The Sinister Pig (A Leaphorn and Chee Novel)

I love this series, but this entry is not Hillerman's best stuff. I'm not sure if he's running out of steam, or if the life stories of Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee don't allow much development at this point. The dense subplotting and evocative details about Navajo life, so evident in the best Leaphorn/Chee stories, are mostly missing here. Hillerman seems to have been motivated mainly by a desire to wrap up the Jim Chee/Bernie Manuelito relationship, which he does, but not in a particularly original way. If you are new to this series, try the books written in the 1980's to get a better sense of Hillerman's considerable talent; The Dark Wind is probably the best of the best.

Hillerman is a wonderful author but I get the feeling by this book he had pretty much run out of ideas or drive. Classic Hillerman books provide lots of insight into the Navaho, Hopi etc. and their view of white America, as well as exciting, surprising well-crafted plots with excellent characters. Leaphorn is a minor character brought in more because his readers like him then a necessity to the plot. What Leaphorn provided in terms of clues could have been discovered by Chee. Chee is mostly love sick. Cowboy Dashee does not have his usual charm. But most of all the plot is so darned predictable one keeps hoping the direction will change. But it doesn't. Honestly not worth bothering. Sorry.

The plot and action are fine. Tony Hillerman certainly can tell a story, and although this one is only on Navajo land for a short time as the scene for the murder which opens the book, Hillerman does an excellent job of re-setting the scene in southernmost New Mexico as Officer Bernie Manueliti leaves the Tribal Police for a new job with the US Border Patrol. Cowboy Dashie and Joe Leaphorn play their usual solid key roles, a rogue pilot/political henchman adds a great deal to the plot, an evil villain gets what he deserves, but the steady and taciturn Jim Chee is instead portrayed as a bumbling idiot, especially when facing his feelings for Manuelito. All the parts of the plot make sense and intersect nicely, the title fits nicely, but unfortunately there is very little authentic Navajo lore to add to the atmosphere. That is usually a highlight in a Hillerman novel, and I missed that. I still would have given the book 4 stars, if it weren't for the really weak "romance" between Chee and Manuelito. It never felt real or genuine, and its lame, sobbing 1950s-style resolution should make every female reader shake her head in despair. All mystery lovers and Tony Hillerman fans expect better from such a skilled author.

Not quite the Hillerman formula but done well just the same. All our old friends are in this story and it looks like everything can be wrapped up if Hillerman decided would be his last. However, it looks like there is at least one more novel and probably two. In this novel, we get to be into the heads of the good guys and bad guys from the start as they banter around.

An ex-CIA spy with knowledge of the oil industry is sent to find out information on how oil companies bypass paying royalty money to the First Nations Trust Fund. He ends up committing suicide with a bullet in the back. Mean while way down south Bernie now with the U.S. Customs Service gets lost, goes off the map, and puts her foot in it.

Bernie's co-worker gets suspicious and tells Joe. Jim gets out some snaps; Joe gets out his maps; Bourbonette gets out the coffee and brains. They hold a committee to figure out what is happening.

Will Bernie smell what she stepped in, or just walk right in to her demise?

Will the cavalry arrive over the hill in time (does not look promising?)
Who or what is the "Sinister Pig?"

The consensus on the store clearly seems to be that The Sinister Pig is one of Hillerman's lesser works. In some ways, I'd agree. It's certainly different, in important respects, from his other mysteries set in the Four Corners region. Primarily, it lacks the anthropological focus that's helped to make Hillerman's mysteries so unique and enjoyable over the years. The Native American cultures, which provide surprising depth to the characters as they negotiate their identities up against their traditions, and which also establish the cosmic setting in which the events of the novel are understood, are only hinted at in the novel. Not even the title is drawn from Native American mythology; it's a term borrowed from the oiling industry. So, there's no doubt that a large part of the formula that has produced Hillerman's success is lacking. That's worth knowing going into the book.

