The Dark Wind (A Leaphorn and Chee Novel)

We have read all of the Tony Hillerman Southwest novels. Great history of the area and great detective stories. HIllerman was one of our favorite authors. They are suspenseful and his descriptions take you into the southwest landscape and culture.

Hillerman's writing is always excellent and this was no exception. Though I have not read the books "in order" this provided a wonderful introduction of Chee and Cowboy Dashee and the development of their friendship.

I have enjoyed Hillerman books for qauite a while. I have not found one that I could not finish. I have not been to the area of the U.S. that he writes about, so reading his descriptions has been very interesting. He will be missed by his readers.

Great books for learning about not only the culture and beliefs of the Navaho race, but also about the southwest. Living in the midwest, I can get a good picture of the area by Mr Hillerman's writing. Love the people he describes and the different situations. Stories are great and keep me looking for more books.

Love all the Tony Hillerman books in the Leaphorn/Chee series. Weaves details of American Indian lore and daily living into each tale. Excellent mysteries on their own - but I love learning about a different way of life through the stories.

Dark wind is an excellent addition to the Hllerman Navajo series and an inters ting story in its own right. I recommend it both to fans and to new readers who will surely want to collect the earlier books

This book was the usual mysterious writing of Hillerman. It was a bit darker than his other books, and more confusing. May not be the best book to start reading when purchasing Hillerman's books. But a quick, murder mystery read.

I have read most of Tony Hillerman 's books. This was not very good. I prefer the ones with Leaphorn, this one featured Jim Chee and to me it rambled and at times I could not keep up with the story. I hope to read some of his daughter's books and she if she is as good as her father was.

The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman is the fifth novel in his Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee mystery series and the second book featuring Jim Chee.

Navajo Tribal Policeman Jim Chee has been assigned to discover who keeps damaging a windmill that is on Hopi land. While scouting the location at night, Chee sees a small plane crash nearby. The pilot and passenger are dead, and another man is found dead on the scene. It appears that they might have been smuggling drugs, but there are no drugs to be found and the getaway car has disappeared without a trace. At the same time, Chee is also has two other cases on his desk. One involves finding stolen jewelry from a trading post. The other is the need to find out the identity of a man found murdered, as well as the murderer. Somehow, these cases are interrelated, and it takes all of Chee’s skills as an investigator to solve all four cases. It also takes his knowledge of the Navajo Way, that will enhance is police-skills: “Jim Chee had turned himself into a predator, dedicated by the Stalking Way songs to the hunt. The Blessing Song would have to wait. It put one in harmony with beauty. The Stalking Way put one in harmony with death.”

I have enjoyed re-reading Tony Hillerman’s novels, and I am just getting started.

"Enemies unseen... Fears unspoken... A dark wind has entered his soul"

Navajo Tribal Police Sgt. Jim Chee seems to be batting zero; so far, he has not been able to solve a series of seemingly unrelated crimes. In an area, that was joint use land between the Navaho and the Hopi (now Hopi) Sgt Jim Chee is given the task of finding the vandal that keeps destroying a windmill placed there to make Hopi life easer. He hears an airplane landing in the dark of night with no lights. The plane crashes and leaves a dying pilot. Also a dead man sitting up against a rock with a note in his hand saying if you want it back contact...

Sgt Chee is told that it is probably drugs and federal jurisdiction. Chee is not supposed to go anywhere near or have anything to do with the case. He has his own problems with the mill, a missing thief, and a mysterious ritual death. Naturally, he listens, and cannot help it if they overlap.

One of the reasons for reading Hillerman's books maybe more important than the overlying mystery is the descriptions of the area and the Ways of the Navaho and Hopi. Hillerman suggests you also read "The Book of the Hopi" by Frank Waters.

"A corpse whose palms and soles have been "scalped" is only the first in a series of disturbing clues." And so begins "The Dark Wind," the fifth in Tony Hillerman's Navajo Mystery series and the second of the books featuring Jim Chee without his mentor Joe Leaphorn. The setting is in and around Four Corners, New Mexico; once again Hillerman offers us Navajo (and Native American) folklore and culture in an interesting and informative manner. Hillerman's ability to create believable local color helps capture the reader's interest.

