Regardless of whether you agree with the choices of all the stories selected within this book, it is a great representation of american mystery stories in the 20th century. The inclusion of some of the centuries most prolific mystery writers, (Chandler, Hammett, Cain, MacDonald (Ross & John D.)), famous novelists (Faulkner, Steinbeck, Buck), modern writers (Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, Sue Grafton, etc.), and countless others make this a fantastic collection. Only a "sour grapes" type of personality could not appreciate this book. I guarantee that this collection will have you wanting to read more from some of these authors, and probably expose you to authors you weren't aware of previously. With stories varying from 10 to 40 pages, you can choose how long you want to read. I am an avid mystery reader, and I while there are many great books and stories I have read, I feel this is the best purchase I have made for the assortment of authors, styles, and stories I have been exposed to.

Some stories you've read, some forgotten, some never heard of before, are the rewards in this fine anthology. Take the time to enjoy this one.

The stories in it reminded me of the great writers I enjoyed much earlier in the century. I liked the fact that they dated the stories to let the reader know when they were written. I must commend Tony Hillerman for his impressive choices; it couldn't have been an easy job. I can tell you right now, don't expect to read it in one week, not even in a month. I do recommend you savor and enjoy these stories slowly, even repeatedly, over an extended length of time, possibly even between other mysteries. What I mean is, who would WANT to hurry through such classics as James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, William Faulkner, Susan Glaspell, Stephen Greenleaf, Dashell Hammett, O Henry, Sue Grafton, or Flannery O'Connor? And that's just a drop in the bucket of Who's Who in this 813-page book.

Flannery O'Connor is one of my all time favorites. She has a strong way of making a point; her endings have always taken me by surprise. Her 1965-story The Comforts of Home, about a son still living with his mother and the unwelcome guest she brings home, has the honor of being included. Another great one is, Susan Glaspell's 1917 story, A Jury of Her Peers; a story of a husband who hung himself while still in bed. Then there's a 1905 story by Willa Cather called Paul's Case; about a recently released safe cracker who may or may not go straight. Be sure to read Tony Hillerman's introduction. He tells the reader the difference between literature and mystery and how mystery has evolved. On my keeper shelf it goes!

THE MYSTERIOUS WEST Edited by Tony Hillerman

This is an ecclectic collection of short stories in settings that rage the American West by a wonderful variety of writers. They are all new, never before published, stories.

Each story is a "mystery" of some sort. I found them all to be quite facinating, even if most are not about cats. One story is most decidedly about a cat, Midnight Louie.

Louie has his own series of novels. The short story in this anthology is a good example of Midnight Louie's other adventures.

If you or your purrrson like mysteries and stories of susspense, deceit and excitement, this is a great book to have. The stories are completey engrossing, easy to read and a treat! Take the book along when you have to wait for your next medical, dental or other appointment. Each tale is like a piece of gormet canip--a pleasure that almost doesn't last long enough.

A book for adult readers, but without sleaze, or the need for parental discression!

Twist, a prrroud member of CLAW, and the CLAW Bookstore Committee

I've been reading a lot of novels lately. 600-pagers. So when I found this collections of short stories, I gave it a try. I love the West; I love short stories; why not a change of pace. Hillerman has collected stories set in the West, not western stories. At first I bridled: Hillerman without Navajos? But once I got into the first story, I was hooked. This is the only collection I have ever read whose stories are ALL good, and there are a lot of stories in the book. I liked the characters, the locations, the stories, and the surprise that most of the stories were by women. I hadn't expected that. A favorite? That would be tough. How about three: "Nooses Give" by Dana Stabenow--ridding the Tundra of bootleggers; "A Woman's Place" by D. R. Meredith--Highwater, Texas never saw no lady judge before!; and "With Flowers in Her Hair" by M. D. Lake--you CAN go back, but it may not be very nice there. What did I hate about the book? Closing the back cover.

This is one of the better anthologies of mystery stories that I have read. The Western theme works well to tie it all together, though for some authors it is apparent only from the location of the story. I enjoyed the short submissions from authors whose full length works I have already read - including D.R. Meredith, J.A. Jance and Karen Kijewski. The most notable reason to get this collection is to be exposed to authors you may not normally choose. A couple I found here and had to investigate further were Dana Stabenow (writes about an Eskimo female investigator - excellent stories) and Linda Grant - who I have only read in other short story collections

I've read about everything Hillerman has written, and listened to most of his recorded Books on Tape. I'm an ex-Peace Corps Volunteer and appreciate his fascination and his realistic approach to this original American culture.

Tony Hillerman writes great mysteries with complex characters and beautiful descriptions of Navajo country. But when he came up with Navajo police officer Jim Chee, he created the perfect '90s man. Chee is gentle, spiritual, strong, mostly silent, and smart. Plus, he recognizes his own failings--and tries to become a better man. Whew! Who could ask for anything more?

