The
Sinister Pig
A
Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Mystery
Tony
Hillerman
HarperCollins
(Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-019443-X (006019443X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-019443-7 (9780060194437)
Publication Date: May 2003
List Price: $25.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): The victim, well dressed but stripped of
identification, is found at the edge of the vast Jicarilla Apache
natural gas field just inside the jurisdiction of the Navajo Tribal
Police, facing Sergeant Jim Chee with a complex puzzle.
Why did the Washington office of the FBI snatch custody of this case
from its local agents, cover it with secrecy, and call it a hunting
accident? What was the victim seeking among the maze of pipelines and
pumping stations in America's largest gas field? Was he investigating
the embezzlement of billions of dollars from the Indian tribal royalty
trust in the Department of the Interior?
On a level nearer to Chee's heart, did the photographs Bernie Manuelito
took on an exotic game ranch near the Mexican border reveal something
connected with this crime? Did Bernie, once a member of Chee's squad
but now a rookie Border Patrol Officer, put herself in terrible danger?
Tony Hillerman leads his readers through another of his intricate plots
to the solution of this crime, with a cast of vivid characters: a
Washington political mogul and his more-or-less renegade pilot; a
customs official who bends the rules; a Mexican smuggler with a
conscience; and, finally, "Legendary Lieutenant" Joe Leaphorn, now
retired, who connects the lines on a dusty old map to find the answers
- and the Sinister Pig - among the great scimitar-horned oryx grazing
on the historic Tuttle Ranch.
Review:
The
Sinister Pig is the 17th
mystery to feature Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police and
his retired former supervisor Joe Leaphorn.
As a generic mystery, The Sinister Pig is quite good. As a Hillerman
mystery, it is rather mediocre. The problem with The Sinister Pig
as a Hillerman mystery is that the story could take place anywhere.
Substitute Canada for Mexico, Montana for New Mexico, and replace the
names of principal characters, and The
Sinister Pig
remains a believable and fine mystery. But there is nothing of the rich
Navajo culture embedded in the story, and that is what makes it an
undistinguished Hillerman mystery.
The inefficiency, redundancy, and general level of incompetency of the
US Federal Government, especially post-9/11 with the creation of the
Department of Homeland Security, and conspicuously with respect to
native American tribes, is front and center in this mystery. And
Hillerman does an exceptional job incorporating this bureaucracy into
his story. The plot he weaves is interesting and absorbing. But the
characters, even the familiar Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, lack the depth
and complexity typically associated with the books in this mystery
series.
First-time readers of this series will no doubt find The Sinister Pig
to be excellent. Long-time fans of Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn are likely
to be disappointed.
Review Copyright © 2003 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read The Sinister Pig? How would you rate it?
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The
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HarperCollins (Hardcover), May 2002
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The Sinister Pig
HarperCollins (Hardcover), May 2003
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ISBN-13: 978-0-06-019443-7 (9780060194437)
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Omnimystery
keywords for The Sinister Pig
...
Location(s) referenced: Arizona, Utah.
