The Wailing Wind

Rating:
Summary: Hillerman's back in the swing...
Review: Tony Hillerman is back in form with The Wailing Wind. As with most Hillerman mysteries, this book follows the same formula. First, a crime has occurred on Native American lands due to the exploitation of Native American resources. Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn again work together to solve a crime, although they seem to be less adversarial with each book. Both characters have budding romantic interests, although things are still unresolved at the end. Ineffective FBI agents still try to wrestle control of criminal investigations from the Tribal Police. And the Tribal Police still try to do their jobs within the parameters of their Indian (mostly Navajo) beliefs. Hillerman's mysteries are fascinating in that they educate the reader about Native American cultures, lands, life on the reservation, religious beliefs and a host of other topics. However, I would recommend that a reader new to Hillerman skip this book for now, and start with his earliest mysteries which give more background into Native American beliefs and vocabulary. It will also be helpful in that the personal lives of his characters continue to develop in each novel. Still, The Wailing Wind is an entertaining mystery for Hillerman fans and I found it much better than his last effort.

Rating:
Summary: Chee and Leaphorn are back--'nuf said
Review: When Officer Bernadette Manuelito of the Navajo police finds a truck with a body in it, she suspects natural causes--and ends up in big trouble with the FBI. Her boss Sergeant Jim Chee and his friend retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn decide to investigate, especially since the case seems related to an old 'closed' case that never felt right to Leaphorn. In a powerful mixture of native American culture and modern police work, all three track down evidence of an old gold mine, a wailing woman, and confidence man tricks.

Author Tony Hillerman is at his best when writing about Leaphorn and Chee. Both men are memorable characters, trying to find balance in their lives, dealing with difficult relatives, difficult FBI agents, and the difficult blend of cultures that represents the culture that they live in and love.

As always, the bleak desert landscapes of the southwestern Navajo Indian Reservation forms both a backdrop and a virtual character in this story. Without an understanding of the country, nature, and man's relationship with nature, Chee, Bernadette, and Leaphorn cannot hope to solve the mystery--but with them, they run the risk of being dismissed by the FBI or falling into a trap set by a ruthless killer.

This may not be the best Tony Hillerman book out (my personal favorite was COYOTE WAITS) but even pretty good Hillerman is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Short Winded
Review: I didn't care too much for this book, it just didn't meet my expectations. Some reviewers have likened the lightweight storyline to the Hardy Boys; I suggest that Jessica Fletcher could be substituted for Leaphorn or Chee, and a quirky sidekick for Manuelito, and you've got a Southwestern Murder, She Wrote.

First off, the book is very short; initially I thought I had picked up a large-print edition - the type is so big - but the Amazon summary matches the ISBN. If more time and space had been devoted to telling this story, all these problems could have been eliminated easily.

Second, because it's so short character development takes place in quantum leaps. For instance, Officer Manuelito considers a career change, commenting that her mother says "there's just too much evil in this business ... too much sorrow." Nice sentiments, certainly, but it overlooks the fact that a) only Manuelito's awareness of the evil/sorrow has changed, not that there's any more of it in society than there has ever been (and, indeed, most of the evil and sorrow in this book has been waiting decades to be discovered); and b) her reaction to this awareness is to run from it, which only gives evil and sorrow that much more power over the innocent. Granted, people don't always behave logically, but this smacks of Hillerman having developed a relationship into a corner and needing to take drastic measures to get out of it quickly.

Third, the folklore and myth in this book is trivial. The "Wailing Wind" or "la Llorana" connection is more in line with a belagaana ghost story (it even takes place at Halloween); the final Zuñi anecdote was pretty much just a punch line. The myths and legends in Hillerman's books usually provide color and metaphor for the events in the book. Here they don't, and that's unfortunate.

Fourth, with so much of the story being told in flashbacks, Hillerman has some pretty clumsy segues. You can almost see the page go all wavy and hear harp music in the background. The broad details of the past would have been better dealt with in a prologue (a court scene would have worked well), with specifics and discrepancies coming out in the body of the work.

This is not to say that there's nothing to like in the book. The first half in particular is handled very well. I especially liked how Chee and Manuelito carried out independent investigations to discover the location of a murder scene. He used U.S. Forest Service data, she used botanical knowledge, both arrived at the same conclusion - that's nice detective work. I also liked the new FBI agent; despite his handicaps of not knowing the language and having the tribal police working against him as much as with him, he did do a good job of arresting the right people. The suggestion that the Chee/Manuelito angst may soon be coming to an end is a welcome development (if only Leaphorn and Bourbonette would finalize things, too).

It's not that The Wailing Wind is a bad book, but it is pretty mediocre. It's like the fast-food "chipotle" craze - you get a sense of the Southwestern flavor you want, but excellence has been sacrificed for expedience. Go ahead and read the book; it's okay, but don't expect it to fully satisfy your appetite.

