Anne Hillerman's latest Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito novel, The Way of the Bear (#1,146) is set in Utah's Bears Ears National Monument. Jim Chee has been tasked by his new boss with meeting with a wealthy donor nearby who intends to give money to a memorial for Fallen Navajo Policemen. While he's there, he wants to take advantage of a chance to advance his training in traditional healing with the elders at Navajo Mountain. His wife Bernadette has just suffered a major disappointment in being passed over for a detective position with the Navajo Police, so Jim urges her to come with him to hike and soothe her soul with the beauty of the National Monument and its sacred sights.
It seems a sunset hike can never be just a sunset hike for Bernie, as she falls into an unmarked trench along the trail. She picks herself up with no permanent damage, but she can't say the same for the nearby petroglyphs: they have been vandalized in a way to suggest witchcraft. On her way back to her truck, she is pursued and shot at by a couple of people in a beat up pickup truck. That starts a train of events that will lead to both Chee and Manuelito becoming involved with murders and smuggled fossils from Bears Ears.
It's an engrossing mystery, set in a landscape I would very much like to see for myself. If you're a fan of both Tony and Anne Hillerman, you won't want to miss this book.
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