The Blessing Way
First edition cover
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| Author | Tony Hillerman |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Mozelle Thompson |
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn Navajo Tribal Police Series |
| Genre | Crime fiction |
| Set in | Navajo Nation |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
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Publication date
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1970 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) & Audio book |
| Pages | 306 |
| ISBN | |
| Followed by | Dance Hall of the Dead, 1973 |
The Blessing Way is the first crime fiction novel in the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series by Tony Hillerman. First published in 1970, it introduces the character of officer Joe Leaphorn.
Two anthropology professors from New Mexico plan a summer research trip on the Navajo Reservation. Bergen McKee meets his college friend Joe Leaphorn, now a police officer, there. McKee's interest is the Navajo witches and the role they play in the culture. He learns of one on his first day of interviews, who unexpectedly visits his campsite in the night, beginning a saga of peril for him. Leaphorn has a murdered young man as his case, which intertwines with McKee's encounters with a true Navajo witch.
Anthropologist Bergen McKee comes to the Navajo Reservation to research tales of witches, visiting his college friend, Joe Leaphorn. Leaphorn is a Navajo Tribal Police lieutenant. A young man, Luis Horseman, thinking he had killed a man in a fight, drops out of sight. His victim survives, so Leaphorn spreads the word at a trading post, to induce Luis to come in. McKee and Leaphorn see a Navajo man buying a new hat. His old one was stolen, but not the expensive silver concho hatband on it. Leaphorn says that "Otherwise we'll go in there and get him", which the stranger hears. The next morning, the body of Luis is found near Ganado; he had been suffocated with sand after being killed elsewhere. Leaphorn rues his statement, feeling it led to this murder. McKee and his colleague, J. R. Canfield, begin a joint field trip in the Lukachukai Mountains, the canyons of the west slope. They expect to meet Ellen Leon in Many Ruins canyon, as she seeks her fiancé, Dr. Hall.
The Tsosie family hosts a Navajo Enemy Way ceremony to deal with depredation of their livestock, which Joe Leaphorn attends. He meets Billy Nez, brother to Luis Horseman. Billy found the hat used as a symbolic scalp of the troublesome witch. Leaphorn finds the tracks of Billy and the man where Billy had taken the hat and realizes Billy will come to kill the man himself. He sets out to stop that.
McKee learns in his interviews that there is a Navajo Wolf active now. Neither Canfield nor his vehicle are at the campsite that evening. Instead, there is a note saying he will return; oddly, he signed the note John, when his name is Jeremy. McKee sleeps outside, waking on hearing unexpected sounds. He moves away from the campsite, to listen. A man wearing a wolf skin and holding an automatic weapon walks into the campsite, then into the tent to read papers there. He calls out McKee's name but McKee keeps silent and the man walks away. In the morning, McKee looks for Miss Leon so they can both drive out quickly. The man in the night left McKee's vehicle inoperable. During the night, McKee slips on the rocks, injuring his right hand painfully. They drive away, escaping the trap being set by the Navajo. McKee finds Canfield's vehicle, and sees his dead body inside it, but does not tell Miss Leon. Not fully grasping their danger, Miss Leon wants to get help for McKee. As they argue, the Navajo returns, with his weapon. He wants McKee to write a letter like the one Canfield left him. McKee's strategy is not to write the letter.
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