I love everything about Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. I love their native blood, their corner of the world, their integrity, their skills as lawmen. I eagerly await each new Hillerman book and was on the list at amazon.com for weeks for his latest story.

With that said, I must admit that this was the first time since "Finding Moon" that I did not finish a Hillerman/Chee/Leaphorn story in one sitting. In fact, it took me almost a week to slog through to the conclusion.

The story had little, if any, cohesivenss -- I had to re-read parts to keep all the characters straight. I found several of the plot devices trite and so beneath the characters.

I did like Joe Leaphorn's new love interest and look forward to more stories with the two of them joining forces to solve crimes.

I was also very touched by the scene between Jim Chee and his beloved granduncle. I wept at the end of that chapter. Hillerman's talents were at full tilt during this scene and I wished for more of the same...it just wasn't to be found in this book.

"First Eagle" is not a true representation of Hillerman's abilities. If you're a first time reader, try ANY of the earlier stories. To me, they're heads above this latest effort.

Terry Mathews

As usual, I enjoy reading about the Native American issues touched upon in Hillerman novels. I knew next to nothing about life on a Reservation and little than nothing about the different Navajo traditions, beliefs and cultural taboos.

I find it wonderful how Hillerman weaves a regular whodunnit into all of that Native American background information.

On another point: for me, the bubonic plague is a scary thing, that symbolizes death and horrible suffering. Yet, it seems that the characters we meet in the story are quite casual about it. Hillerman's dialogue talks about it like I would calmly discuss a flu.

I did not like this story line as much as I have liked previous books. This is a definite read, just to revisit Leaphorn and Chee, but I wouldn't say this was the best of the series.

I don't like Chee's relationship with Janet and I will wait until the next issue to see what's up with that! Janet strikes me as being unsure of what she wants and is stringing Chee along. I imagine Chee as a "hero" character, the big, strong silent type and I don't want someone playing with his heart. Call me sentimental.

Good Book, not a great book. I finished in 5 days of evening reading before bed.

I felt Chee's character was developed more and, yes, he continues to struggle with his idea of the good life versus Janet Peete's, (Jim, she ain't worth it. Go after Bernie!!!) and he still feels inadequate next to Leaphorn's legend. But he is finding he is capable and I am sure will gain in confidence. Gee, if you people want realistic writing don't expect the characters' problems and insecurities to just disappear. Do yours?

Leaphorn is making an effort to keep busy after retirement and Hillerman succeeds in keeping him interesting and important to plot.

I found the plague plotline interesting as I had just read several newspaper accounts of real plague outbreaks in that area. Wow! How very timely of Mr. Hillerman. The medical and scientific descriptions were not hard to follow and I felt they helped flesh the story out more. The naysayers to all that detail(they had better not read Robin Cook or Michael Crichton) were probably intimidated by it, but Hillerman makes it easy for us ordinary folks.

One more point to defend. Some say the plot's too slow. Well, I felt it moved along quite nicely, was suspenseful and it most certainly made sense! And, anyway, haven't you people learned anything about Navajo patience and all that stuff in your other readings?

I used this book to climb Mt. Handies, Redcloud, Sunshine, and Sneffels (all 14,000' peaks) and was utterly confused on how to find the trailheads! Located in the Alpine Loop that connects Ouray, Silverton, and Telluride, we spent many precious hours searching in four-wheel drive terrain for the trailheads. In the end, the trailhead was a simple location and could have been described in a much better way. The result was that we nearly ended up stuck in the mountains due to running out of gas! We only made it because of a kind stranger.

To Pixler's credit, the description of the actual hikes are good, although the distances seemed consistently off. I especially appreciated a few hints on shortcuts for the Redcloud hike, as it saved about a mile and a half of hiking!

There are definitely better books out there, but this will do if you can't find anything else.

One caveat: the difficulty ratings are for SW Colorado climbs *compared to each other*. I have run across many tourists on trails in the San Juans who tackled a "moderate" climb from the book only to find it extremely difficult.

I think the ratings are accurate, *if* you live in the area and hike regularly. If you're not used to altitude and not in good shape, take this into consideration.

If you're visiting or living in Southern Colorado, you need this book.

Thanks Paul!

Don't waste time, there are so many other novels that worth paying money for. Don't misinterpret that the best selling novel is the best novel.

I think perhaps my problem here is that was an older novel and I have read many of the newer ones first, so it's like going back in time to view the characters at an earlier date.

With this in mind, I think that Tony Hillerman has definently improved over the course of his novels as Coyote Waits, though a good read, is not as evidently mature as his later titles.

A few sub plots could have been a bit stronger, but the overall story was entertaining. Read this one in chronological order to the others and you won't be disapointed.

I'd been waiting for the new Leaphorn and Chee novel for a long time. This is NOT my favorite in the series; however, it is still a thinking person's novel that happens to evolve around a murder mystery and the conflicts between the cultures of the American West.

The strength of the novel is the development of the two central characters, Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police and Joe Leaphorn, his former boss-now retired. There are, however, a few too many obvious plot devices for this reader to rate this as highly as some of the other Hillerman novels. I'd picked out the probable guilty party relatively early on--in both the main plot and one of the sub-plots. And the scene in which Chee is shot seems formulaic--the sort of formulaic touch of violence that I have come to associate with certain other novelists. (E.g., In a Dick Francis novel, you know the protagonist is going to be shot or beaten up at least once--with sort of noble, non-life-threatening consequences, usually with a semi-heroic endeavor a few pages later. Chee's shooting is not quite that formulaic, but it's as close to that as I've seen in a Hillerman novel.)

The relationship between Anglo and Navajo cultures is not handled as deftly as in some of the earlier novels. For example, Chee's half-Anglo half-Navajo love interest seems a less well-developed character than she has in some of the other novels. And one key similarity between Leaphorn, Chee, and one of the Anglo characters struck me as under-developed, thereby making part of the ending seem less than satisfying.

The book also appears to be the least well-edited of Hillerman's--one character's name replaces another at a key point, and certain phrases of speech are repeated exactly a couple of times.

But because of the characters of Chee and Leaphorn, I was willing to overlook all this and enjoy the novel. Both are terrific fictional characters. I was sorry to see the book end--I wanted to stay with Chee and observe the next chapters in his life.

In short, if you have not read Hillerman before, start with one of his earlier Chee and Leaphorn novels. After you have become interested in these two characters, come back to this novel for the latest chapter in their story. If you are already a Hillerman fan, fear not, the characters are strong enough to make this a solid, above-average read.