★★★★☆ Chee and Bernie in mortal danger while Leaphorn in Hawaii

The Sacred Bridge

Anne Hillerman

The Sacred Bridge is novel 25 in Tony and Anne Hillerman's Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito mystery series. It is the seventh novel by Anne Hillerman. As is often the case in the series, we have two unrelated mysteries being investigated by two of the lead characters. Chee investigates the death (by accident or homicide) of a Navajo tour guide near the Rainbow Bridge (sacred to the Navajo and other Native American Nations). Bernie investigates the murder of a Chinese scientist, witnessed by Bernie. There is no question that this is a homicide, but Bernie doesn't get a good look at the murderer. Joe Leaphorn is out of the action for this novel -- he's vacationing in Hawaii with Louisa.

This novel was more harrowing than usual, because both Chee and Bernie are in substantial danger for an extended period. Chee's mystery is not actually much of a mystery. Hillerman drops hints very early in the novel that make it obvious who the murderer is and how the murder was done. Still, to be honest, I read these books for the stories, not for the mystery, so that didn't really bother me. I can't say much about why Bernie's story is so scary without spoiling, but I will drop this hint: I recently read The Running Grave, and The Sacred Bridge reminded me of it.

The Sacred Bridge is a solid Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito mystery. The stakes feel higher than usual, and it's less of a feel-good story than most of the previous ones.

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