Spider Woman's Daughter (Anne Hillerman)

Spider Woman's Daughter: A Leaphorn, Chee and Manuelito Novel
The Leaphorn and Chee series, Book 19
Anne Hillerman
Harper
Fiction, Mystery
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: It was a morning meeting like countless others, as members of the Navajo Nation police force met at a local eatery to discuss cases with retired legend turned private investigator Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn. Then a stranger in the parking lot pulled out a gun, and Leaphorn is on the ground, a bullet hole in his head, barely clinging to life.
As the sole eyewitness, Officer Bernadette Manuelito wants nothing more than to find the culprit, but the captain - following protocol - suspends her from the case as being too close to the matter. But she can't just sit on her hands; Leaphorn has meant too much to her and her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee. When Chee is assigned to take the lead on the investigation, Bernie can't help doing some investigating of her own. Though a man with a career as long and storied as Leaphorn's doesn't lack for potential enemies, nobody can fathom what motive could possibly be sufficient for such a cold-blooded daylight hit. The clock is ticking, both on the case and on Leaphorn's life, as husband and wife face a puzzle even the great investigator himself might not have been able to solve.

REVIEW: Though my local library listed this as Book One of a series, it's technically the nineteenth entry in the Leaphorn and Chee stories created by author Anne Hillerman's father, Tony Hillerman, which I haven't read any of yet. However, this has a strong vibe of a torch being passed to a next generation, so it seems to work as a solid entry point without alienating newcomers; though there are obviously references to previous adventures and prior relationships, the story does a decent job grounding the reader in what's relevant to the current tale. The end result is an exciting mystery set firmly in the American Southwest and its unique blend of cultures.
From the start, both Chee and Manuelito see themselves as mere shadows of their friend and mentor Leaphorn, a larger-than-life figure in their lives and in the Navajo tribal police force. They've always been able to count on him to help with their own work, a steadfast source of support and insights to crack the toughest cases. Even after he technically retired, Leaphorn is a fixture of the officers' lives and jobs; they all know they can turn to him for anything. Seeing such a legend lying on the pavement in a puddle of his own blood, shot in the face in broad daylight not fifty feet from a host of police officers he himself practically trained, sends shockwaves through the ranks and across the reservation. As determined as Chee and Manuelito are to find justice, both secretly fear that, without Leaphorn, they're never going to succeed, especially not with the feds sniffing around (there are mixed jurisdictional issues on tribal lands, especially with a case like this). While Jim Chee goes through official channels to explore possible suspects and motives, Manuelito must take a step to the side to do the same, often ending up in places she knows she probably shouldn't be if she's supposed to be on leave and not officially pursuing anything. She does try to set it all aside, dealing with an aging mother and a younger sister going through a tumultuous phase, but keeps finding herself pulled back, by her own nagging sense of guilt that she could've done something if only she'd been faster out the restaurant door if nothing else. Her own investigation takes her to different places and people than her husband's, but neither are so stubborn or stupid that they refuse to help the other one out, or compare notes in the interest of the biggest case to land in their laps in ages - not to mention the first they must unravel without Leaphorn's watchful eye. Both encounter a host of colorful characters, on and off the rez, set against a desert backdrop that almost becomes its own character. It's a place that's both modern and timeless, where even computers and cell towers can't compete with the sheer vast, remote scale of the land. The investigations take several twists and turns and suffer some serious setbacks, all as Joe Leaphorn fades further and further from this world. It eventually comes together in an exciting confrontation and unmasking of the true culprit, followed by a brief wrap-up that, naturally, leaves the leads ready for the next book/case to unfold.
While I mostly enjoyed the tale and its interesting blend of characters and cultures and procedural investigation, there were a few loose threads and characters that seemed forgotten about by the end. I also thought the confrontation with the culprit ventured a little too far into the "monologuing villain" trope. I might end up following a few more stories in this series, though I doubt I'm committed enough to backtrack through eighteen previous volumes.

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