On Halloween, a skeleton is found wedged near the apex of 1,700-foot-high Shiprock, one of the holiest places in Navajo religion. Baffled in his attempts to determine the skeleton's identity, Jim Chee is relieved when his old mentor, the newly retired Joe Leaphorn, shows up with a solid lead. Ten years before, Leaphorn had worked on a missing person case that involved a man who had disappeared while vacationing with his wife near the monolith. He had never been able to find the body -- until now. His missing person, Hal Breedlove, and Chee's mysterious skeleton are one and the same.
Before they can celebrate closing their respective cases, however, the plot takes a twist. An old Navajo guide, the last man who saw Breedlove alive is seriously wounded by a sniper in the desert, and Chee and Leaphorn begin to suspect that Breedlove's death was murder. Renewing their uneasy partnership, they begin an investigation that takes them through a tangled web of intrigue and deceit and culminates in a spectacular snowbound climax when a colossal blizzard hits the reservation just as they're about to close in on the killer.
With its ingenious plot, impeccable pacing, gripping evocations of the Southwest's harsh beauty and unique insights into Navajo culture, "The Fallen Man" is Hillerman at his best.
