THE SINISTER PIG

Our favorite characters, Jim Chee, Joe Leaphorn, and Bernadette Manuelito are all present in this short novel, the newest in Hillerman's bestselling series about the Navaho Tribal Police. Chee is called in to solve the murder of a man without identification, found at the edge of the Jicarilla Apache natural gas field, and immediately gets embroiled in a complex case involving American and Mexican drug lords and corrupt federal officers. It won't spoil anything to let you know that the good guys win. While George Guidall's reading is perfectly good, it's not on par with his best performances. He handles Leaphorn and Leaphorn's female housemate, an anthropologist, capably, as well as many of the minor characters. He is less consistent in his characterizations of Chee and Manualito. Still, all in all, a fine listen. R.E.K. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 03]