The Ghostway
First edition cover
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| Author | Tony Hillerman |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | David Myers |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Series | Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police Series |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Set in | Navajo Nation in Southwestern United States |
| Published | 1984 Harper & Row |
| Media type | Print and audio |
| Pages | 213 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 10998822 |
| Preceded by | The Dark Wind, 1982 |
| Followed by | Skinwalkers, 1986 |
The Ghostway is the sixth crime fiction novel in the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series by Tony Hillerman. It was first published in 1984 and features Jim Chee.
A gunfight at a laundromat in Shiprock NM brings Los Angeles problems to the Navajo reservation.
The novel was reviewed positively at its publication. "The tension between the Navajo way-of-life and the tempting white-world outside. . . is central and emphatic" in this novel. The central character "Chee is developed to greater depth than before", though that reviewer felt that the three novels featuring Leaphorn (first three in this series) were more powerful. Another called this novel choice reading. Another review found that the story "moves alertly along" and is "one of the best in the series."
Hosteen Joseph Joe, finishing his laundry in Shiprock, New Mexico, answers questions put by a man in a new car, about Leroy Gorman. Joe does not know that man, but studies the Polaroid photo of him in front of his aluminum trailer home, set next to a cottonwood tree in fall. A second car appears, driven by Lerner, who chastises the first driver. After a gun battle, Lerner is dead on the ground. The other man drives away.
Sgt. Jim Chee finds the place where the first man drove, the hogan of Ashie Begay. With FBI agents Sharkey and Witrey, and Deputy Bales, Chee finds Albert Gorman buried near what is now a death hogan, but not the photo Joseph Joe described. Gorman was buried almost exactly following the Navajo way, save for his unwashed hair. Returning a week later, Chee encounters runaway Margaret Billy Sosi, crying for her grandfather. They talk, she slips away. Chee next finds the aluminum trailer shown in the photo, where he expects to find Leroy Gorman, but the man there is Grayson. Margaret Sosi had shown up earlier that day, looking for her grandfather. In search of Sosi and her relatives, Chee drives 900 mi to Los Angeles. He meets two city police detectives, Shaw and Wells, who know the FBI agent Upchurch who died or was killed in trying to close a nine-year case on the McNair gang, experts in high priced car thievery and the cocaine trade, who leave no witnesses.
Chee patiently speaks with Mr Berger, resident of the old people’s home near Gorman’s place. They saw Sosi visit the day before, and saw Gorman argue with a big blond man – Vaggan. Gorman showed them the photo of his brother at his trailer. Then Gorman left. They knew he stole cars for his living. With help from Shaw, Chee gets the address for Gorman’s next of kin. Chee meets Bentwoman, the grandmother of Ashie Begay. Margaret Sosi has been there and will return there after dark. Bentwoman advises Chee to enter his hogan, as he is dead but no one died in his home. Leaving, Chee encounters Vaggan and Margaret in the empty street. Chee jumps Vaggan, Vaggan beats up Chee, Margaret gets Vaggan's gun and runs the show; she makes Vaggan drive Chee to the hospital. Shaw comes to the hospital where Chee is recovering from head wounds. Chee recalls the arsenal in Eric Vaggan’s van. He realizes what Margaret did, but how? Shaw learns the new lawyer at DA office handling the McNair case is not helpful. Chee will pursue Margaret Sosi, who has left Bentwoman’s home.
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