The Ghostway

"The Ghostway" is just one of the many popular novels by Tony Hillerman which was released in 1984. The whole of the book takes place in the Navajo reservation. The tribal police character's name is Jim Chee. Tony has used this fictional character in several of his Navajo books. It is a story where the Federal Witness Protection Program has sent a convicted felon to the reservation. They do not bother to notify Jim Chee of the Navajo tribal police. Jim does not learn of this until a wave of murders start showing up on his reservation. The crimes start at the reservation but continue to Los Angeles.

In the first chapter of the book an Old Joseph Joe is a witness to a crime. He is at the laundry mat which is called the Shiprock Wash-O-Mat. There are two men in a car that are shouting at him to come over. The men are looking for a person living on the reservation. Old Joe lets them know that he does not know this person, but the driver does not believe him. Old Joe explains that he does not live in town and that he lives in the Chuska Mountains. The driver of the car still does not believe him and starts yelling at him, which is disrespectful for a Navajo to yell at the old. In the end he became a witness to a murder.