Part of Leaphorn & Chee, book 11
First published 1994
Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee face mounting pressure when Saint Boneventure boarding school erupts in crisis. A teacher lies dead, a teenager has vanished, and a council woman demands they locate her missing grandson. Chee thinks he spots the boy during a traditional Pueblo ceremony, watching sacred clowns from a rooftop perch. The ritual turns deadly when someone brutally kills one of the performers before the horrified crowd. The two investigators must navigate complex relationships between Indian clans and nations to connect these violent crimes. Their search reveals a web involving the disappeared student, corporate lobbyists pushing to establish a toxic waste facility on Pueblo territory, and a precious artifact that Abraham Lincoln once presented to the tribes. Leaphorn and Chee work without leads through this maze of competing interests and cultural tensions, seeking the hidden connections that bind together murder, politics, and tribal heritage.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, native-american
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cultural-clash, investigation
Setting: Saint Boneventure, Pueblo
Period: 20th-century
354 pages · Mass Market Paperback · HarperCollins
Content warnings: violence