The Shape Shifter
First edition cover
|
|
| Author | Tony Hillerman |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Peter Thorpe |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Series | Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police Series |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Set in | Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation in Southwestern United States |
| Published | 2006 HarperCollins |
| Media type | Print and audio |
| Pages | 276 |
| Awards | Spur Award for Best Western Short Novel in 2007 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 61264361 |
| Preceded by | Skeleton Man, 2004 |
| Followed by | Spider Woman's Daughter, written by Anne Hillerman, 2013 |
The Shape Shifter is the eighteenth crime fiction novel in the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series by Tony Hillerman, first published in 2006. It was a New York Times best-seller and the last Chee/Leaphorn novel by Hillerman published before Hillerman's death on October 26, 2008.
A cold case from Lt. Leaphorn's earliest days as a police officer finds new evidence, which he pursues though he is retired. The slick and cruel perpetrator continues his same modus operandi, but Leaphorn gets evidence on this elusive murderer and thief, leading to a dangerous final encounter. The story ties the 1860s forced Long Walk of the Navajo, US operations in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, Navajo beliefs of greed as the main evil, and the concept of skinwalker or shape shifter in a 21st-century tale.
While Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito honeymoon in Hawaii, Mel Bork sends Leaphorn a page from a glossy magazine, showing the interior of a fine home. The main item on the wall is a tale-telling rug made in the 1860s of the long walk back from Bosque Redondo, which is called the Woven Sorrow Rug. Leaphorn saw that rare rug long ago in Totter's Trading Post & Gallery, which burned down in 1965. Besides destroying the rug, that fire killed a man beyond recognition, who was identified by the FBI as Ray Shewnack, a man on their most-wanted list. Leaphorn calls Bork, learning from his wife that Mel has not been home for two days. There is a threatening message from a stranger that Mel never heard. Leaphorn begins to search for Mel. The rug would be nearly impossible to duplicate, raising the suspicion that the rug was not destroyed, as reported decades earlier. Leaphorn recalls how he was diverted from aiding Grandma Peshlakai, whose entire collection of pinyon sap for making baskets had been stolen from her, and her granddaughter saw the car driving away with it. Leaphorn’s boss had sent him to join the FBI at Totter’s place instead. She was very angry with him.
Leaphorn learns that Jason Delos owns the house shown in the magazine photo. Gossip links Delos to stories of CIA in Vietnam in the 1960s. Leaphorn calls Sgt. Garcia, who tells him the story of Ray Shewnack and his burglary of Handy’s gas station and grocery back in 1961. Shewnack told one plan to the employees (Ellie, Begay and Delonie), then carried it out differently, murdering the owners and setting up the employees to go to prison for abetting, while he drove away with the money. Begay is dead, apparently of suicide. Garcia tells this story as they drive to the remains of Totter’s place. They meet Delonie there, recently out of prison. Heading home, they stop at Grandma Peshlakai’s place, learning that she found her empty buckets at Totter’s place after the fire. A few years after the fire, she heard Totter had died, via a notice in a Gallup newspaper.
...
Wikipedia