But that said, I still enjoyed The Sinister Pig, just for different reasons than normal. The book is pretty well-plotted, as is usual for Hillerman. I've really thought that some of the the complaints against the plot I've read (i.e. having a good idea of the who masterminded the crime early on) were oversold, since those elements tend to appear in other Hillerman novels. The Sinister Pig's plot, though not as complex as always, is perfectly sensible and features a fine red herring. Mainly, though, I enjoyed the book because the rest of the series has taught me to admire and care for Hillerman's characters, especially for Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito here, and The Sinister Pig features important progress for them. That's the main thing that's different about The Sinister Pig. Hillerman has always used anthropology and myth to augment and enrich the mysteries, and that's gotten him his audience. Here, however, he'a a little more traditional, using simple romance, instead, as the special extra ingredient. That switch will leave many Hillerman fans less satisfied with this volume, and The Sinister Pig is also not the place to begin reading Hillerman. But I certainly thought it was fine for a change. I enjoyed it as a solid and light little mystery that also brought about some pleasant developments for two of my favorite characters.

THE SETUP
An apparently retired CIA agent (Gordon Stein, aka David Slate) is hired by a U.S. Senator to investigate how a natural gas pipeline system has been used to cheat Native Americans in the Southwest of $4 billion annually in royalties. He is murdered on Navajo land in the extreme northwestern corner of New Mexico. Navajo Tribal Policeman (Sargent) Jim Chee is assigned to assist the FBI in the investigation. In the meantime Bernadette Manualetto has resigned from the tribal police, because she is annoyed with Chee for not pursuing her, and has joined (implausibly) the Border Patrol, and thus is stationed in the extreme southwestern corner of New Mexico, along the Mexican border. She observes some odd "goings-on" on the large private Tuttle Ranch on the border. That's the setup.

COMMENTS
Earlier novels in the series were very "economical", with a few well developed characters, and straightforward filler-free stories. With the previous novel, "Wailing Wind", and even more-so with the "Sinister Pig". Hillerman is (unfortunately?) entering the mainstream of police mystery novels, with dozens of named characters, most throw-away (i.e., that appear on one or two pages, never to be heard from or of again, with no particular significance to the novel); and complex plots. The stories are no longer about Native Americans, but rather are about "white people" who coincidentally interact somehow with Jim Chee, et al. The fascinating expositions on Native religion and philosophy is over, except for thin references. Fortunately, Hillerman is sufficiently talented to keep up with mainstream mystery writers. But I, for one, miss the earlier character-centric and Native-centric novels.

CAVEATS
The novel is unnecessarily confused by two premises: 1) The first is that pipelines were being used in the rip-off of Native American royalties. That simply makes no sense---the routing of petroleum in pipelines is irrelevant, just as irrelevant as the highways a petroleum tanker truck drives on. It is in the accounting that any rip-offs of Native American royalties could have taken place. 2) The second premise is a cocaine importation scheme. It looks like these two storylines were intended to converge, but don't.

Other evidence of rushed, poorly-edited writing, are redundancies, such as the multiply repeated explaination of the functioning of pipeline pigs.

Readers are teased with the promise of a delicious expose of political corruption, then perhaps a scheme by Al Queda to smuggle nuclear weapons into the U.S., but are finally left with a few sleazy druggies. Certainly, when you start turning over rocks, the slimy creatures you find are not necessarily the ones you were looking for, but, in the final analysis there was no adequate reason for the murder of Slate/Stein.

Moreover, unless I misread the book, the illegal-alien family which Bernie rescued had immigrated on rumors that a copper smelter on the U.S. side of the border would be reopened. (The fictional smelter closely corresponds to the Hildalgo Smelter, which was closed in 1999. ironically the company town of Playas was purchased by the U.S. Government for an anti-terrorism training center). Then the closed smelter is described as being located in Mexico, and is the origin from which "pigs" are transported to the Tuttle Ranch on the U.S. side of the border. Huh?

THE VERDICT
A good read in a great series, but unnecessarily confusing.

> Click on “Stoney” just below the product title to see my other reviews, or leave a comment to ask a question.

This novel starts off with Navajo Tribal Police sergeant Jim Chee finding a corpse in tribal lands near a natural gas field. The FBI is trying to take over the case, saying that it was a hunting accident. Joining Chee on the case is the familiar characters of Joe Leaphorn and Bernadette Manuelito. Conspiracies abound, and not surprisingly, the US government aren’t necessarily the good guys.

