The title refers to Navajo children who were adopted out of the tribe and raised without knowledge of their culture. Joe Leaphorn is hired as a private investigator by such a woman who hopes to find her Navajo family. Another lost bird is a woman nicknamed Songbird, not a lost bird in the sense of an adoptee, but a missing person. She is Leaphorn’s other case, as he’s been hired by her husband. And at the same time, the school where the woman was a music teacher and the husband works as a custodian is struck with an explosion. Bernadette Manuelito is brought in to help investigate.
The weaving of plot threads in this book is extraordinary. Navajo rugs and weaving play an important part—a rug found in the car of the missing woman along with the body of someone who might be her, and a rug in an old photograph that’s a clue to the lost bird, Stella’s, family history.
My sense of the whole book is of a masterpiece of weaving, of stories within the story. There’s the story of Cecil, the custodian, who narrowly escapes the explosion, fearing that someone did it to attack him. He has a terrifying experience, pursued by people to whom he owes money. Then there’s the story of Leaphorn’s beloved friend Louisa and her troubled adult son. When Leaphorn and retired Captain Largo race to be on time for a rescue, I couldn’t stop reading. It’s one of the most intense scenes in a mystery I’ve ever come across.
Though this book is layered with mysteries, chases, and moments of danger, it has none of the clichés, none of the tired tropes, of the mystery genre. It is entirely original.
The characters are, as always, portrayed with great depth. Navajo culture also portrayed with depth and knowledge. The family stories are woven fully into the plot, so you never feel like you’ve gone on a digression. The scenes at a trading post as Leaphorn discovers rugs that may be connected with his client’s Navajo family are quiet but profound and beautiful and just as absorbing as the more intense sections.
I was stunned by the end. I never would have thought that particular person had done that particular crime, and yet, as with any good mystery, it all makes sense.
It was a pleasure to spend so much time with Joe Leaphorn. He’s a character that Tony Hillerman wrote with insight, and Anne Hillerman has gotten to know Leaphorn equally well. I look forward to the next book in the series.
Amber Foxx Mysteries 