This is one of Tony Hillerman's weakest mysteries, but it's worth reading for a plot twist that will make it interesting for long-term Hillerman fans.I suggest, as others have, that you first read several of the earlier books in the series to get to know Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, the Navajo detectives who surely deserve a place in the hall of fame for fictional detectives. You won't be able to appreciate fully this book without being familiar with the back story.Contrary to Hillerman's usual practice, most of the action in this book takes place off the Navajo reservation, way down in the New Mexico bootheel near the Mexican border. Hillerman's usual weaving of Indian culture into his mysteries is mostly absent. Hillerman also preaches in this novel, a bit unusual for him. He argues against the US war on drugs as futile and harmful and he exposes the theft of billions of dollars from Indian tribes by fraud in the payment of royalties on oil and gas revenues.Smallchief