The Shape Shifter

The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman

Category: Mystery Grade: B

This is Hillerman's 20th mystery novel centered on the Native American community. He has done two series - one featuring Joe Leaphorn and the other featuring Jim Chee, both Navajo tribal policeman. A couple of years ago, Hillerman brought the two characters together and the books since then have featured, or at least had appearances by both. Leaphorn, newly retired in this book, was sent as a young child to a school designed to integrate Native children in to the broader culture. Part of that education was designed to wean these children away from their own Navajo culture so, as its represented, Leaphorn is fairly assimilated and extremely skeptical of Navajo legends. Chee, on the other hand, is much younger and is trying to simultaneous be a policeman in the modern world and a Navajo shaman who knows the old ways.

Unfortunately, this book, while good, focuses on Leaphorn, with Chee only making a token appearance. What that means is the book is a fairly standard detective novel without much of dipping in to Navajo lore - the thing that makes most Hillerman books interesting. The story itself is a good one involving a "cold case" that Leaphorn starts looking in to mostly because he's bored with the retired life. The cold case fairly quickly becomes a current case with the commission of new crimes, but Leaphorn continues to work the case unofficially.

Bottom line -- nothing wrong with the book. It's entertaining and a good, fairly short diversion. It's just not the kind of multi-cultural story that Hillerman's fans have come to expect. Leaphorn is probably a character who has played himself out. It's time for Hillerman to focus on Chee and his new wife, Bernadette, also a policewoman. Hillerman can get enough of his traditional vs. modern tension between the newlyweds. Put Leaphorn out to pasture.