Skinwalkers (novel)
First edition
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| Author | Tony Hillerman |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Peter Thorpe |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jim Chee / Joe Leaphorn Navajo Tribal Police Series |
| Genre | Mystery |
| Published | 1986 Harper & Row |
| Media type | Print and audio |
| Pages | 216 |
| Awards |
1988 Anthony Award for Best Novel 1987 Spur Award for Best Western Novel |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 606031842 |
| Preceded by |
The Ghostway (1984) |
| Followed by |
A Thief of Time (1988) |
Skinwalkers is the seventh crime fiction novel in the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series by author Tony Hillerman published in 1986. Skinwalkers was adapted for television for the PBS Mystery! series in 2002.
Murders are happening all over the huge reservation, and Lt. Leaphorn can see no pattern. Then someone makes an attempt on Jim Chee's life, and the two work together for the first time to solve these crimes.
The novel won two awards, the 1988 Anthony Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Spur Award for Best Western Novel. Reviews at the time of publication praised it highly: "Hillerman brings together his two series characters--middle-aged, cynical Lieut. Joe Leaphorn and young, mystical Officer Jim Chee--without in any way diminishing the stark power and somber integrity that have distinguished previous exploits of the Navajo Tribal Police." The writing is "is lively and extremely descriptive" and author Hillerman was "a master of character, scene, and plot". A New York Times review called this the breakout novel for Hillerman, when sales began to surge and recognition increased.
Jim Chee wakes from restless sleep about 2:30 am, hearing the cat enter through the cat door into his trailer. When Chee is out of bed, three shotgun blasts come through the trailer wall over his bed, tearing apart his mattress instead of him. In daylight, he finds where a vehicle leaking oil had parked in the night and the footprints of a small person. This is added to the list of unsolved homicides facing Lt. Joe Leaphorn. Leaphorn asks that Chee be assigned full-time to aid him in solving the three homicides of Irma Onesalt, Dugai Endocheeney, and Wilson Sam, and to find who shot Chee. Capt. Largo agrees.
The first connection among these homicides comes when they learn that Endocheeney received a letter from the office where Irma Onesalt worked. Then Leaphorn learns of the list of people for whom she sought death dates, though some on the list were alive when she was posing her question. Leaphorn and Chee learn to communicate effectively with each other, as they pursue the investigation. Chee sleeps away from his trailer bed, fearing a repeat attack until the culprit is found. The next link among the cases is small bone beads, made from a long dead bovine. One was in the shotgun shells that entered Chee’s trailer; another in the knife wounds that killed Endocheeney; and one was found in Bistie's wallet when he was taken in for questioning.
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