This is a solid novel, perhaps a little better than some other Hillerman novels I have read. The plot is logical, the writing professional. The downfall is that nothing really stands out about this novel. It’s not the sort of novel that you’ll remember long after you read it. It’s descent enough to pass the time and is a solid read, but not particularly memorable.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street

The Sinister Pig (2003) is the most recent installment of Tony Hillerman's series of mystery novels set in and around the Four Corners area of the Southwestern United States. It is another superb novel, and nearly on par with his other works. The Sinister Pig offers many characters familiar to Hillerman's readers. Jim Chee continues to be a main focus, as does his prospective love interest, Bernadette Manuelito, now a novice customs officer working in southern New Mexico. Manuelito stumbles into trouble, drawing Chee and a host of others into the picture.
Not the least of these others is the "legendary" ex-Captain Joe Leaphorn and his new "sidekick" character, Dr. Bourbonet. Several new characters - a Guatemalan exile, a Washington DC attorney and an erstwhile law student -- are particular to this story. Still, they're well-written and compelling, and extend the depth of the story past the usual boundaries of a mystery. As the story develops, the reader will notice a series of evolutionary departures from Hillerman's standard fare.
Foremost among these is the fact that story reads less like a mystery than a suspense novel. While it's true that there is a murder, and it is something of a mystery, the good guys and the bad guys all have their identities and roles out on the table pretty early on in the book. From there, the reader gets to anticipate whether the good guys (Chee, Manuelito, Leaphorn and a few others) will find and capture the bad guys before they succeed in any of their nefarious plans. Since the reader knows how the pieces fit together before the characters, the story really revolves around the suspense, rather than the "whodunit" aspect of the plot.
At the same time, some other changes seem to be brewing in Hillerman's writing. First, while Hillerman has always shifted points of view frequently in his stories, it seems like no point of view is particularly dominant in this book. From my recollection, that's a little different than in his earlier writing. Chee, Manuelito, Leaphorn and three major characters particular to this book all get some time in front of the point-of-view lens. It doesn't hamper the story, but for those used to watching Chee or Leaphorn solve a mystery, it's a little new. The other key difference is that much of this novel takes place off the Navajo reservation that's so familiar to Hillerman readers. While that doesn't hamper the story either, for me it left the novel with a very different feel. Prior works were well-steeped in Navajo (and sometimes Hopi) cultural flavor, and I enjoyed this aspect of his works. That flavor, for me, got largely crowded out by other story elements in this book. It didn't ruin the work, but I did find that I missed that content, and hope he returns to it in the future.
Far from harming the work, these differences and changes simply present the story in a different light. Sinister Pig is an excellent novel, and well lives up to the expectations that Hillerman's readers have. I give it five stars for it's strong story, good characters and compelling tempo. I don't think readers, whether they've read Hillerman before or not, could be disappointed by this book.

As I read this book, the thought that kept intruding that Tony Hillerman is no longer young (he'll be 78 this year). I strongly suspect that this book, which comes so strongly on the heels of "The Wailing Wind," may well be his last.

Other reviewers have noted that this book adds nothing new to our understanding of the central characters. But it does leave them with fewer unresolved issues than prior books. Rather than being the cynical money-making effort depicted in some reviews below, this book appears to be a parting gift from an aging author who wanted to give the series a more satisfying closure than "The Wailing Wind" had left us with.

That said, it's not a great stand-alone book. The first chapter, which introduces the retiring CIA agent who will soon become the murder victim, is painfully cliched, seemingly cobbled together from bad spy movies and political thrillers. The mystery is obvious (partly because huge chunks of it are told from the villains' perspective), and except for a little bit of magic with maps, Leaphorn and Chee get no chance to show off their detecting brilliance. The setting, in southern New Mexico's "boot heel" region, is rendered generically, without the detail for which Hillerman is famous-as though he'd written it from maps and memory. Plot elements never connect, and there are gaps in the police procedure (most notably involving a car, which is missing in one chapter but has been fingerprinted in another chapter, with no mention that I could find of its being discovered).

The cobbled-together feel of this book, its lack of complexity, and its short length make me suspect that Hillerman's health is failing and that he rushed it to completion while he still could. Hopefully I'm wrong. Regardless, readers of the series this book should save this book for last-it's merely an epilog to a long and honorable series. If you've read all the books, this one is a must read. If you've not, you'll be disappointed.

And if I'm right, thanks Tony, for making the effort to give us a parting gift.

