Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Very solid work, Nov 22 2002
There are few things as satisfying in the modern mystery novel as looking into the methodical mind of Detective Joe Leaphorn. While many people read Tony Hillerman for his insights into Navajo culture, I most enjoy his depiction of the always thoughtful Leaphorn.In Listening Woman, Leaphorn faces his usual intertangled mess of events: being nearly run over by a maniac, the theft of a helicopter, and two unsolved deaths in a remote corner of the reservation. The joy of this book is its window into Leaphorn's mind as he tries to make sense of seemingly random events. Hillerman's myteries are enjoyable because he keeps the details in front of the reader. His detectives express bafflement, hold erroneous assumptions, and are very much prone to mistaken judgement. As such, they are real and believable. Listening Woman features a remarkable and intense closing sequence, which I have no intention of ruining. This is one of Hillerman's best novels and I heartily recommend it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Third in the Navajo Detective Series, Oct 21 2002
Navajo Detective Joe Leaphorn works on several cases: the murder of an old Navajo man and a young girl, a missing helicopter, and a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who tried to run over him. The search for answers takes him to the remote canyon country along the Arizona-Utah border. This is the third novel in Hillerman's masterpiece series. The star of the show, Joe Leaphorn, is a likeable, honest, methodical man with a compulsion to find out the truth. Hillerman's strengths are authenticity and atmosphere. Navajo culture, religion, and folkways are woven into the fabric of his novels. His landscapes are harsh and spectacular. Nature is magnificent, but also menacing. In this exotic setting, the supernatural seems almost possible and little chilly fingers tickle your spine. Leaphorn, something of a passive investigator in the first two novels of the series, is an action figure in "Listening Woman," confronting several ultra-violent killers. Hillerman allows his characters to grow and adds and subtracts characters as he goes along in the series. Captain Largo, Leaphorn's sardonic boss, makes his first appearance in this book. "Listening Woman" suffers slightly from an ending drawn from action movies rather than real life, but it's a top quality mystery/western nevertheless. Anybody who is drawn to wide-open country and American Indian culture will love Tony Hillerman's books.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Leaphorn thinks he's Dirk Pitt, Mar 31 2001
The first half of Listening Woman, the third in the Joe Leaphorn series, is vintage Hillerman. There's lots of desert scenery and insights into Native American life. Unlike other books, this book is focused entirely within the Navajoes but even then we learn that there are 58 clans, 57 who keep Navajo time and then this clan that's slow even by Navajo standards. Of course, much of the mystery takes place on their turf. Joe is investigating a variety of backburner cases as an excuse to be in an area where a motorist had nearly hit him. As he digs deeper, a missing helicopter and an FBI investigation seem to be involved in whatever is going on. Enter the Dirk Pitt side of Joe's personality. I won't spoil the surprise but suffice it to say that Joe endures flame, flood and a host of other harrowing experiences as he solves the crime and saves the day. Bottom line: Less religion and culture, more action than the other Hillerman's I've read. Still, a fun, entertaining read.
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