In this book of three earlier Jim Chee mysteries we get the best of Hillerman and a nice dose of all the things he's rightly famous for. There are insights into Native American culture, beautiful descriptions of the Southwest, intriguing mysteries and even a little love story.

When Jim Chee falls in love with Mary Landon, a Wisconsin school teacher who wants him to leave the reservation and work for the FBI, two of the mysteries allow us to follow the development of that relationship as Hillerman explores the difficulties of a cross-cultural relationship. Chee's struggle with his personal life gives a great deal of texture to the mysteries, and his efforts to be both a Navajo singer and a policeman create tension between his personal and professional duties.

Of course, the best part of these mysteries is Hillerman's marvelous grasp of character and place. Open this book and you'll lose yourself on the Navajo reservation with as interesting a group of people as you'll ever wish to meet in real life. Especially that Jim Chee character!

Hillerman, a former newspaperman, spend many,many years in the Southwest, and his novels are set in a land he knows very well. From the mesas to the Chinle Wash these three novels exude the bold topography of the Navajo Nation.

Jim Chee is a member of the Tribal Police, struggling with one foot in the ancient tradions of his born-to and born-for clans while trying to assimilate modern mores. His on-again off-again love is Janet, a spirited Native American lawyer, whose thoroughly modern stance clashes with his ambiguous identity.

Through Jim Chee we experience glimpses into Dinetah, the land, and culture of a fascinating people. The brushstrokes that create this world are deft, with a pyschological appreciation for each character. Hillerman creates a world for all senses to enjoy.

Two stories are set in the Navajo Nation, while one begins there and travels to Los Angeles, CA. Layers upon layers unravel, as Chee investigates seemingly random and unrelated bits. I especially appreciate the culture interwoven into the story line, yet never felt this done in a heavy-handed way.

Each novel is a jewel, each with it's own merits. Villians may be expected, or nearly the last person you suspect, but you'll have your consciousness raised while loving every minute of these tales. Atmospheric, sensitive and compelling Hillerman with have you longing for a trip to this world.

I think it's especially telling that the author has been given the highest honor that can be bestowed on a non-tribal member: Friend of the Navajo People. The Dineh appreciate dry humor, and while Hillerman never creates sterotypes, he gently lampoons instead of deifying. Once you enter THIS land of enchantment you will clambor for more from this splendid storyteller and outdoorsman.

This is a terrific book for anyone that enjoys history but is not looking for a detailed, academic analysis. This book lets you learn about the old west from the people that lived there. It contains excerpts from a wide variety of primary sources including newspaper articles, letters, and diaries. You'll recognize the names of many of the people whose stories appear. There is also plenty of material written by people who never became famous, but who do have stories to tell about real life in the west.

This book did what all good books should do - it left me fascinated and wanting to learn more.

Among the history books about the Wild West this is like a siver dollar among paper money: While many of them are just so much rustling paper, unable to wake the spirit of the time or bring the people to life, this one speaks with their own voice, loud and clear. To me, a student from Germany, who knew the West only from Hollywood movies and Karl May (the only author I missed in the anthology, but he is rather a German speciality), the whole time gained flesh and bones while reading the accounts of such divers people as Indian chiefs and Philadelphia ladies turned Cowgirl. The possibilities of a place where conventions didn't count as much as your ability to ride a horse or rope a cow strike one very vivid from these pages. Besides - not all cowboys were white (or male). All the different people that made up the Wild West get to have their say and your can, after reading this anthology, truly say for yourself that you can picture, say Dalton City at it's peak.

In this volume, encompassing three novels, we are introduced to Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, educated at a White college yet living on the reservation, and discover some of the ways of the Dineh, the people. The subject novels -- "The Blessing Way," "Dance Hall of the Dead," and "Listening Women" were written between 1970 and 1978, and deal with the effects of jealousy, greed, rage, and revenge brought onto the Navajo reservation by outsiders. Hillerman has an unerring talent for using small bits of Indian culture to weave convincing stories laced with an inticate pattern of mystery.

From day one, Hillerman has been a successful mystery writer. He writes with integrity about the lives of the Southwest Indians (emphasis on the Navajo) with perception and understanding. Hillerman has won many fans with his series of mysteries but some in the Navajo nation are disturbed over a White author writing about their "ways" even though Hillerman doesn't get into secret tribal matters. Regardless, Hillerman has fostered a lot of good will for the Navajo, the Zuni, and the Hopi with his large audience of readers.

