The Blessing Way and A Thief of Time and Tony Hillerman

The Blessing Way

Published 1970

Read Sept 2021

A Thief of Time

Published 1988

Read Oct 2021

By Tony Hillerman

The Blessing Way introduced Joe Leaphorn to readers. Hillerman eventually wrote 18 novels involving Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee (both members of the Navajo Tribal Police).  In this first Joe Leaphorm novel, Leaphorn is actually not the primary character in this mystery, but he does play an important role.  The novel does have characteristics that are found in all of the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee novels:  they immerse the reader in the geography and history of the Four Corners (Arizona/Utah/Colorado/New Mexico) region; they provide the reader insights into   Navajo culture; and they provide both an interesting mystery and a human story about one or more of the characters.

In A Thief of Time, artifacts from the ancient Anasazi people are being extracted from ruins and sold in potentially illegal ways.  People potentially involved show up dead or missing.  Joe Leaphorn recruits Jim Chee to help him understand what’s going on.

 A very powerful aspect of this book is that Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee are both grieving the loss of a romantic relationship.  Joe Leaphorn’s wife of thirty years has died unexpectantly following surgery to remove a benign brain tumor.  His mourning has led him to a deep depression and to put in his retirement papers.  He becomes interested in finding an academic focused on Anasazi pottery who has gone missing shortly before his retirement date and he becomes engaged in understanding the situation.  Jim Chee and his girlfriend are splitting up, not for lack of love, but because neither can commit to living in the other’s culture and geography:  the Navajo reservation/culture or Washington DC/white culture.    Both men are hurting but both men rally to do their jobs.

This reader will continue to read through Hillerman’s 18 Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee novels.  The mysteries are interesting.  But the human stories and the language that describe them and the geography, history,  and culture within which they occur are the biggest draws.