This is the second of the Leaphorn and Chee novels written by Anne Hillerman, part of the series started by her father, Tony Hillerman.
In this story, a large part of the book is spent on Bernie Chee and her mother and sister. I thought there was a little too much of this, but I'm hoping this is just to establish Bernie's background in future stories, and won't be so necessary in additional books.
Bernie is the main focus of the stories, although her husband, Jim Chee is involved in a separate investigation, and the story moves from one to the other fairly well. Both Jim and Bernie, in their separate investigations, consult with their mentor, Joe Leaphorn. While Joe is still recovering from being shot and unable to speak, he is able to use a computer to help his friends out.
I wasn't drawn in by Jim Chee's investigation, and wish it had been more interesting, or more important, or both. It was almost like an amusing little afterthought to the story.
As for the part of the plot involving Bernie, I found it somewhat interesting, but it was overshadowed by all the personal family drama that was taking place. That isn't what I'm looking for when I read a mystery. I also found a couple of the characters totally unbelievable.
So my view of this book was that it was good, but disappointing. I really enjoyed the original Leaphorn and Chee novels, and hoped to love these as much. I did not love this one, as I had expected it to be better than the first she wrote (which I did enjoy), and I felt it didn't really improve. I will read the next in the series, as I already have it, and am hoping that she can capture the feel from the original books a little better.
This is my fourteenth book in my Mount TBR Reading Challenge (bought 10 May 2016), as well as #27 in my 2019 Craving for Cozies Challenge.
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