Over the years, the possibilities inherent in the mystery formula have become exhausted. Hillerman has developed, within the framework of the formula, a Navajo policeman who solves crimes with a mixture of modern and ancient skills and also educates readers about Navajo beliefs. Hillerman's stories don't challenge a reader's intellect. That isn't the author's intention. What he produces is a likable hero, descriptions of fabulous scenery, unobtrusive murders, and the absorbing lives of the Navajo. The author ably works the White and the Idnian worlds as he explains the reality of Whites and some off-reservation Indians intruding on the reservation and the resulting conflicts. In Hillerman's mysteries the reservation Indians always win.

The author's writing skills are evident as he mixes the acts and thoughts of different individuals smoothly and coherently in "The Blessing Way." The author employs McKee, a close friend of Leaphorn, to do most of the work. McKee deduces, faces danger, solves dilemmas, but Leaphorn actually ties the loose ends together at the finale. Leaphorn reveals clues but you'll be none the wiser unless you have some knowledge of Southwestern weather, fauna, hieroglyphics, Indian beliefs, and similar arcana.

The author uses the "Dance hall of the Dead," to really educate a reader in SW Indian lore. The central point to the story is an archeological excavation and the disruption brought by the White man to the reservation. Navajo mysticism pervades this murder mystery. We learn about the Beautiful Mesa Families, who elected to die when Kit Carson arrived in 1864; Zuni Indian spirits who join the Kachinas and become one of them; the Navajo Chindi who spread sickness and evil among the Dineh; and the Shalako Ceremony which grants fertility to crops and brings needed rain to the desert regions of the reservation.

In the "Listening Women," Hopi ways are introduced as are the Navajo concepts of -- Remaining in harmony with the universe; Navajo wolves identified as men and women who turn from harmony to chaos and assume the guise of Coyotes, Dogs, Wolves, and Bears in order to spread sickness among the Dineh; Disharmonious sand paintings which can cause death; and Destruction of tradtitional Kiowa medicine bundles when the Buffalo disappeared. While this quantity of information might seem daunting to a reader, author Hillerman allows Joe Leaphorn to solve a murder while smoothly inculcating a reader in Native American lore.

The author has applied a gentle and refined twist to the mystery formula by creating an intriguing product employing Southwest Indian lore, the masterful Joe Leaphorn, and a little murder or two wrappoed up in a pleasing package. Try Tony Hillerman's mysteries, you'll enjoy his flights of imagination.

The Joe Leaphorn mysteries by Tony Hillerman have become one of my favorite reads. I never thought that I would be interested in mysteries set on an indian reservation but this book changed all that. After reading this book I found and read every Hillerman book I could find and watch the lists for new ones. I have also learned a lot about reservation life and have a new-found respect and understanding of what life is like for the American Indian today. Kudos to Tony Hillerman!

Tony Hillerman has assembled four down and out cowboy band wannabees, faintly reminiscent of some other musicians from Brementown, but perfectly at home among the cactus and mesas of the Southwest. Buster Mesquite's Band isn't very good, but it's plenty loud, and they are destined for adventure on their quirky journey to fame and fortune, helped along the way by their unabashed enthusiasm for their music and some plain old dumb luck. Those notorious bandits they stumble upon don't stand a chance when Buster's Band dazzles, or rather startles, them with their latest tune.
Ernest Franklin's energetic illustrations make every page an eyeful that enhances Hillerman's spare and witty style of storytelling. Buster's Band gets a definite A for effort.
Nancy Tandberg
New Mexico Kids! magazine

1859, in Santa Fe, army captain Jean Benoit cannot escape the dark rumors of war filling Fort Marcy's dusty air. A southern born soldier must decide which side he will fight in the upcoming war. But before he can decide Benoit is drawn into a battle far closer to home, a bloody conflict in which a beloved friend's life hangs in the balance. a great story.

It is too bad that the publishers do not have the faith in Hillerman's readers that his readers have in him. Of course I expected this book to be another Navajo mystery. Look at the cover and the cover comments. They are directed, not at this book, but at his other books. Even the reviews on the back cover were of a different book. Noticed this after I read the book and wondered why I was confused. I will buy books by Tony Hillerman, but I do not think that his publishers should sell him short. His fans never will.

I am a Hillerman fan of the first water. I loved "Finding Moon". This book is a journey away from Mr. Hillerman's Navajo southwest. The book, along with being a great story to read is also a book about growth of a character who intertesting even form the beginning. I'm not much at writing reviews, but let me just say that I really enjoyed this book. Thanks.

Jim Chee takes himself seriously, but Tony Hillerman only wants to tell you a great story while inclucating in you some respect for a culture you may not know. If you've read Hillerman, I don't need to tell you much. The first Chee books are wonderful because they are the development of the character. If you started with later novels, go back and read the early ones! This collection is a great place to start! Ah, but then you'll be hooked, and you'll have to buy all of Hillerman's work! DO IT!! Your reading will tell you much more than my enthusiams will do here!

ASM