A Hunt That Takes Chee to Los Angeles
I was happy to return to the Navajo Reservation with The Ghostway, the sixth in Tony Hillerman’s long running series. We are once again focused on police officer Jim Chee, and it’s another intriguing book.
It all starts with a confrontation in the parking lot of a laundromat. By the time it is over, one of the men is dead, and the other flees further into the reservation injured. While Chee is tasked with helping find the injured man, he isn’t the lead on the case. The FBI is handling it since they say it ties into a case back in Los Angeles. But then a teenager goes missing, and Chee follows a lead to L.A. hoping to find her. Can he figure out what is happening?
As I said, this book is intriguing with plenty of elements that don’t seem connected. Yet, I had faith it would all come together, and it did brilliantly. I figured a couple of things out early, but I still didn’t know what they meant for the big picture until Chee pieced it all together at the end. I do have a couple of quibbles with how things played out, but they aren’t a big deal.
Normally, I enjoy it when I’m reading a book set in Los Angeles since I’m familiar with it. This time, it was a bit of a disappointment. I missed being on the reservation for those chapters. Fortunately, the majority of the book still takes place there.
I was intrigued to see a subplot popped up here involving Cher’s love life. I was certain we wouldn’t hear about the character again since she wasn’t in the previous book. I appreciated that it allowed us to see a bit more of Chee outside of his police exploits.
This book originally came out in the 1980’s, and it shows. While we do see a bit more of Chee’s personal life, it is very much kept in the background. We are still mostly focused on the case. Meanwhile, I always laugh when Chee has to find a phone or is cut off from everyone on the reservation. How easy it is to forget what those times were like.
Once again, I listened to this on audio. George Guidall continues his excellent narration here.
The next book in the series is the first time that Chee works with the series’ other protagonist, Joe Leaphorn. I’m looking forward to that. But if you haven’t yet read Jim Chee’s last solo putting, pick up The Ghostway today.
Here are the rest of the Leaphorn and Chee Mysteries.
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