The Blessing Way

 

By Tony Hillerman

The first novel in the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee detective series, published in 1970. 

A young Navajo man, Luis Horseman, has wounded a man in a knife fight and has fled to the wilderness, fearing he has killed the man. 

Navajo policeman Joe Leaphorn is out looking for the fugitive, checking with the Horseman's friends and family to see if any of them have been in contact with him, pointing out it would be better for Horseman to turn himself in. And that Horseman's victim is in the hospital and expected to make a full recovery.  

But soon Horseman is found dead and an autopsy reveals that he was smothered to dead with sand. Leaphorn is concerned that his inquiries may have inadvertently lead to Horseman's death.

Talk has been going around in the Navajo community that a witch has been plaguing some of the locals. A college professor, Bergen McKee, has been conducting research into Navajo witchcraft beliefs and he decides to head into the back country to look into this talk of a witch. Together with a colleague, the two men set up camp in the same area where Horseman had been hiding out. 

The local Navajos hold a meet to do an Enemy Way ceremony to stop the witch, a sort of magic spell that will kill the witch within a year. Leaphorn, now investigating Horseman's death, attends the meet as part of his investigation. At one point, he realizes that he has seen the man the witnesses describe as the witch. The witch is a Navajo, but he is a stranger to the area.

McKee, who was interviewing locals about witchcraft, returns to the camp to find a note from his colleague. But the note is signed John, whereas his friend's name is Jeremy. McKee starts to feel uneasy and wakes up in the night feeling something is wrong. He sees a man lurking outside and McKee slips away unseen by the man.  Heading back to the camp in the morning when the coast seems clear, McKee finds that his truck has been sabotaged. Hiking out, he comes across a young woman who is headed towards the danger zone and McKee is fearful for her safety. As he tries to lead her out of the area, they are confronted by the witch-man and he takes them captive.

Joe Leaphorn had a lead that he thinks will take him straight to the Navajo witch who Leaphorn is certain killed Horseman. He doesn't know about Jeremy or that McKee and the woman are in mortal danger. He also has not figured out the why of all of it. But he will. 

I enjoyed this story quite a lot. It was very exciting. I have read other Joe Leaphorn stories, but not this one. It was a bit confusing that Leaphorn was not the main character of the story, McKee was as all the action centered on McKee. McKee gets hunted, injured, captured, escapes, saves the woman and confronts the killer. Leaphorn's roll is mostly just that of investigator. But it was still a good story even if Leaphorn is secondary in the story to McKee.

Wikipedia has an article about The Blessing Way with a good summary of the story.