It's been mentioned in other reviews, but this particular book does seem to suffer from a bit of an identity crisis: it doesn't quite seem sure of its main protagonist. You'd think it would be Joe Leaphorn, but it just may not be after all.That said, it's certainly a rather interesting book. Navajo symbolism and mythology permeate the writing to such an extent that I initially found it somewhat difficult to follow the story, but once you get used to the writing style it actually reads quite fast...

I actually read this quite a long time ago and I don't remember the details, but I've never read a Tony Hillerman I didn't like.This is the first of Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee/Navajo Reservation mysteries, and I read in an interview that it has so many inaccuracies about Navajo culture that it now makes him cringe. Apparently, though, the Navajo people were quite pleased with his respectful interest in their culture, and they liked the book despite whatever weaknesses it may have. Of cour...

Many years ago I read several of Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn & Chee books. Around eight books in the series I believe. When I saw the Kindle version on sale at Amazon a while back I decided to buy it and check it out again. Although the title indicates "Leaphorn & Chee" there is no Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn often takes a backseat. In fact the main protagonist appears to be Bergen McKee, a college professor who returned to the Reservation in order to continue his research of Navajo witchcraft.The s...

Read this book when it first came out. (Yes I'm old!) Did a re-read, here's my review...When it comes to writing descriptions of the southwest, none can compare to Mr. Hillerman. He can set a scene with a saw-whet owl, a fading sunset, and a distant outcropping of gray-streaked red sandstone. He's magnificent at this, does a better job than any painting or photograph. Add to that the detailed descriptions of various native American rituals, along with insight into the cultures, the nuances, even...

As a mystery fan, I had been meaning to check this series out for a while. But it wasn't until I spent a rainy weekend in Napa and took temporary shelter in a lovely used bookstore that I saw a paperback copy and finally picked it up. It may be my best used bookstore impulse buy ever, and I have made quite a few of those.There is not much new I can add to the conversation about the mystery handled by Arizona Navajo Tribal Police Lt. Joe Leaphorn in this novel, being that was originally published...

Picked this up because I was looking for something different from the murder-in-a-small-English-town-thing. Though it took a while to really get going, I found the people and setting interesting, and liked Joe Leaphorn.

This first book in the Leaphorn series, really isn't that great.There's a corpse with sand in his mouth, and a hunt for a missile.The story is pretty simple, really only enough here for a novella, and it drags along. Leaphorn really isn't in it very much, either. Sort of hard to believe it heralded a series that would last over 40 years.

Hillerman is chocolate. Read him at the beach, read him before bed, but read him. Then you too will belong to the high plains, the canyons and mesas of the desert Southwest. You will think and speak differently, quietly, thoughtfully. You will find the wound in the floor of the kiva, a melody which is a wound in silence, and you will follow, like Alice down the rabbit hole.

This first book in the Joe Leaphorn series features an exciting conclusion, but it also features two heroes instead of one (Ethnologist Bergen McKee gets more pages than Leaphorn), and I don't think it is always clear where the focus of the novel is supposed to be. The ethnic information about witchcraft beliefs among the Navaho is interesting, but not always properly integrated into the narrative. This is, however, his first detective novel. It is well-written, I hear he is one of the masters o...

4 starsThis is the first book in the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee series by Tony Hillerman. Jim Chee does not appear in this book and Leaphorn plays an equal role as protagonist against murderers with ethnologist Bergen McKee. Leaphorn is looking for Luis Horseman, who cut a Mexican in Gallup, New Mexico. Horseman turns up dead with few clues as to how he got there. Leaphorn and McKee keep hearing rumors of a Wolf Witch roaming the reservation. They both try to track down the Wolf Witch, McKee because

First in series for Leaphorn & Chee. Fascinating glimpse of Navajo culture. A blend of mystic and mystery.

I usually don't do this, but DNF on page 106. I can't make heads or tails out of what's going on, and I'm bored stiff.UPDATE: 10/23/2015Okay, I finished it. Still stand by my original opinion.

4.5 Stars for The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee #1) (audiobook) by Tony Hillerman read by George Guidall. This was an interesting step back in time. I really liked that it’s set in northern Arizona. I’m familiar with a lot of the place names. I’ve already checked out the next book in the series.

At my face to face book club, a member mentioned that Tony Hillerman was his favorite author. Finally, I've gotten around to trying him. Although I didn't think this is a series that should be read in order, I thought the first in the series would introduce the recurring characters and get some background. Not only was there no background material about Joe Leaphorn, he didn't even get a lot of page time and Chee wasn't mentioned.The writing is so-so and characterization is non-existent. There i...

A murder victim is found in a remote place with his mouth filled with sand. Lt. Leaphorn comes to suspect that supernatural forces may be involved.

3.5***From the dust jacket: When Lt. Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police discovers a corpse with a mouth full of sand at a crime scene seemingly without tracks or clues, he is ready to suspect a supernatural killer. Blood on the rocks … a body on the high mesa … Leaphorn must stalk the Wolf-Witch along a chilling trail between mysticism and murder. This is the first in the series featuring Leaphorn. Hillerman weaves in considerable Navajo lore in this very real story of murder and mayhem.

Tony Hillerman’s first Leaphorn mystery (1970) strikes me as one of his best in its balance of mystery, crime solving, and rich cultural background—an authorial creation of hoozho, that guiding principle of Dinee life, which the Blessing Way ceremony (hoozhoji) restores and maintains. The book’s title may refer less to the ceremony itself (which, in fact, the book scarcely mentions) than to the principle that guides detective Joe Leaphorn’s pursuit of a solution to crime. He must recognize what

Recently I found myself thinking about Hillerman again, so I decided to reach for this, his first novel. Surprisingly enough, it is his most popular book here on GR, even though he wrote many more, and others that garnered more awards and the like. So, just to begin my review, I would like to say - wow. What a fantastic novel. This is much more than a mere murder mystery. One of the pleasures of many great mysteries is that, in addition to keeping you guessing and turning the pages, they introdu...

I almost quit reading this after the first bit, because it was a lot of Indian folklore and superstition, which isn't really something I enjoy much of. I just wasn't really following it. There was one Indian called Horseman, another was The Wolf, and then there were the Wind People, etc. So, I went back and reread/skimmed over the part I'd read in a written version instead of audio, and figured out what was happening; it was more than just stories about strange beliefs, chants and ghosts, althou...

THE BLESSING WAY was Tony Hillerman's first novel. Although Navajo police officer Joe Leaphorn appears in the book, he is a secondary character. The main character is Bergen McKee, a tenured professor with expertise in the social context of Navajo witchcraft. McKee is still recovering from his divorce five years ago and has returned to the Reservation to continue his research in hopes of revitalizing some of the ambition of his youth. He contacts Leaphorn, an old friend from college, to collect