Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed on 5/15/2018 + 1031 more book reviews

This is the 8th in the series featuring Detective Leaphorn and Sgt Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police, and definitely my favorite so far. Leaphorn, mourning the death of his wife Emma, has put in his retirement papers and is on terminal leave. To be polite, he goes along when invited to look into a claim of pot-hunting against a local archaeologist. Her colleagues are irate when they show up, because they reported the woman missing a week ago, no one has come, and they say they're pretty sure she wasn't stealing pots. Something about this case clicks with Leaphorn; he thinks about what his wife might have said about the woman and what she would have expected him to do. Sgt Jim Chee is smarting because a couple thieves got away with a bulldozer right under his nose, and he's determined to salvage his reputation. Of course these two things are connected, and soon it's apparent there's a huge theft of artifacts going on - but who's doing it, and where they are, that's the question. Hillerman is so good at setting a scene, and weaving a lot of seemingly unconnected incidents together. I loved Leaphorn's memories of Emma and how those sparked him to keep going with the case, ultimately deciding he's not ready to lie down just yet.

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