I went to Columbia, with the most prominent 'great books' curriculum still in existence. 25 years later, I'm finding myself re-reading and discussing many of the titles. The Penn Greek Drama series is a handsome library of new translations that give fresh takes on the classics. It's useful to have Euripides on the shelf when you return home from the recent bravura performance by Fiona Shaw as Medea--it settled an argument too on how it 'originally' ended.

I was not happy that this book killed off Dawn and Jimmy so fast. Made the book a little more difficult to get into. FITA and the Heaven series 4th books were more engaging that this one. I love the Cutler series, but I didn't really enjoy it as much from Christie's perspective as I enjoyed Bart's in FITA. this book was good, but definitely not my favorite. I'm glad I read it since it is part of the series.

This book, like all the other books in Cutler series are extraordinary! I've read many of V.C. Andrews books and the Cutler series is by far the best. I started with the first book in the series "Dawn" and was hooked from there on out. After the first few chapters you really begin to feel as though you know Dawn. When good things happen for her it makes me happy, and sad when she is sad. It is almost impossible to put these books down once you've began reading them. I would recommend this series to anyone, it's very easy to follow and will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire series.

Midnight Whispers was an awesome book! Unlike some of the other Cutler series books Midnight Whispers always kept my attention. I was really sad when Dawn and Jimmy died! It really surprised me. Thoughout the book I began to really hate Aunt Bet and the twins. I think this was a great book and everyone should read it.

Hillerman has created a masterpiece series about Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Navajo detectives working in the wide open spaces of the Navajo reservation in the four corners country of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. But one can see this series beginning to trickle away. Former Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is now a talkative old duffer and maybe he should be retired (with laurels) from the series. Sergeant Jim Chee seems to have given up his ambition to be a Navaho singer and is now fully committed to being a cop. This story was simplistic and superficial compared to others in the series and the climax was flat and unsatisfying. Still, Hillerman at his worst has many virtues. Bernadette Manuelito is a great new love interest for Chee -- far more engaging and sexy than the unlamented feminist, Janet Pete. Cowboy Dashee and Captain Largo were more interesting in this book than in previous appearances. But the well seems to have run dry for Hillerman and Hunting Badger lacks the fascinating descriptions of landscapes and mystical ceremonies of his many previous books in the Navajo detective series. Try another one, Tony! How about sending Chee and Bernie Manuelito -- sans Leaphorn -- down to the Apache reservation in a really dark and enchanting story ?

Hunting Badger is a worthy addition to Hillerman's already strong collection of mysteries. Although at the beginning of the book the mystery doesn't seem to be terribly mysterious, the plot twists a few times and is very satisfying by the end. But superceding the plot, and for the first time superceding the Navajo culture, is the character development of the two heros, Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. It is high praise indeed that we care more about the characters than about the outcome of the manhunt. It is such a pleasure to follow series characters that progress through life in a realistic way, and Chee and Leaphorn have done so under Hillerman's direction quite admirably. If you've not read Hillerman before this is not the novel to start with, but I highly recommend all the Hillerman stories with these two characters and this is a fine addition to the series.

As a preface to this review, let me toss a little of Joe Leaphorn's order into the universe of Tony Hillerman. First, there were three Joe Leaphorn novels, then three Jim Chee novels, then two pairs of three Leaphorn and Chee novels. Hunting Badger is the second of the Bernadette Manuelito novels. Whereas The First Eagle spends the majority of the time in the heads of its characters, Hunting Badger spends a mix of time between the internal landscape of the character's minds and the physical landscape of the Four Corners region. The crime: a ripoff at the casino on the Ute reservation. A manhunt ensues that involves all the usual law enforcement agencies, Chee, Leaphorn, Cowboy Dashee, Officer Bernie Manuelito, Professor Louisa Bourebonette [the mythology prof and Leaphorn's lady friend], and to my relief, the red rock canyons of Indian Country. To my delight, this novel involved some mining geology [my training in college]. I'm glad to see the southwestern landscape return as a major player in Hunting Badger, after sitting way in the background of The First Eagle. The First Eagle wasn't a bad book, but its lack of red rock made it a lesser Hillerman novel. As old characters continue to evolve and new characters come to the fore in Tony Hillerman's Navajo novels, I hope the physical landscape continues to provide the sturdy base that it always has.