The Sinister Pig (Navajo Mysteries, #16)

The Sinister Pig (Navajo Mysteries #16)

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74  ·  rating details  ·  2,588 ratings  ·  136 reviews
Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police is troubled by the nameless corpse discovered just inside his jurisdiction, at the edge of the Jicarilla Apache natural gas field. More troubling still is the FBI's insistence that the Bureau take over the case, calling the unidentifiedvictim's death a "hunting accident."

But if a hunter was involved, Chee knows the prey was int...more
Paperback, 318 pages
Published October 26th 2004 by HarperTorch (first published January 1st 1969)
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Fran
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Bernell Spicer
The desert southwest is a primary character in many of Tony Hillerman's mysteries, which is one reason I generally enjoy them. I grew up on the Western slope of Colorado, where the red soil is dotted with scrubby green trees, and snow peaks tower all around. It was truly a paradise. And yet the country that speaks to my soul is a little further west and south: Canyon country, the area around the Navajo and Hopi reservations, and south, on into the Sonoran desert. This area, the Four Corners regi...more
Michael
A satisfying mystery for fans of Hillerman�s series on Navaho detectives Leaphorn and Chee, the 16th of 18 with one or both detectives. Alas, there will be no more given Hillerman�s death in 2008. Here Jim Chee becomes intrigued with a case of murder of a well-dressed outsider. In the first pages Hillerman has the reader inhabit the mind of this oil industry problem-solver engaged by a powerful Senator to investigate the siphoning off of production from the numerous wells operated on federal and...more
Leiah
I normally enjoy Mr. Hillerman's works, and have a collection I like to return to over and over. This one, sadly, went straight into the box to go to the used book store. The editing was so horrible as to be a joke. It makes one wonder if his writing has always been this bad, and some UberEditor has been working magic for all these years, or if he was just under a huge rush to meet contractual obligations and couldn't be bothered to actually write a decent book.

It is also disappointing in that t...more
Joyce
Another great Hillerman novel! I think I have read just about every one of his books and I've enjoyed all of them. They are the kind of books I like to read when I want something well written, easy to read, fun, entertaining and not too complicated or "heady". I feel like I know Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn because they're in all his books. Also, I love reading about the old Indian ways and beliefs of the Navajos and the Hopis. Now that I live in Arizona, I appreciate his descriptions of the landsc...more
Bob Gooch
Good old-fashioned crime novel set primarily in southwestern New Mexico involving murder, border issues, corrupt local cops and federal politicians, drug smuggling, etc. The main protagonists are folks you can root for, and the bad guys are, well, you'll have to read the book. Hillerman is a good writer. He weaves complex stories, and resists the temptation to get down in the gutter.

It's funny but in re-reading the book this time, I tried to imagine who I would get to play each of the main char...more
Jesse Whitehead
When a man with a fake ID is found murdered on the Navajo reservation people immediately think he was investigating the oil pipelines. When Jim Chee starts looking into it he finds out drug smugglers and politicians are involved and Bernadette Manuelito, now working as a Border Control Agent is right in the middle of a big cover-up.

