Skeleton Man, by Tony Hillerman

Retrieved from: the library, on reserve
(0060563443), 2004
Suggested by: No one; I read all of Hillerman's books when they come out. He's a "List Author."

Jim Chee is engaged, finally to someone sensible. Joe Leaphorn is thinking about getting engaged, if he can just talk Louisa into it. And in keeping with engagement, they are looking for diamonds. Except these diamonds are unset, missing for nearly 50 years, and attached to a dead man's wrist. Cowboy Dashee's somewhat slow nephew has been jailed for theft for trying to pawn one of these 50-year-old diamonds for $20. He further claims he traded a shovel for it several years ago with an old man in the Grand Canyon. It's all just a little to weird to be believable, and then along comes a middle-aged New England woman who bails out the alleged thief and tries to get him to take her to where the old man was with the diamonds. The trouble is, there is also interest from a couple of other directions, and pretty soon everyone's searching for diamonds.

Good story. These books always make me want to move to the southwest, at the same time I realize that I'll never be able to fit in there. Less tribal lore in these books than usual--although it's still there--and more social sentiment. I love the author photo, too. Just a calm read about people I've known more than half my life.