Hunting Badger

Hunting Badger is the fourteenth crime fiction novel in the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series by Tony Hillerman, first published in 1999. Armed robbers at a Ute Indian gambling casino shoot two security guards, one fatally. Sgt. Chee gets involved in the hunt for the robbers, while retired Lt. Leaphorn gets drawn in by one who will not go to the FBI or local police. Chee and Leaphorn work together again. One reviewer considers this to be "Hillerman at his best." while another calls it a "Pleasing lesser work from the doyen of the regional mystery." The novel "continues to hold a high place on every national best-seller list." The basics of the plot were inspired by the "intensive manhunt that followed the murder of Officer Dale Claxton on May 4, 1998. . . only with more satisfying results." Most reviewers praised the descriptions of the dramatic landscape ("the scenery spectacular", "the most picturesque country in the Southwest", "the scenic Southwest's beauty") and one notes "several new insights into the mysteries of Navajo culture and a story with enough twists and surprises to make readers glad they checked in."