THE SHAPE SHIFTER

George Guidall owns these wonderful Tony Hillerman stories, in which Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police solve crimes using their deep knowledge of Navajo legends and customs. In this one, Leaphorn, retired, is drawn back into an unsolved case by the reappearance of a priceless Navajo rug that had been thought destroyed in a fire. Chee and his policewoman bride, Bernie, are mostly unavailable to help, and Leaphorn, without a badge or legal gun or the right to pry, has a tricky time of it. The title shape shifter is a real-life version of a creature from tribal legend, an evil being with the power to disappear and reappear as something else. Guidall is a vocal shape shifter himself, and wonderfully effective. B.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 07]