The Ghostway

Violence from a Los Angeles car-theft ring reaches the Navajo Nation, and Jim Chee is left to make sense of a local murder. The killing connects to a wider conspiracy that involves the FBI and the arson squad of the LAPD.

The book follows a real investigation, built the way Tony Hillerman builds his crime mysteries. Chee works from the evidence at hand toward the identity of the killer and the reach of the plot behind it.

The tone is gritty and tense, since the violence and the conspiracy keep the pressure on. It is also reflective and atmospheric. Chee wrestles with his Navajo identity. He also feels the friction between his own world and the one pressing in on it.

Margaret, a young woman, is pulled into the case as well. She has to face her family's history and the violence around her, and Chee acts as a guide to her. A melancholy about the cultural divide runs under the suspense.