The First Eagle

 

By Tony Hillerman

A policeman, Benny Kinsman, is investigating a tip he received that a man known for poaching is back at it again. So Officer Kinsman heads out into the wilds of northern Arizona to catch the poacher, Robert Jano, in the act of capturing an eagle, a protected species. 

Acting Lieutenant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police is expecting Kinsman in his office for a meeting and when Kinsman doesn't show up, Chee goes looking for him. He finds the poacher, Jano, standing over Kinsman's body and immediately arrests Jano.

Meanwhile retired policeman Joe Leaphorn has been hired by a woman to find her missing niece, Catherine Pollard. Pollard went missing the same day as Officer Kinsman was attacked. Leaphorn doesn't believe in coincidences and agrees to try to find the missing woman. He seeks out Officer Chee, seeking to speak to Jano to find out if he noticed Pollard when he was in the area or if he had seen the jeep she was driving. Leaphorn finds out that a jeep was seen by a local not too far from the area where Kinsman was killed. And Chee finds out that Jano also saw a jeep while he was out poaching eagles. Using this information, the jeep is located and there is blood on the driver's seat. It begins to look like Kinsman's murder is possibly connected to Pollard's disappearance. And that Jano is not the killer.

This was an OK read. There is some rather technical stuff about scientists investigating diseases carried by animals that can spread to humans, namely bubonic plague and hantavirus. Of course this figures into the plot and it is not a red herring. But the killer's motive came as a complete surprise to me and made sense in a sad way. One can only hope that the killer's conclusion about the fate of humankind doesn't happen.

Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.

The Fallen Man

 

By Tony Hillerman

Shiprock is located in San Juan County, New Mexico. It is, according to Wikipedia, the "erosional remnant of the throat of a volcano."

Shiprock is sacred to the Navajo people and climbing it is dangerous and forbidden. Still people seek to climb it as it is deemed a difficult and challenging climb. In The Fallen Man, a couple of climbers discover the bones of person high up on a ledge, with the remains of climbing equipment scattered around the bones remains.

Retired Navajo policeman Joe Leaphorn remembers the case of man who went missing several years before, Harold Breedlove. Harold was known to be a climber and his car was found abandoned in the area. He had just celebrated his thirtieth birthday and had told his wife that he was going to a meeting and that he would be back shortly. But he vanished.

Now Breedlove's father had set up a strange will that kept Hal from inheriting the family ranch until he reached his thirtieth birthday. So Hal had just come into his inheritance when he went missing. He was declared dead years later and his wife inherited the property.  So when the bones found on Shiprock turn out to be those of the missing Hal, questions arise. Was he killed for his inheritance? Was it an accident? Was he climbing Shiprock alone? Which would be extremely stupid and foolhardy thing to do. Or was someone with him? Did they cause his death? If they didn't, why didn't they report the accident? Clearly, a closer look is required, which suits Leaphorn just fine, as he doesn't like unsolved mysteries even though he no longer officially works for the police department. 

The timing is the key to solving the death of Hal Breedlove. And frankly, I was completely lost when it came to understanding the problem with Hal's death and the date of his inheritance. I also did not approve of Officer Chee's and Leaphorn's solution to Hal's death, taking justice into their own hands, in a way.

Also there is a subplot where Office Chee and new character Office Bernie Manuelito are trying to track down a cattle thief. They finally figure out how it is being done and the person doing it. But instead of including the scene where the two cops confront the bad guy, which I was really looking forward to reading about, instead all we get is, "Officer Manuelito arrested [bad guy] today. He was loading Maryboy heifers into his [transport]." Hillerman missed an opportunity there for some reason. I always wonder if authors sometimes get bored with their story and just wrap thing up rather abruptly because they are tired of it. 

Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.

The Sinister Pig

 

By Tony Hillerman

A Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Mystery

Carl Mankin was hired to investigate the disappearance of massive amounts of fossil fuels from the San Juan Basin area of New Mexico, a rich natural gas production area, among other fossil fuels. 

But as Mankin is just starting his investigation in New Mexico, he is mistaken for DEA, Drug Enforcement, and is shot dead. And when the FBI take over the investigation from the local police, they declare Mankin was accidentally shot by a careless hunter, case closed. 

Meanwhile, the drug lords have figured out a way to get drugs out of Mexico and into the US by using old pipelines that crossed the border. Pipelines are periodically cleaned by a device called a pig which travels through the pipeline removing rust and buildup. So the smugglers are using the pipeline pigs to haul drugs through the pipeline from Mexico and into New Mexico.

Bernie Manuelito, who used to be an officer with the Navajo Police, is now working for Border Patrol, when she spots some unusual activity on a ranch near New Mexico's border. Unfortunately, her harmless nosing around gets her put on a hit list. And in the cross hairs of a Washington DC sociopath who has brought his high-powered rifle to New Mexico to take her out. What the DC insider doesn't know is that his number one guy isn't the loyal tool he believes him to be. 

I found this mystery to be a bit disappointing. In that the first murder is never solved, other than the FBI coverup claiming it was an accidental shooting, nor is the mystery of the billions of dollars of missing funds. Yes, the bad guy DC insider is taken care of. But the take down of the corrupt Border Patrol agent is barely mentioned.  Seems to me the story was mainly used to get Jim Chee and Bernie back together. 

Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.