Rating: 
Summary: Dynamite action for Hillerman afficianados, new and old!
Review: "Listening Woman" is typical Tony Hillerman: a thrilling adventure in Navajo country, told from a Navajo's point of view and written by one who knows the lingo. The book begins with the totally impossible and progresses to a satisfying grand finale that couldn't be topped by a hot celebration on the 4th of July! The characters are so true to life, one is certain that some of them must surely be neighbors or their neighbors' children. The action never ceases, and the reader never stops loving Joe Leaphorn.
Rating:
Summary: Dynamite action for Hillerman afficianados, new and old!
Review: "Listening Woman" is typical Tony Hillerman: a thrilling adventure in Navajo country, told from a Navajo's point of view and written by one who knows the lingo. The book begins with the totally impossible and progresses to a satisfying grand finale that couldn't be topped by a hot celebration on the 4th of July! The characters are so true to life, one is certain that some of them must surely be neighbors or their neighbors' children. The action never ceases, and the reader never stops loving Joe Leaphorn.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining But Utterly Implausible
Review: First published in 1978, LISTENING WOMAN continues Tony Hillerman's "Joe Leaphorn" novels, a series set on Southwestern Native American lands and featuring Lt. Leaphorn, who investigates crimes on the reservation. In this instance, an almost-deadly encounter with a killer during a traffic stop leads Leaphorn to the scarcely populated and remote Short Mountain district.
As always, Hillerman's portrait of the Navajo people remaining on the reservation is filled with the fascination of folklore and legend; his plots, however, remain a sore point. LISTENING WOMAN begins extremely well--but before all is said we had everything from highjacked helicopters to kidnapped Boy Scouts in a credibility-straining combination, not to mention a blood and thunder conclusion that seems more akin to The Lone Ranger than any remotely plausible reservation crime.
As for mystery, as is often the case in Hillerman's work the label is misapplied: there is none at all, and LISTENING WOMAN would be better described as crime fiction or perhaps better still as action-adventure. For all the flaws, however, it is an entertaining and quick read that fans of the series will likely enjoy.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: Unpredictable and Exciting
Review: I find that many of the books I read are very predictable and that spoils the story. This book, however, kept me guessing. It was intriguing from the begining, with a mysterious murder, to the end, with the spoiling of a masterful criminal plot by the very likable Joe Leaphorn.
Rating:
Summary: Cover to cover excitement!
Review: If you are looking for an exciting read, stop right here because the Listening Woman is it! From the opening chapter to the astounding ending, each page is entertaining. More than a mystery where the reader can gage the facts in order to learn the many answers, one must become involved in the heart and customs of the Navajo if you are to hope to solve this tale before the end. In The Listening Woman the reader becomes a part of the action. This is largely due to the awesome descriptions of the land and the people, along with the situations which keep you on the edge of your seat! The characters come to life and the empathetic reader will cry and laugh with them. You will also feel the fear of being pursued by an unbelivable beast and the dark terror of being trapped with little hope of escape. A word of warning - you may need to set aside a few hours to read this book because it will be difficult to put down!
Rating:
Summary: Cover to cover excitement!
Review: If you are looking for an exciting read, stop right here because the Listening Woman is it! From the opening chapter to the astounding ending, each page is entertaining. More than a mystery where the reader can gage the facts in order to learn the many answers, one must become involved in the heart and customs of the Navajo if you are to hope to solve this tale before the end. In The Listening Woman the reader becomes a part of the action. This is largely due to the awesome descriptions of the land and the people, along with the situations which keep you on the edge of your seat! The characters come to life and the empathetic reader will cry and laugh with them. You will also feel the fear of being pursued by an unbelivable beast and the dark terror of being trapped with little hope of escape. A word of warning - you may need to set aside a few hours to read this book because it will be difficult to put down!
Rating:
Summary: A great cliff hanger
Review: Joe Leaphorn can put the loose ends together even when no one else realizes there are loose ends. The story starts out with an old man being bludgeoned and later Leaphorn is intentionally almost rundown by a mysterious man in gold rimed glasses. He tries to tie these together. Then he uses an old robbery as an excuse to get out of a Boy Scout commitment and track down the antagonist. Needles to say the story gets more convoluted for everyone but Leaphorn.
