When Tribal Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito arrives to speak at an outdoor character-building program for at-risk teens, she discovers chaos. Annie, a young participant on a solo experience due back hours before, has just returned and is traumatized. Gently questioning the girl, Bernie learns that Annie stumbled upon a human skeleton on her trek. While everyone is relieved that Annie is back, they’re concerned about a beloved instructor who went out into the wilds of the rugged lava wilderness bordering Ramah Navajo Reservation to find the missing girl. The instructor vanished somewhere in the volcanic landscape known as El Malpais. In Navajo lore, the lava caves and tubes are believed to be the solidified blood of a terrible monster killed by superhuman twin warriors in this compelling tribal police procedural.
Solving the twin mysteries will expose Bernie to the chilling face of human evil. The instructor’s disappearance mirrors a long-ago search that may be connected to a case in which the legendary Joe Leaphorn played a crucial role. But before Bernie can find the truth, an unexpected blizzard, a suspicious accidental drowning that launches a homicide investigation, and the arrival of a new FBI agent complicate the case.
While Bernie searches for answers in her case, her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee juggles trouble closer to home. A vengeful man he sent to prison for domestic violence is back―and involved with Bernie’s sister Darleen. Their relationship creates a dilemma that puts Chee in uncomfortable emotional territory that challenges him as family man, a police officer, and as a one-time medicine man in training in this layered suspense novel.
Anne Hillerman takes us deep into the heart of the deserts, mountains, and forests of New Mexico and once again explores the lore and rituals of Navajo culture in this gripping entry in her atmospheric crime series.
Anne Hillerman
When I was a youngster, I remember grownups asking if I wanted to be a writer like my father, Tony Hillerman. I lied and said no, but secretly I did. My Dad was my hero. He went to work in the morning and came home with something wonderful---stories. At first, they were stories of the news he had covered as a journalist; then stories of the students he taught at the University of New Mexico and, finally, stories of the joys and challenges of his ultimate career as a mystery fiction writer.
Stories have been like oxygen to me from the time I was old enough to climb onto a welcoming lap and snuggle up with the storyteller. My parents shared their deep passion for reading: something vitally important to a potential writer. They also shared their sense of adventure. My five brothers and sisters and I would pile into the family station wagon for trips exploring the Southwest.
From hearing and reading stories, the next step was writing my own. I started with true stories for student publications, then wrote and edited for newspapers, radio newsrooms, and magazines. That segued into opinion columns, feature stories and reviews, and then to travel guides and other non-fiction books.
After Tony Hillerman died in 2008, I got the happy idea to write a novel that would keep the stories he created alive by putting his characters to work solving new crimes. One of his minor characters, Navajo police officer Bernadette Manuelito became my central protagonist.
Here I am, many novels later, amazed and delighted at what these characters still have to say. And eager to see what happens next.
Leaphorn & Chee
Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Navajo tribal police officers in the southwest USA. Series has been taken over by author's daughter, Anne Hillerman, after his death.
Leaphorn & Chee consists of twenty-six books and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
