Customer Reviews

Coyote Waits

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The conclusion of *Coyote Waits* is the most powerful and affecting of all Hillerman's "Navajo mysteries." Leaphorn has his monsters to slay: alcoholism, superstition. They come together here in a complex mystery that begins with Jim Chee botching a crime scene and lead from there through a maze of deception and misdirection. When we emerge into the sunlight, the truth is heartbreaking.

For my money, the sentimental best of the series. *A Thief of Time* may be better writing and plotting, and *Skinwalkers* may have the best suspense, but this is the story that will stay with you for days and return to haunt you when you see your next drunken Indian dozing away despair in tenement shade.

Right from the moment where a car fire on a dirt road announces trouble with a capital "T," I enjoyed "Coyote Waits" a lot. Hillerman's pace is measured but not sleep-inducing. It was fascinating to see two policemen work in different ways to solve the same crime. The story would would have been memorable for that reason alone, but Tony Hillerman isn't past president of Mystery Writers of America for nothing. As usual with this author, well-informed asides about Navajo culture and mythology advance the plot and bring characters to life. Thunderheads and Reservation landmarks are described in language as spare and beautiful as the land itself. Even small scenes are expertly drawn. When an old man looks at the floor, we know precisely why. When people talk in a crowded elevator, their words, actions, and feelings have perfect pitch. The end result is not just a mystery, but also a crackerjack police procedural and a poignant meditation on the nature of friendship.

One never knows where evil will come from and that is why one must always be on guard or so it seems when you read Tony Hillermans novel "Coyote Waits". It is the authors message that if you seek to do something of an evil nature Coyote is sure to make a meal out of you.

I enjoyed this book. Not until the very last had I suspected that a simpe inoccent act of love could develop into something tragic

A friend suggested that I try one of Tony Hillerman's books and COYOTE WAITS is the one that I picked up. After finishing it, I was really glad that I had listened!

This is the story of murder and mystery on a Navajo reservation located in Arizona and New Mexico (it crosses the border into both states). A Tribal Police Officer is murdered and an old shaman (medicine man) is charged with the murder. Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn (both Tribal officers) go their own ways to try and solve this case and end up crossing paths several times. Hillerman then throws in the family of the shaman who is trying to get someone to believe in his innocence. Next in the story is a young, female public defender that has just returned from Washington back to the place where she grew up and her first assignment is this case. A missing history professor in search of Butch Cassidy and a few other asundery characters are added to the mix for good measure. They all total a wide variety of personalities and ideas, which is part of the intrigue of COYOTE WAITS.

This story was very interesting and at times suspenseful. It's more of a mystery type story than a tale filled with suspense, but it is very well done. The characters are vivid and seem to be mimicked from real-life people. The reservation, customs, and Indian myths are accurate and well described. These are interwoven into a book that wets your appetite for more and Tony Hillerman has a long list from which to choose.

This book was the beginning of my journey with Hillerman, and if the others are as enjoyable, I will be very pleased.

I have read about 80% of Tony Hillerman's novels dealing with Jim Chee and Lt. Leaphorn and have not come across a bad book yet.

I think perhaps my problem here is that was an older novel and I have read many of the newer ones first, so it's like going back in time to view the characters at an earlier date.

With this in mind, I think that Tony Hillerman has definently improved over the course of his novels as Coyote Waits, though a good read, is not as evidently mature as his later titles.

A few sub plots could have been a bit stronger, but the overall story was entertaining. Read this one in chronological order to the others and you won't be disapointed.

Coyote waits is Tony Hillerman's tenth novel set on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. Hillerman's two characters, Jim Chee and Lt. Joe Leaphorn, reappear, this time working together to solve the case of the murder of Chee's friend and fellow officer Delbert Nez. The premise is solid and the characters, as usual, are a joy.

I'm working my way through these Hillerman novels in order and I've found this one to be a particular pleasurable. With each new novel, Hillerman's characters are growing more mature in terms of their depth and complexity. Although Hillerman can't seem to resist the temptation to introduce romantic complexities, he doesn't let the dalliance interfere with the quality of the mystery.

Coyote Waits also exhibits a complexity of plot that may be a high point of Hillerman's progress so far. As usual his characterization of the Navajo reservation and its denizens is a pleasure. He brings the outsider is detachment, but always with a sensitive touch.

This is a fine installment in the series and recommended to any fan of Hillerman's fiction.

Picked this up at Albuquerque airport after five days home in the Four Corners and devoured it in one sitting on the plane ride home. Hillerman captures the Southwestern USA as a character like Randy Wayne White captures Southwest Florida, Robert Goddard captures Southwest England or Jim Thompson captured Texas.
The pacing and economical emptiness of writing of Hillerman's books goes perfectly with the climate and geography where they are set. Spend some time on Native American lands and you'll get the point. Hillerman has the New Mexico/Southwest/reservation/Four Corners nailed -- at least, one big aspect of it. His books also are unique -- no one else has carved out the same niche.
I liked the realism of the law enforcement officers jumping to a quick conclusion about how the killing went down that might not stand up to scrutiny. There are cases like the one in the book where it's just very easy not to look a whole lot further, and candid cops will tell you that.
I also like Chee and Leaphorn and how Hillerman gives us two complementary characters, the one older and wiser but perhaps a tad closed to originality, the other younger and more impulsive but also more able to look outside the lines, think outside the box.
Thoroughly entertaining, quick read.

Coyote Waits is one of Hillerman's best. I have read most of Hillerman's Navajo Mysteries and found this one to be near the top, the prose is simple and elegant, (no wasted words here) the landscapes descriptive and vivid (but not romantic). Coyote Waits is an excellent mystery, not overly complex or mind-numbingly predictable. This is Hillerman at top form and there are few like him.

Tony Hillerman delivers in COYOTE WAITS, another of his Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee mysteries. As usual Hillerman masterfully weaves Navajo traditions, culture and references with modern crime in the Southwest.

COYOTE WAITS pits the skills of Leaphorn and Chee against a marauding phantom with a paint can who is out defacing the natural formations of the desert. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Well, it isn't. When a fellow tribal policeman turns up dead while pursuing the painting vandal the plot inevitably thickens.

COYOTE WAITS also makes dynamic statements about some of the terrible problems that continue to face Native Americans in the Four Corners area. Hillerman's genius is obvious here. His narrative employs believable characters that confront real-life problems in ways that invite the reader to stop and consider that very real issues are out there and need to be addressed.

A great book.

THE HORSEMAN

I have never been partial to mysteries, but I love Tony Hillerman's Navajo themed books. I first saw the movie version of Coyote Waits on PBS, then I just had to read the series. It makes me miss Arizona, where I have adoptive family at the Hopi Reservation.
Wonderful and exciting stories.