Reviewed by: the Blind Monkey

For those of you biligaanna not lucky enough to grow up in the desert Southwest, I highly recommend letting Tony Hillerman take you there. In his 21st masterful attempt at bringing this magnificient landscape to life, Hillerman sets up the barren beauty of Arizona and the four corners like only a native can. But wait - this isn’t a travel brochure — it’s murder.

Whoa! Was that cheesy, or what!! HAHAHAHA!

But seriously, the story goes like this: When Navajo Tribal Policeman Benny Kinsman is killed while trying to apprehend a suspect on remote Yells Back Butte, Jim Chee is there to apprehend a blood soaked hopi poacher. It’s an open and shut case - until his former boss, now retired Lt. Joe Leaphorn, blows it wide open.

The First Eagle is yet another wonderfully simplistic Hillerman tale. This review is directed mostly at you monkies who have not yet discovered his work - for I must admit, all of his books follow the same formula. Someone gets killed, Chee or Leaphorn tries to find the killer, get crucial information from local skinwalker gossip, follow the wrong trail, drive all over New Mexico and Arizona, and then well, you know.

I was first introduced to Hillerman by my grandfather in New Mexico. A voracious reader himself, he’s the original master Monkey. Facinated by Navajo and Hopi lore, he loves the way Hillerman captures the stillness and frightening mythology of Native Americana in a way that only someone raised in the desert can.

I’ll admit I was skeptical at first. I mean, the Navajo Tribal Police setup doesn’t exactly lend itself to the high-tech methods, jet-setting global intrigue, or mind-bending plot layers that usually get me. Hell, Chee can barely pull his sidearm without being reminded of how he barely passed his last shooting exam. But just the same, Hillerman has a way of keeping you right at the edge of your seat.

I think it’s this ‘back to basics’ approach that makes these books a true intellectual treat. Leaphorn and Chee chase the bad guys the old fashioned way - they follow the clues and anticipate the moves of their opponent.

The First Eagle is the latest in a long list of satisfying Hillerman thrillers. From one Monkey to many, I highly recommend it!

Mass Market Paperback - 319 pages (July 1999) Harper Mass ISBN Market Paperbacks;: 0061097853 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.18 x 6.68 x 4.42