The First Eagle

Rating:
Summary: Tail feathers and a snowman
Review: By the time of "The First Eagle," Lt. Joe Leaphorn has become Mr. Leaphorn and Jim Chee is acting lieutenant of the Navajo police. But some things have not changed. Murder is still a problem on the reservation as is bubonic plague, carried by fleas from rodents, especially prairie dogs. The plague has brought investigators from different labs hoping to gain knoweldge of how the new, resistant strain can be combated.

The police investigation begins when one of their own, Officer Kinsman, is killed by a Hopi poaching eagles on the reservation. Chee catches the man red-handed (with blood) and arrests him. Meanwhile, Leaphorn has been asked to try and find Catherine Pollard, a young biologist who has been working for the health service on the plague problem. As the separate investigations progress, their paths begin to converge.

To complicate matters, Chee is surprised and guardedly optimistic to find his one-time fiance has returned from Washington, and she is working with the public defenders office and will be defending the Hopi. He agonizes over whether her feelings have changed and is noncomittal when the prosecutor and FBI agents ask about his relationship with her.

Much hinges on whether there were one or two eagles captured by the Hopi, and what has happened to the missing health services investigator. Is she alive? Did she kill Kinsman? Or is the Hopi guilty after all?

This is another of Hillerman's good, simple mysteries involving two of the favorite policemen in the southwest. Readers of Hillerman's mysteries might also enjoy those written by Dick Francis. Although taking place in England, for the most part, they are as clearly written and have heroes of the same caliber.

Rating:
Summary: Spritely, Has That Hillerman Flair
Review: This is a pleasurable entry in the Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn series. Though it seems minimalist compared with author Hillerman's earlier achievements in THIEF OF TIME and TALKING GOD, it really has a lot going for it. It does not cover the folklore in depth as previous volumes have, but it stands on its own as a diverting mystery with interesting characters.

Hillerman continues to make use of his own time-honored device to launch two plotlines in THE FIRST EAGLE, one featuring Jim Chee, now Acting Lieutenant on the Navajo reservation police squad, and the other, Joe Leaphorn, former Lietenant in charge, now retired. Jim Chee has the death of a cop and a suspect he's caught red-handed over the body, and Leaphorn has a missing person's case, his first civilian detecting job. Hillerman braids the strands together, along with many complications, including research scientists and health officers chasing down sources of contemporary outcroppings of bubonic plague on the reservation. While it is apparent who at least one bad guy is in the first chapter, the why, what and how unfolds not so easily. Clues and red herrings mount up entertainingly.

Chee and Leaphorn are nicely sketched, with progressive shading. Female characters have never been Hillerman's strength, but Louisa, Leaphorn's friend is good company, and the glamorous Janet Pete returns to drive an edginess into Chee's life and the plot. The bad guys are original but not particularly nuanced.

Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: I have several of Hillerman's books and I've enjoyed them all, with varying degrees. I especially like the ones that center around Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn and how they work around each other. There is a different ritual that the people in that area observe when they communicate which is not what most of us are used to. You don't just barge in and ask blunt questions and expect to get straight forward answers. There is a special protocol or manuevers one must follow first. It gives an added interest and concept of a different society.
I find that I connect, or identify with the characters because he has done a good job of making them realistic. You can feel the heat of the day as Jim Chee or Joe Leaphorn are driving down a dusty road to visit the home of someone they want to question. I feel like I'm right along with them, watching from the sidelines.
The story is actually two investigations that come together. Jim Chee is investigating the murder of one of their own and Joe Leaphorn, who is retired, has been hired to find a missing person. Jim Chee has to battle his feelings of inadequacy when he is working alongside the legendary Joe Leaphorn as they search for answers. There is enough romance, intrigue and thrills to keep a person interested to the end.

Rating:
Summary: The Navajo Landscape
Review: "First Eagle" is another great Tony Hillerman novel. I think this one deserves extra praise due to the continuing character development Hillerman provides us with. Joe Leaporn is still as "classic" as ever, but is starting to show another side especially as a civilian. Chee is starting to live up to his ancestral name by picking up more of Leaphorn's techniques. Some of the smaller characters are also being developed, not abandoned like some many authors do. The only character I dislike and do not see any development with his Janet Pete. The Black Plague part of the story is interesting and realistic. I remember driving through this area in the early 90s when this was hot subject.

Also, if you have never tried an audiobook before, try one where George Guidall is the speaker. I read the first few Hillerman books and then discovered the audiobook version. After listening to dozens of audiobooks, there is no doubt that George Guidall is the best male speaker I have heard. He does an unbelievable job with both the Leaphorn and Chee characters. He also has done the entire Patrick Robison submarine series which is worth looking at.

One last note, I had the opportunity this summer to visit Tuba City. It is really great when you can tie the Hillerman books to the geographic locations he discusses in his books.

Rating:
Summary: Another Winning Leaphorn Mystery
Review: "The First Eagle", by Tony Hillerman, Audio Cassette version read by George Guidall, Harper Audio, 1998.

Another good Jim Chee/ Lt. Leaphorn mystery, well done and very easy to read. I was steered to this book by checking library listings on the Black Plague and other airborne illness, after I had read "The Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis. The so-called hanta virus had affected, in particular, the Navaho Nation in the American Southwest. The disease, spread by the droppings of small mice and other rodents, provided an opportunity for a cottage industry to grow up in the Southwest where many aspiring Ph.D. students were attempting to make a name for themselves.

In the midst of all this, Acting Lt. Jim Chee charges a Hopi Indian, caught while poaching eagles, with the murder of a Navaho Tribal Policeman. The Hopi was arrested red handed, literally!, and Jim Chee believes that he has an open and shut case. But, Chee's once and future fiancée, Janet Pete, returns from Washington, DC, as public defender, and, you guessed it, she is assigned to defend the Hopi

The plot is twisted and involved enough, when retired Lt. Leaphorn is hired as a "private investigator" to look into the disappearance of Cathy Pollard, a researcher, who vanished on the same day the Navajo policeman was killed. Both Chee and Leaphorn are then immersed in the academic scene as they seek to sought out the involved relationships of prairie dog colonies, fleas, the Black Plague, the disappearance of Ms. Pollard, and the deaths of some Indians from the plague. Hillerman continues to develop the characters of Leaphorn and Chee. For example, there is a poignant scene in the hospital, where Leaphorn's memories of watching his wife, Emma, being wheeled away on a gurney, never to be seen alive again, are described. Leaphorn's life as a widower, also shows up now and then, as in the shower scene in the motel and, later, when he is enjoying eating another person's cooking in the restaurant.

I have come to identify George Guidall's voice with Lt. Leaphorn, and, if I ever meet Tony Hillerman in person, I would expect him to sound like Mr. Guidall. Guidall does an excellent job of developing distinct vocal identities for each character, and his portrayal of FBI agents who have been hoodwinked by the "not-so-stupid" Tribal Policeman Lt Chee, is very appropriate. I enjoyed Guidall's reading of "The First Eagle" as I drove Interstate 495 around Boston. Hillerman has another winner.