The Blessing Way (Joe Leaphorn Novels)
by Tony Hillerman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tony HillermanEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1990-03-07
ISBN: 0061000019
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: HarperTorch
Book Reviews of The Blessing Way (Joe Leaphorn Novels)
Book Review: "With Beauty It Is Finished"
Summary: 4 Stars
If you do an advanced search on Amazon for "mysteries published in 1970" you'll first find a lot of Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, and some by old reliables Mickey Spillane, Ross MacDonald, and John Dickson Carr. Then there's the newcomer, Tony Hillerman with his first anthropological (or is it "anthropomystical" ?) mystery and hero Joe Leaphorn.
While the cultural/spiritual side of things is never far from the goings-on in a Hillerman story, they overshadow the crime/thriller element in this novel. That's not necessarily a bad thing; the mystery in this case is very slight and makes use of some convenient scapegoating at the end (not unlike secondary character Bergen McKee's theory on Navajo Wolves). The book gives us only the briefest character sketch of Leaphorn (he's absent from a lot of it), and we don't find out much about his wife or co-workers (half the fun - and sadness - of the later books). The transformation of McKee from milquetoasty professor to wilderness he-man is overdone and/or underexplained; fortunately it's a problem Hillerman avoids in the future. Even if things end up a bit too nicely, you've still been entertained for a few hours and learned a thing or two in the process - and bringing things into a harmony is a big part of the story, after all.
Hillerman is a remarkable author. He is able to tell his story in a way that keeps readers engaged while imparting pages of folklore that in lesser hands would put an audience to sleep. Then consider that he's been able to carve out a niche without much competition for thirty-plus years. That means either a) people aren't really interested in this kind of story (not true, or he wouldn't be writing them for three decades), or b) it's a very hard kind of story to write (persuading other authors to stay away and write things with helicopter explosions).
If you're a fan of the Leaphorn series or are looking to make his acquaintance, give this book a read. It's not his best, but it's better than a lot of other things published in 1970 (Three Days of the Condor, excepted, of course - as is Shaft).
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