Tony Hillerman does a bit of traveling away from the Navajo Reservation in this outing. Officer Bernadette Manuelito has forsaken the tribal police for a job in the southern most regions of New Mexico, where she is training on the job to be a border patrol agent. Although she is still in love with Jim Chee, she sees only hurt and complications in staying so decides to move on and find solace in her work. Sgt. Chee is much better at police business than he is at expressing the personal stuff in his life, so poor Bernie is under the impression that the attraction she feels is never going to be reciprocated and she needs to get on with her life.
Meanwhile, back on the res, a body turns up that is causing a lot more than the usual interest by federal agents. There is no identification on the body but the FBI immediately snatches the case from the local jurisdiction of the tribal police and all inquiries from the locals for progress in the case get a response of "this isn't your problem." Of course, Jim Chee is even more curious when he starts getting that answer and begins to hunt for information on his own.
Retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn gets drawn into the same puzzle of the unidentified dead man by a different route. As usual, he gives insight based on his considerable years on the force dealing with both criminals and the bureaucracy.
And in a final, bizarre twist, Officer Bernie (200 miles to the south of the reservation) finds a piece of the puzzle that has Jim heading down to the border for a visit and a feeble attempt at talking Bernie into coming home. Trouble is, Chee, the great problem solver can't untangle his feelings for this beautiful Navajo girl. Since his past relationships have always ended badly, he has no hope that this young woman just might be his perfect compliment, so unconsciously keeps pushing her away.
But, personal relationships aside, the Sinister Pig moves inexorably toward an explosive final solution, tying all the strange coincidences and loose ends into a very nicely wrapped, well planned mystery.
It all sounds complicated, but in Hillerman's deft hands, The Sinister Pig becomes completely plausible and thoroughly enjoyable.

It is always wonderful to open another Hillerman and follow the latest law enforcement adventure in the Four Corners. Meeting up with Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn is just like meeting up with old friends. And reading this newest Hillerman brings one quite up-to-date with each of the men, their current love life, and their efforts to solve a mystery of international intrigue.
This is not Hillerman's best novel, but one can forgive him because he does present a fast page turner and educates along the way. Chee's romantic interest, Bernie Manuelito has gone to work for the Feds in the Border Patrol, and unlikely as it may seem, she becomes linked to a murder in the Four Corners.
The pig involved takes on several meanings, but would be especially familiar to anyone in the pipeline trade. The double meaning, of course, indicates the greed that leads to corruption within governmental bodies.
This tale involves Washington, D. C. subterfuge, and enlists the Navajo Tribal Police, U. S. Bureau of Land Management, U. S. Border Patrol, the F. B. I., and the Office of Homeland Security. Hillerman skillfully sets his tale in the midst of the real world worries of the 21st century.
Will "third time's charm" work for Chee in his stumbling romance with Bernadette? The romance and the mystery intertwine for a comfortable quick read and satisfying solution.
Can't wait for the next Hillerman in order to meet up Leaphorn and Chee once more. If you are a Hillerman fan, this is a must read.

Not since FINDING MOON have I been so disappointed in Tony Hillerman.
When I buy a Hillerman book, I don't want to read about an evil, faceless puppetmaster who pulls string in Washington and wrecks havoc in the Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn's 'four corners' of the world.
I want to read about problems on the reservation...or difficulties within the Navajo Tribal Police...or about how the native Americans are trying to preserve their ancient knowledge.....or about how Joe Leaphorn is finding a new life after the death of his beloved wife...or about how Jim Chee can't ever get it right with women. I also want the book to be more than 240 pages. This story felt like formula fiction, something Hillerman has avoided up to now.
The story about siphoned off oil and gas probably needs to be told, but I think a non-fiction expose would be a better venue for unveiling what could possibly be the biggest heist in history.
I had another issue with the story. I never for one minute believed the author's reasoning behind Bernadette Mauelito's leaving the Navajo Tribal Police for a job with the Board Patrol. Bernie was too close to her family/clan to move to the Mexican border. It was completely out of character for her. I would have understood a 'temporary assignment' with the feds, but having her choose to make that kind of radical move just never felt right.
For Jim Chee fans, the book does contain a pleasant surprise. I look forward to seeing how Chee handles it in the next story.
This is not Hillerman's best -- but after so many good ones, he's due a hiccup.