This is an excellent story with the added plus of the description of the area and the Navaho that occupies this area. What seems at first to be over description later enhances the final scenes.
Speaking about the location and Navaho, even the schools, this story is even more enjoyable if you read "Seldom Disappointed" first. Tony describes how he comes by the plot and the people. He even goes out to locations first as research.
I have read the book but the addition of the voice of George Guidall adds a dimension to the story by helping visualize the people and correcting pronunciation of certain words. I suggest you read the book and listen to the recorded version.
Rating:
Summary: A great cliff hanger
Review: Joe Leaphorn can put the loose ends together even when no one else realizes there are loose ends. The story starts out with an old man being bludgeoned and later Leaphorn is intentionally almost rundown by a mysterious man in gold rimed glasses. He tries to tie these together. Then he uses an old robbery as an excuse to get out of a Boy Scout commitment and track down the antagonist. Needles to say the story gets more convoluted for everyone but Leaphorn.
This is an excellent story with the added plus of the description of the area and the Navaho that occupies this area. What seems at first to be over description later enhances the final scenes.
Speaking about the location and Navaho, even the schools, this story is even more enjoyable if you read "Seldom Disappointed" first. Tony describes how he comes by the plot and the people. He even goes out to locations first as research.
I have read the book but the addition of the voice of George Guidall adds a dimension to the story by helping visualize the people and correcting pronunciation of certain words. I suggest you read the book and listen to the recorded version.
Rating:
Summary: Third in the Navajo Detective Series
Review: Navajo Detective Joe Leaphorn works on several cases: the murder of an old Navajo man and a young girl, a missing helicopter, and a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who tried to run over him. The search for answers takes him to the remote canyon country along the Arizona-Utah border. This is the third novel in Hillerman's masterpiece series. The star of the show, Joe Leaphorn, is a likeable, honest, methodical man with a compulsion to find out the truth. Hillerman's strengths are authenticity and atmosphere. Navajo culture, religion, and folkways are woven into the fabric of his novels. His landscapes are harsh and spectacular. Nature is magnificent, but also menacing. In this exotic setting, the supernatural seems almost possible and little chilly fingers tickle your spine. Leaphorn, something of a passive investigator in the first two novels of the series, is an action figure in "Listening Woman," confronting several ultra-violent killers. Hillerman allows his characters to grow and adds and subtracts characters as he goes along in the series. Captain Largo, Leaphorn's sardonic boss, makes his first appearance in this book. "Listening Woman" suffers slightly from an ending drawn from action movies rather than real life, but it's a top quality mystery/western nevertheless. Anybody who is drawn to wide-open country and American Indian culture will love Tony Hillerman's books.
Rating:
Summary: Third in the Navajo Detective Series
Review: Navajo Detective Joe Leaphorn works on several cases: the murder of an old Navajo man and a young girl, a missing helicopter, and a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who tried to run over him. The search for answers takes him to the remote canyon country along the Arizona-Utah border. This is the third novel in Hillerman's masterpiece series. The star of the show, Joe Leaphorn, is a likeable, honest, methodical man with a compulsion to find out the truth. Hillerman's strengths are authenticity and atmosphere. Navajo culture, religion, and folkways are woven into the fabric of his novels. His landscapes are harsh and spectacular. Nature is magnificent, but also menacing. In this exotic setting, the supernatural seems almost possible and little chilly fingers tickle your spine. Leaphorn, something of a passive investigator in the first two novels of the series, is an action figure in "Listening Woman," confronting several ultra-violent killers. Hillerman allows his characters to grow and adds and subtracts characters as he goes along in the series. Captain Largo, Leaphorn's sardonic boss, makes his first appearance in this book. "Listening Woman" suffers slightly from an ending drawn from action movies rather than real life, but it's a top quality mystery/western nevertheless. Anybody who is drawn to wide-open country and American Indian culture will love Tony Hillerman's books.
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