Because an author continues an admittedly popular series over many years and novels, readers may forgive the occasional below par effort and I’ll give Tony Hillerman the mulligan on Skeleton Man. Certainly he has many fans in Mountain View given the wear on this 2004 hardcover.
Joe Leaphorn is long-retired and only a minor player, which focuses on Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee in the last weeks preceeding his marriage to Officer Bernie Manuelito. Billy Tuve, whose brain was damaged in a rodeo accident when he was a boy, has been arrested in the robbery/murder of a jewelry store and Tuve is a close cousin of Chee and Longhorn’s old friend Navaho County Sheriff Deputy Cowboy Dashee; the deputy asks both for help since he doesn’t believe his cousin is capable of such nastiness.
The key reason Tuve is a suspect is he tried to pawn a fake diamond for $20 but since it wasn’t fake the pawnshop manager called in the cops, who assumed the diamond came out of that robbery. In truth, the diamond most likely came from the most infamous pre-hijacking era plane crash, a 1956 collision over the Grand Canyon between United Arlines and TWA jets (which actually occured, killing 172 people, though Hillerman simply uses it as a jumping off), from the carry case handcuffed to the arm of a jeweler.
Neither John Clarke’s body nor his case were ever officially found. Since Clarke was the only child and his father died in the immediate aftermath of the crash the family estate flowed into a charitable foundation, the terms of the father’s will saying that only direct offspring could inherit. Even in the ’50s the estate was huge and the young lawyer who captured control of it had no intention of letting go. Even though John was engaged and his fiance was pregnant, the lawyer used all tricks and tools to prevent the daughter born a few months later from recognition as the heir.
As you probably guessed, Tuve’s diamond came from Clarke’s case and the daughter, now nearly 50, comes to town hoping to recover some part of dad’s body for DNA testing. The lawyer, fat and happy on decades of less than legitimately earned foundation monies, sends a fallen scion of another rich family who’s more than willing to do what’s necessary to stop her. Dashee, Manuelito and Chee get in the middle trying to save Tuve from the murder charge.
The story has possibilities and Hillerman has his usual charm with describing New Mexico and Arizona but honestly I really feel that the story lacks sufficient tension and some characters are introduced with promise (like the thieving lawyer) and barely seen again, spreading focus a bit too wide.
not recommended, except for Hillerman fanatics
BillSaysThis 