★★★★☆ Bernie (not quite) on her own

Cave of Bones

Anne Hillerman

On reading this paragraph on page 6 of Cave of Bones,

Chee planned to be away in Santa Fe for a few days, for intensive training at the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy. Bernie’s sister, Darleen, had been invited to attend a program for prospective students at the Institute of American Indian Arts, a college in Santa Fe. Even Mama would be gone. Her mother felt so well she planned to go to the Crownpoint rug auction with her weaving student, Mrs. Bigman.

I thought to myself, "Subtle, Anne Hillerman! You want to give Bernie a story of her own, and so you have unceremoniously hustled her family off-stage!" I expected therefore, that this would be a novel focused almost entirely on Bernie. That was not unwelcome. I like Bernie, as I believe does everyone who reads these novels. But Hillerman is smarter than me. It turns out that Chee and Darleen, even off there in Sante Fe, have important roles to play.

It begins when Bernie is invited to talk at an outdoor exercise for troubled teenage girls. Bernie, who hates public speaking, is terrified of this. As it turns out, however, she is saved from this distressing prospect by even more distressing events. Domingo Cruz, one of the counselors at the camp, fails to show up when expected. Since they're out in the dangerous New Mexico Malpais (badlands), this is worrisome, and Bernie gets the missing person search going. Also, Annie Rainsong, one of the girls in the program, stumbled across a cave full of bones the night before, and it becomes Bernie's responsibility to check it out and make sure the searchers handle it in a culturally sensitive way. And then, while driving home, she comes upon a car that has gone off the road, whose driver needs help. And things kind of snowball from there, even including a literal snowstorm.

It is not at first obvious whether any crime has been committed.

Meanwhile, Chee is having a more placid time in Santa Fe, attending his course and visiting with Bernie's sister Darleen. However, his boss Largo has asked him to track down another potential missing person. Eventually his search turns out to be connected to Bernie's.

I enjoyed this one a lot, mostly because of Bernie. Although it is not all Bernie all the time, the focus usually on her. Bernie is an intelligently curious and courageous character. At one point Annie, on finding that Bernie is scared of dogs, says to her, “I didn’t think you were scared of anything.” It is easy to see how she could get that impression. Bernie is sometimes scared, but when she is, she thinks the dangers through, decides if whatever she is scared of is worth risking, and if it is, she plunges in -- not recklessly, but deliberately and thoughtfully.

The mystery -- there is one, of course -- is surprisingly intricate and Bernie, with a little help from Chee and Leaphorn, eventually figures it out.

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