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CAVE OF BONES
by Anne Hillerman
Harper, April 2018
306 pages
$26.99
ISBN: 0062391925


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Anne Hillerman's fourth novel, CAVE OF BONES, continues the Leaphorn and Chee series begun by her father, Tony Hillerman. It also continues with Ms. Hillerman's emphasis on the character of Bernie Manuelito, a Navajo policewoman, thus providing us with a different perspective on tribal politics and crime. By giving us a female protagonist, Hillerman has expanded the world of Native American procedurals and added interest to the long running Hillerman franchise.

This time around, Bernie is asked to speak about her job to a group of teens exploring the Malpais lava fields as a means of self-discovery and growth. When she arrives at the site, both a young teen and a counselor have gone missing. The girl returns quickly, bringing a story of a cave full of bones, while the seasoned man remains missing. Throughout the book, new truths about what happened at the cave are slowly revealed by the teen as the search and rescue team attempts to locate the counselor. Bernie is caught up in the investigation of what might be a stolen antiquities scheme as she attempts to placate the irate teen's mother and learn all that she can about the missing man.

While she battles corrupt officials, terrible weather, an ego-driven FBI agent, and a man driven nearly crazy by grief, she also frets about sister, Darleen, who is away for a short college course, and her mother who has been left alone at home. Her husband and fellow police officer, Jim Chee, picks up some of the slack as he investigates Darleen's situation while he is at a training course in Santa Fe. In the end, all plots come together in a satisfying way and ends are tied up. In the meantime, the reader has learned a fair amount about the landscape of El Mapais and the dangers of hiking there.

Hillerman relies a great deal on conversation to move the plot forward, and some of that conversation is somewhat stilted, in short clipped sentences. While the plot is very detailed, it is straightforward without red herrings or twists, making it refreshingly different from so many current mysteries. The characters, especially Annie, the teen, reveal bits and pieces of information as the book moves forward, making the reader wonder whether the mystery could have been solved much earlier just by having Annie be a little more forthcoming. However, Annie is one of the better- developed characters, and she acts just like you would expect a surly teenager to behave. While the main characters are well developed, the supporting characters often leave the reader wondering at motive.

This is an interesting series, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in both Bernie's professional and personal life as it continues.

§ Sharon Mensing, retired educational leader, lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors in rural Wyoming.

Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, March 2018

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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