Tony Hillerman has a decidedly readable style. I especially like his way of making each character feel like an old friend. As soon as Chee shows up I know just what h...more
Carol
Another Navajo mystery novel. This one gets into Washington politics and explores how egomaniacs come to control the nation. It makes very clear how the "War on Drugs" only benefits the drug czars. As fiction, there is a black and white difference between the good guys and the bad guys, but I think that there is a lot of truth to the way the system functions. He also made me aware of how natural gas and oil are being somehow siphoned away from Navajo land without paying the legally required roya...more
Roberta Marro
Ah, hard to believe that we will get no more of Tony Hillerman's wonderful books. I thought this was one of his best--full of double meanings, teaching my about oil pipelines and the uses to which they could be put. I used to love to listen to Hillerman's books when traveling through New Mexico because he brought that country and the native american people who live there to life so beautifully, while weaving in a mystery that caught you up in the story. Easy reading, but more complex than they a...more
Margaret Murray
A man hands an envelope to another man across a table---So begins The Sinister Pig (2003) by the late Tony Hillerman, famed mystery writer of the Southwest. The beginning is very simple–a man hands an envelope across the table of a small cafe. The setting is Navajo Country but it could be anywhere, anytime. How mundane. How ordinary. How easy to read. This vintage Tony Hillerman beginning fascinates me–it’s deceptively simple. By the end of the first page, we are in the midst of a high-level cor...more
Linda Landig
I read this book during a snowstorm, when we lost electricity. I read it by flashlight, trying to keep warm under a down comforter. I enjoyed it and it took my mind off being snowbound and cold, but I didn't think it was Hillerman's strongest novel. As always, Hillerman did a great job of describing the terrain where the story takes place. But there was less to learn about Native culture in this book than in others of his and it just seemed kind of stiff and unnatural in places.
Carl
"The Sinister Pig" is not Hillerman's best book, but it's still a pleasure from the first page to the last. Once again we have our Navajo cops Joe Leaphorn and/or Jim Chee in a plot that is almost too complex to summarize, involving the mysterious shooting of an ex-CIA agent, financial shenanigans around oil-and-gas royalties, disappearing congressional interns, exotic pipeline technology, and the cross-border trade in both drugs and illegal aliens. Still, Hillerman tells a good story. If you en...more
Jeri
This one was a a bit of a disappointment compared to earlier books in the series. I'm not sure any Hillerman book can be a "bad" book to me, but this had much less interesting Navajo background, and a complete lack of mystery. The reader is shown everything that is going on long before the "detectives" even begin looking into the "mystery". I was also disgusted at the way the romantic relationship concludes ... Not with the results, but with the way they get there ...
Uncleg
Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police, along with his unofficial partner, the retired “legendary lieutenant” Joe Leaphorn, have a murder case connected with old gas pipelines taken out of their jurisdiction by the FBI, as the murderer is highly connected politically in Washington. Meanwhile, Chee’s unofficial girlfriend, Bernadette Manuelito, now working as a Border Patrol agent in the bootheel of New Mexico, turns up the key to the case.
Marjorie Thelen
I read this one and then listened to it on tape. Hillerman is my all time favorite mystery author and I've real all his books at least once. So I wanted him on my bookshelf. Love the way he uses landscape as character. Love the characters: Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, Bernie and all the side characters. The Wailing Wind is another favorite. I've learned so much about the Navajo and their customs by reading his books.
Kathie
I learned of Tony Hillerman after the Happy Hikers trip to New Mexico. I have read several of his books because I like mysteries and the Southwestern setting. The story line of his books is usually uncomplicated and easy to follow. This is another mystery in his Navajo Tribal Police Series which include the usual characters; Jim Chee, Joe Leephorn, Cowboy Dashee, and Bernie Manuelito.
Susan  Odetta
Love Tony Hillerman's books. Found several I do not recall reading at The LifeStyle RV Resort in Willcox, AZ, in the high desert between Dos Cabezas and Chiricauhua Mountains. As always, Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, Bernadette Mauelito and Cowboy Dashee are real to me. Great stories centering on the area we are heading north and into. I love the American southwest desert in the spring.
Marti
Ever since I first encountered Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, and Bernie Manuelito, I have been enthralled with Tony Hillerman's stories of these Native Americans in the Southwest. Besides solving crimes, there are also facets of their culture which are revealed. I was surprised to find that Mr. Hillerman was not himself a Native American, but this does not detract.
Richard
A Navajo policeman, Jim Chee, solves another crime. This book, number 16, in the series isn't quite as good as some the earlier ones by Hillerman, but still a good read. I listened to this which made it even better. Our two year stay in Albuquerque made this book even more enjoyable. Everyone should read at least one of Hillermans novels.
Robin
I have been reading this series for years and feel as if I know The Legendary Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee. A number of themes and elements are common to many of Hillerman's Navajo mysteries. Many of them focus on the different attitudes that Leaphorn and Chee take toward Navajo which is an added bonous to reading these books.
Gay
Not the best Hillerman book, but decent read. There are wonderful descriptions of New Mexico and there is a love relationship between Jim Chee and Bernadette... Chee can be relied on to make mistakes and not tell Bernadette how he feels. The Pig is the oil pipeline clean out, and drugs over the mexican border are involved.
Dickie
A friend who recommended this book loaned it to me and it's the first Hillerman novel that I have read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. As a mystery it's not quite the thriller that I've grown accustomed to but very interesting in that it had enough suspense to keep me guessing and a great deal of humor. I plan to start on his back list soon.
Patrick
I have enjoyed many of Hillerman's books, in part because they are fine escapes, and in part for the depiction of Tribal life in the Southwest. His characters are human and fallible, but manage to catch the bad guys in general. These are not great literature, but are generally good alternatives to most movies, and all TV.
Lance
This book is for those who enjoy Tony Hillerman stories will find this also enjoyable, if not his best work. This continues a long string of comments about the many law informant agencys and how the do not work together and if anything fight to gain more power. Even after 9/11. Enjoyable book, quick read.
Candace
Always a favorite author of mine, his books are particularly dear to me now that I know there will be no more (which may affect my star rating). I love the way he weaves this story together with appearances of both Leaphorn and Chee. And I am esp. enjoying his books while also reading his daughter's book, Tony Hillerman's Landscape, which describes and has photographs of the areas where the stories take place (thanks, Pat!).
Kristine
Listened to this audio book without having familiarity with the characters already and that made it somewhat more confusing than I suspect it would be otherwise. An okay mystery, but I got queasy with the clumsy love story, in particular how it ended. Still, I would try this author again if I felt like a mystery.
Sarah
I'm such a sucker for Tony Hillerman books, and this is a good one. Romance for Jim Chee, some Washington shenanigans mixed in, my favorite characters (the Four Corners landscape and the Navaho Way) making good appearances, and good old Joe Leaphorn figuring it all out before anyone else does. I recommend!
Carolyn
Enjoy getting back to the adventures of Jim Chee and Leaphorn and the native American culture with insights into the problems of the Mexican border crossings. Hadn't read one of these for a long time. This one had more political aspects than most of Hillerman's mysteries.
John Form
I am starting with my least favorite Hillerman novel so to get it out of the way. This was one of his last (maybe his last) and it unfortunately showed. The story didn't seem to go anywhere and even the characters seemed tired of being written about.
Jeanne
I just picked this up randomly, not realizing it was part of a series. The basic mystery was a very interesting concept, and well-executed, even if some of the plot points were a bit predictable. It's an enjoyable read, and the setting and viewpoint are unique.
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The Sinister Pig (Navajo Mysteries, #16)
The Sinister Pig (Navajo Mysteries, #16)
The Sinister Pig (ebook)
The Sinister Pig (Navajo Mysteries, #16)
The Sinister Pig (Navajo Mysteries, #16)

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Tony Hillerman, who was born in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma, was a decorated combat veteran from World War II, serving as a mortarman in the 103rd Infantry Division and earning the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. Later, he worked as a journalist from 1948 to 1962. Then he earned a Masters degree and taught journalism from 1966 to 1987 at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, wh...more
More about Tony Hillerman...
The Blessing Way (Navajo Mysteries, #1) Skinwalkers (Navajo Mysteries, #7) A Thief of Time (Navajo Mysteries, #8) Listening Woman (Navajo Mysteries, #3) Dance Hall of the Dead (Navajo Mysteries, #2)

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