Well, it hasn't happened yet to Hillerman. "Sacred Clowns" is as good as anything he's done-as flavorful and chewy as beef jerky, so evocative of the land around the Four Corners area of New Mexico that even if you've never been there you'll think you have. And best of all, it's a book as full of kindness, love and compassion as it is of murder, sadness and mystery. That's not a balance you find very often, especially in this field. . . . The two murders involve men who were indeed God's fools-a selfless teacher at a mission school who used humor to overcome his shyness, and an actual Hopi koshare-"sacred clown"-who used humor in a religious ceremony to ridicule the sins of his people.