As a longtime fan of Tony Hillerman's mystery series involving Navajo policemen Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, and now Bernie Manuelito, I picked this one up based purely on name recognition. As I read the book, however, I began to wonder if it had actually been written by Hillerman.
The plot involves Washington, D.C. politicos involved in drug-running between Mexico and the U.S. There is some soap-boxing about missing royalties owed Native American tribes from the U.S. government, and a couple honorable assassins thrown in to spice things up.
The setup is interesting enough, with a man sent out to the Four Corners region to do some investigating, shot in the back, and then a follow-up investigation by Sgt. Jim Chee. Meanwhile, Chee's would-be girlfriend has become Border Patrol Officer Manuelito down in the bootheel of New Mexico. In fact, most of the action in the story is done by Bernie, although Leaphorn figures out most of the details with his powers of deduction and a couple maps. Chee just kind of ties things together.
What disappointed me is that although the characters are moving along, the spirit seems to have gone out of Hillerman's writing. The vivid details of the landscape and geography are missing, along with the spirituality of Chee. Most of the Navajo cultural notes that made the earlier novels interesting are just kind of hinted at and it is assumed that the reader has read the other works. If this was the first Hillerman mystery I picked up, I would probably skip the rest.

Bernie Manulito (sp?) and Cowboy Dashee have joined the ranks of federal law enforcement officers and both figure prominently in this story. In a less gifted author, it would all seem too convenient but Hillerman's writing is seamless.
Bernie has taken another job to get away from Jim Chee and what she perceives to be his ambivalence toward her. As a border patrol agent, she stumbles across some illegal activity which places her danger. This danger gives her an opportunity for more action in the book and gives Jim a reason to seek her out.
Meanwhile Jim Chee is miserable without her but does not know what to do about it. Both Joe Leaphorn and Cowboy Dashee become involved in the mystery, and the people who pose the biggest threat to Bernie are taken down in the end. There is a pleasant surprise in the take-down scene.
This was a delightful story that goes by much too quickly. It seems shorter than his other novels, but I liked it much more than the last one he wrote. I only gave it four stars because he has written other novels I like more that I would give five stars to, but taken by itself and not in comparison with his other novels, I'd give it five stars.
Hillerman is by far one of the best novelists of our time. I dread the thought of his last book and with every new book, I fear it will be his last. I have learned a great deal about Navajo history, culture and religion from his books while having a good time with the mysteries therein.

Among the various detective novelists writing today, Tony Hillerman occupies a pretty unique position. His series of detective novels, following first the adventures of two different characters, Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Jim Chee, in separate books. Later, Hillerman combined the two characters, and has been chronicling their combined adventures for a good long time now. He's added supporting characters, including a series of girlfriends for Chee, a wife who died and then a lady friend for Leaphorn, and colleagues like the inimitable Cowboy Dashee, who's appeared in the background of several of the books.

This latest entry in the series isn't the strongest, but it is interesting. Someone's been killed on the Reservation, and before anyone can investigate, the FBI shows up and closes down the investigation, announcing the improbably verdict of "hunting accident". Chee doesn't buy the explanation, and both he and Leaphorn take to investigating on their own. Meanwhile, a former colleague of theirs, Bernadette Manuelito, has gone to work for the Border Patrol. While there, she discovers things which seem to link into the investigation on the Reservation that Chee and Leaphorn are running.

I enjoyed this book well enough. It's not Hillerman's best, but it's a good story and reasonably well done.

It's quite clear that Tony Hillerman has squeezed the last ounce of blood from this turnip. You know he's run out of ideas for his venerable Native American heroes when he's more interested in the villains of the book than the cops.
This book, definitely the worst in the series, is as flat as a pancake from start to finish, with a "mystery" as complex as an Encyclopedia Brown story. Chee and Leaphorn have basically nothing to do in this story except pass on endless, awkward exposition. Side characters slide in and out with no real purpose. The only cop who Hillerman seems to be interested in, the fetching Bernie Manuelito, becomes a helpless pawn in a macho boy's game of drugs and power. Even Hillerman's trademark Ansel Adams-esque descriptions of the southwestern scenery seem minimized and irrelevant. Hillerman can't even figure out how to end it properly, resorting to a horridly uncharacteristic "epilogue" that seems like it was written two hours before deadline.
This series really does have a lot of legs in it, but Hillerman no longer seems to have the energy to keep it moving. Perhaps it's time for someone else to take over with Hillerman serving as consultant. Because it would be a shame for Chee and Leaphorn to continue on the downward spiral that has plagued Hillerman's most recent efforts.