"The Dark Wind" reveals our protagonist Sgt. Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police who is beset by an array of problems: a plane crash, murders, drugs, vandalized windmills, floods, rains, holy grounds, Navajos, and Hopis. Chee is assigned to find whoever is vandalizing the windmills which supply water to the Hopi Indians. Things being to rapidly build from there. Hillerman masterfully reveals knowledge about both Navajo and Hopi traditions, along with his elegant, almost artistic, descriptions of the actual lands of Southwestern America. He has crafted a complex plot which is driven by both Navajo witchcraft and the greed of the white man. This is a good story; however, it is not one of Hillerman's best. The story is complex, yet very readable, but it does become a little predictable and perhaps even a bit obvious as the reader approaches the end. Regardless, Hillerman is a master storyteller, and I do strongly recommend this series to any mystery lover.

Tony Hilleman is a master story teller – this story was captivating and I particularly liked how without court cases or infringing on any of the various tribes of Indians, no traditions were broken and all were punished as they well deserved! I like how he carefully describes the customs of the tribes so that they can be understood and how in many was maybe the Indians are more caring and just then many white folk! I also enjoy how you don't have to read them in an specific order!

When I first discovered Hillerman's mystery series, just a few months ago, I was taken with the calm, kind, and knowing voice of Joe Leaphorn, who immediately became one of my very favorite mystery detectives. As a result, I began running my way through Hillerman's Leaphorn-centered novels and ignored the ones featuring Jim Chee. This last week, however, I've given the first two Chee novels, People of Darkness and now The Dark Wind, their chances, and they've been absolutely fantastic, two of the best Hillerman novels I've yet read. I'm not sure, now, how I could claim to like either Leaphorn or Chee better than the other.

The Dark Wind, like many of Hillerman's novels, begins with multiple, seemingly unconnected mysteries that Jim Chee tries to understand the connections between. In this case, a pilot smuggling drugs into the US at night has had his landing sabotaged, leaving him and two other men dead and their valuable cargo missing. Jim Chee, who is nearby working on another case and is the first officer upon the scene of the crash, is suspected by DEA officers of being complicit in the crime. Meanwhile, a witch seems to be at work in the area, having killed a young Navajo man. Oh yes, and a windmill keeps getting knocked down.

The Dark Wind exhibits all of the features which have earned Hillerman his many fans: the southwestern landscape, the cultural perceptiveness, the careful plotting, and the unique cosmic perspective in which the events of the novel are situated. The Dark Wind is especially notable for its presentation of a complementary and respectful relationship between Hopi and Navajo religious ceremonies. Jim Chee, too, is especially fascinating in this book, as he utilizes patience, humility, good humor, memory, courage, intelligence, and devotion to solve the case. Hillerman is a unique writer, and this is another profoundly enjoyable mystery from his pen.

Hillerman's main character in this murder mystery is Detective Jim Chee of the Navajo Police. A plane crash and suspected drug running play into what Chee discovers was a murder. Chee is assigned to investigate the vandalism of windmills on the reservation, and winds up finding the keys to the murder-drug mystery.

Hillerman's stories are always meaty, thoughtful and challenging. The scenarios are believable and the characters well-rounded.

I love the views expressed by Hillerman's Indian characters about the government agencies. They make fun of the inefficiency and incompetence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the FBI involved in this case come in for dismissive evaluation as ignorant and disdainful of Native authority. This always adds a dimension of personality and character interaction. And the cooperative aspect of local and national sources adds interest and vigor to the solution of the mystery.

The Navajo nation law enforcement relates directly to the Federal authorities, not the state authorities. In this story Chee works with a Hopi officer and the local people to solve the multifaceted mystery behind the scenes, while being harassed, roughed up and threatened by the Feds as a suspect himself in the disappearance of the drugs they expected to find in the plane.