Skeleton Man, Tony Hillerman (Harper Collins, 2004) ***

As always, Tony Hillerman spins a yarn that will appeal to all of you who enjoy a mystery and a southwest setting. For those who are long-time fans of Hillerman’s two Navajo tribal policemen, Sergeant Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, you won’t be disappointed.

As he often does, Hillerman ties this mystery to a real event, the deadly collision of two passenger planes over the Grand Canyon back in 1956, which killed all 128 passengers. In this novel, one of the passengers is carrying a valuable cache of diamonds. Nearly fifty years later, the theft of a valuable diamond from a local pawn shop is apparently tied to a much earlier diamond robbery in the same area, and both may be connected to the diamonds that were never recovered. Although Lieutenant Leaphorn is retired, he becomes involved in the mystery, along with his protégé Jim Chee and Chee’s romantic interest, border patrol officer Bernie Manuelito(look for significant developments here).

Adding to the suspense, a potential heiress to this fortune shows up, hoping to recover her father’s remains from the ancient wreckage, unaware of competition from a few villainous types who are hoping to do her out of her inheritance and recover the diamonds. The search is complicated by the fact that the debris is in a remote area of the canyon considered sacred by the Hopi Indians. The danger and excitement increase as the involved parties descend into the canyon, now flooded by local thunderstorms, and not everyone survives the confrontation that awaits them.