This is not really a Chee/Leaphorn novel. It does not take place on the Navajo Reservation, neither Chee nor Leaphorn is really involved in the crime, and the crime really has nothing to do with Navajo culture in any way. In fact, the effort to involve them comes off as contrived.
While Bernie is more of a central character, she is a weak central character. All we find out about her is that she is sad and misses Jim Chee. We don't even get to see her as a very professional cop.
The most interesting character is actually Budge (a hatchet man for a cartoonish Very Bad Rich Guy). If only the novel had been written about him, from his viewpoint, it could have been great. As it was, it was just an OK but forgettable standard cop/mystery story.
It couldn't even decide if it was going to be a story about exploitation of Indian resources or about smuggling drugs. And while I support legalization of most drugs, the discussion of that in the book was heavyhanded and simplistic.
It really seemed as though Hillerman had a bunch of topics and series plot developments on a checklist, but was searching for a real novel to slip them into. Sadly, he came up with this threadbare framework instead.
The stylistic skill was as good as ever (thus the three stars), but you know what they say about putting lipstick on a pig....

This book seems to be Tony Hillerman attempting to masquerade as James Patterson. Some familiar characters, a murder and related violence, short chapters, almost continual action and extremely limited character development. (Eliminate the many blank pages between chapters and it is barely two hundred small pages of large type. Thus, it is overpriced.)
The story has great potential. It has the well known characters of Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police and Bernie Manuelito, now separated geograpically from Chee as a rookie Border Patrol officer and with the future of their relationship in doubt. When a puzzling murder in Chee's jurisdiction intersects with Bernie's work, the retired "Legendary Lieutenant " Joe Leaphorn is called upon for consultation. At the same time there seems to be a puzzling interest emanating from a powerful source in Washington, D.C. concerning the ramifications of the case.
There is an intimation that the dead man may have been investigating the actual scandal concerning the loss (probably due to a combination of theft, embezzlement, indifference and incompetence) of billions of dollars of royalties from the Indian Tribal Royalty Fund held in trust by the Department of the Interior. This is a topic with great potential for an author with Hillerman's skills and knowledge, but it becomes peripheral to a pretty standard police procedural combined with the mystery of how the romance between Bernie and Jim will conclude. There is some excellent misdirection regarding both the nature of the underlying crinimal activity and its participants and who or what is the real "SINISTER PIG". But a lot of the oppportunities to develop the potential plot complications and resultant suspense were simply never pursued. Also, there were several loose ends that were never satisfactorily tied up despite the attempt to do so in the epilogue. (I cannot go into details without revealing too much of the plot.) It is almost as if Hillerman had an outline for a wonderfully complex story and then decided it was too complicated and so decided to quickly bring this part of the story to a close and leave the rest for a sequel.
As the title of my review implies, a few elements helped me decide to generously round up my rating to three stars. First, the plot is clever, and there is sufficient misdirection to keep the reader's interest. Second, it involves familiar characters. Third, this is a incredibly fast read. It is definitely a book for a short trip or a rainy afternoon. So if you are a Hillerman fan, lower your expectations and enjoy a few hours updating yourself on the latest happenings in New Mexico.