Rating:
Summary: Good Old Friends
Review: Hillerman has a formula at work in his Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee mystery series, and. as time goes on, the smooth coating wears in places here and there and the fundamental structure shows through, a tad naked. THE WAILING WOMAN is one of those where you can see scattered holes unfilled by character development or cultural background information. It's not so much that there are inconsistencies in the plotting as there are some implausible motivations and non sequiturs. Hillerman's usual red herrings aren't running too strong in this stream. That said, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee are good company, so if you like them, this won't disappoint. This volume does offer a wry tour of bureaucratic land rights issues and injustices that plague the Navajo nation.

Rating:
Summary: Decidedly Hard-Boiled Hillerman
Review: At one point in "The Wailing Wind", Joe Leaphorn muses on a Raymond Chandler story he once read. That's rather appropriate as this book is certainly one of Hillerman's more hard-boiled books. Much like Chandler, it meditates on the human condition, finding more dark than light, and offering at best, a few shreds of hope for all those participants who make it to the end.

Of all of Hillerman's books, this is his darkest. This is not to say that his previous ones are Agatha Christie drawing room cozies. They all had their share of grimey street-level detective work, and some have left the protaganists with dim world-views. But let's face it, the Navajo reservation setting, the cultural trappings, and the very genial and lovable protagonists in the form of Chee and Leaphorn are the real attraction to these books, and why they stand out among mystery writers, not their dark atomosphere and cynicism.

But with "The Wailing Wind", Hillerman has incorporated darker elements. Perhaps Leaphorn should have thought of Ross MacDonald, as this book has much in common with MacDonald's work. Here, a murder, which Leaphorn investigated long ago, continues to reach out and damage lives in the present, as Chee and Leaphorn desperately try to keep things from falling apart, and inevitably failing. The titular wailing wind is the key to many a downfall, leaving all parties (including the reader)afloat in a sort of moral morass, like the best of Chandler, Hammet, and MacDonald.

Hillerman has touched on deeper elements before in his work (the ambigous ending of "Dancehall of the Dead" springs to mind), but never with so much sharpness. This is definitely a book to remember, and a reminder why I enjoy Hillerman so much. Eagerly awaiting the next one.

Rating:
Summary: I'll read any book with Leaphorn and Chee in it
Review: The Wailing Wind continues Hillerman's series with Joe Leaphorn (the wise old guy) and Jim Chee (the newcomer to the police force on the rez). They, of course, don't love the FBI, but now they're all tangled up together in the loose details from a previous case of Leaphorn's, supposedly solved and filed away. As usual, the scene is the sere and gorgeous country around the Four Corners area in the American Southwest. An abandoned pickup truck holds the body of a white man, which leads back in time to two previous murders, the disappearance of the wife of one of the dead men, an old gold mine, and an incident that had been dismissed as nothing more than a Halloween prank.
And then, naturally, there's a simmering and problematic love interest for Chee and the latest new lady in his life.

Rating:
Summary: Well Crafted Page Turner
Review: So my review title isn't too captivating, but the same goes for picking up a mystery that is part of an ongoing series. No offense, but sometimes you feel that if you read one, you read them all. I have read 3-4 Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn mysteries and while I remember liking them, nothing stands out in memory other than a lot of American Indian cultural tidbits. If this is the first Hillerman book you ever pick up, don't be turned off by all the American Indian philosophy that is presented here. Luckily, there isn't as much in this story as previous Hillerman novels I have read and it's not as integral to the plot. What I really like about Leaphorn and Chee together is their relationship and how they are not the stereotypical drunks, down-on-his-luck PI or cop. Rather, they are polite and, well, rather soft as far as cops are concerned. Let's call it compassion. In fact, it's this compassion that awakens an unsolved mystery that drives retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn to find a killer. Hillerman uses a technique that keeps the pages turning: Chee and Leaphorn are working separately to solve the case, each working a different angle. Nothing is over-the-top and the end is satisfying. I highly recommend what may stand to be one of Hillerman's best.

Rating:
Summary: I liked it.
Review: They're all good. Some better than others, perhaps. This book did the trick for me. I don't really know which is my favorite by H. or which one I'd start someone with. I wasn't really dissappointed with the previous books like some reviewers, but as I read this one, I seem to recall feeling like it was a pleasant surprise. I have some personal experiences that draw me to the land up there. I especially love the descriptions of the land as Bernie gazes out (looking southeast from the Chuskas into what some consider desolation, if I recall correctly). Good stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Any Hillerman is better than no Hillerman
Review: To be very honest, this is not my favorite novel in the series. Hillerman is moving his characters along in the progression of their lives. Of that I have no complaint, it's just that I liked some of the earlier novels a bit more ( Blessing Way, Dark Wind, and even Sacred Clowns come to mind). The underlying plot device is also a bit off-putting. Looking back on it after reading the next book in the series, I can see that the author is working on a transition for both Leaphorn and Chee. Still, I would not start to read this fine author with this book. It does not display the beauty of the land or the culture of his native American characters as stunningly as early works.

Rating:
Summary: Yep, a five.
Review: I enjoy the way Tony Hillerman brings out the atmosphere of the four-corners west. I've read just about all of his novels. The Wailing Wind is right up there in quality with his best. Three protagonists, and I could relate to them all. Mystery, sure. The story bounces right along, traveling down the country dirt roads until all is revealed. But more than that, it's a fun ride in a vast, open land among warm, human friends.