The Sacred Bridge

Anne Hillerman continues her father's and her own series based on cops patrolling the Navajo Nation in The Sacred Bridge (#1,066).  My husband and I read this just as AMC debuted a TV series based on the early books in the series.  It was good to see the landscape while we were reading about its vastness and beauty.

Jim Chee and his wife, Bernadette Manuelito, have taken a break to visit Antelope Canyon as tourists.  Jim decides to stay on a few days to hike to a site sacred to the Navajos, the Rainbow Bridge, while considering what his future may hold.  There's no fast or easy way to get to this remote site which was barely preserved when Lake Powell was created, and Glen Canyon flooded so he'll have plenty of time to think.  Now that water levels have dropped so far due to prolonged drought conditions, Lieutenant Leaphorn has given Chee an old map to try to locate an ancient cave in the vicinity to see whether sand paintings important to their culture may have survived.  Not far from the Rainbow Bridge, Chee finds a body floating in Lake Powell...

In the meantime, Bernie witnesses a vicious hit-and-run accident while driving to work.  A lone hitchhiker who tried to catch a ride from Bernie is deliberately run down by a luxury sedan.  When she calls in the incident, little does she know that she is involving herself, her vulnerable mother and her younger sister in a dangerous web.

An engrossing read, as always.  Dikos Nitsaa'igii119, the Big Cough (aka Covid-19), affected many in the Navajo Nation with deadly consequences.  It's good to be reminded that our own actions affect the lives of many others.