OK, I thought, "The Wailing Wind" was an aberration, a hiccup in the career of a very good author. But two points define a line, and "The Sinister Pig" plots Mr. Hillerman's career straight down. In the corporate world you sometimes see a luminary from an earlier era who is "RIP" -- retired in place -- just going through the motions, living on past glories and collecting the big bucks for his reputation, not his current work. Sadly, this describes Tony Hillerman, who has decided to stir around a few ashes, thow in a highly predictable conclusion, and call it a novel. I bet he's laughing at his readers all the way to the bank.
As for the book itself, reviewers occasionally describe a film as "OK for a 10-minute sketch on SNL, but not a 90-minute feature." That's Sinister Pig for you: interesting premise but almost no plot or character development (call central casting for all the stereotypes), no suspense (you know from the start who's really a bad guy and who's really not), and the shallowest of literary style (like Wailing Wind, everyone is constantly "grinning" at everyone else). The initial plot device, investigating diversion of Indian royalty payments, is both interesting and topical -- it's really happening -- but couldn't lead to a facile wrap-up in a mere 224 pages, so Mr. Hillerman switches to just another standard contraband tale. Rest assured, the good guys prosper, the bad guys pay, and the bad guys who are really good guys ... well, what do you expect?
I did like the little polemics on stealing of Indian royalties, the vested interest of both narcos and narcs in keeping the "War on Drugs" going full steam, and the pervasiveness of corruption in high office, but they weren't enough to salvage an otherwise trivial work.
If Mr. Hillerman hasn't retired completely, I'll wait until his next book is available in the public domain before reading it.

Legendary lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and his protege, sergeant Jim Chee, have come a long way in the sixteen Hillerman books in which they have figured. The early books were traditional police procedurals set in the unique environment and society of the Navajo Reservation. The crimes that led to murder were relatively small in magnitude: stealing Indian artifacts, robbing a casino, or revenge. In recent Hillerman books, the crimes have grown in scope to encompass serial killing, international drug smuggling, and theft of billions of dollars worth of natural gas. Bigger is not necessarily better. The Sinister Pig seems closer to Ludlum that to early Hillerman.
A CIA expert on middle eastern oil pipeline technology is murdered while on a freelance investigation for a US Senator in the Four Corners area. Both Chee and the local FBI agent are quickly frozen out of the investigation by FBI headquarters. Chee continues to probe for information with help from the retired Leaphorn, "Cowboy" Dashee (now a BLM law enforcement officer), and Bernie Manuelito who has joined the US Customs Border Patrol.
As in Wailing Wind, Bernie is the pivotal character in the story. Through her eyes Hillerman shows the reader how the US Government goes about trying to interdict illegal immigration and drug trafficking on the border with Mexico. It is not pretty. Chee is as inept as ever in dealing with his romantic interest in Bernie. While there were genuine obstacles to overcome in Chee's earlier love affairs, his inability to make his true feelings known to Ms Manuelito seems merely callow.
We know who the villain of the piece is almost from the outset. He not only has the CIA agent killed, but arranges to have a young congrssional aide he has impregnated vanish. Lacking the whodunit element, the reader has only suspense to fuel his interest.
Hillerman's descriptive skill is as sharp as ever and his ear for dialogue as true. Leaphorn is still Leaphorn. Should we ask for anything more?

For the dedicated Hillerman reader, this latest may be disappointing. We have become accustomed to excellent mysteries which are also anthropology lessons. In almost if not every story of Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Tony Hillerman has presented his readers with lessons about many facets of the southwestern Native American culture, the problems this culture faces. This novel is more a straight thriller, without significant overtones of cultural stress and adaptation. The basic plot line does have a Native American connection. It seems that the Department of the Interior is responsible for a trust fund for Native Americans. The trust is where royalties and other payments for oil, gas, timber, and other sales from reservation lands are deposited so that the money can be used for the benefit of the tribes. It also seems that tens of billions of dollars which should be in the trust are not, and there doesn't seem to be any explanation. A senator hires a retiring CIA specialist in pipelines to investigate what is happening in the "four-corners" territory, especially as it related to activities of a billionaire recluse who may be dabbling in hard drugs as well as petroleum. The implication is that the billionaire is diverting gas and oil from the pipeline and avoiding paying royalties-or anything else. The covert investigator is found murdered on the reservation and Jim Chee is the investigating officer. But the FBI claims jurisdiction, transfers case management to Washington, and then stonewalls. Chee wonders why the apparent cover-up and keeps on digging. Enough waves are made that DC people involved in investigating the trust fund situation wonder if there is a connection and ask Joe Leaphorn, now retired, to look into the case. What follows is a very good thriller, with unlikely "heroes" and bad guys getting their just desserts. The implications of Washington insider conspiracies are raised but never resolved; yet, while not quite up to Hillerman's stories which do have stronger cultural lessons, this is a very good book. PS: the sinister pig is not Native American but pipeline related. Read the book to find out what the title reference is about.