Hunting Badger

Tony Hillerman's novel, "Hunting Badger," is a story about 3 men who raid a casino and disappear into the canyons of the Utah-Arizona border. The book is actually written and dedicated to a real life homicide that consisted of a police officer which was murdered in Colorado, in 1998. The officer who was murdered on that terrible day was Officer Dale Claxton of the Cortez, Colorado P.D. The three men responsible for the murder were said to be survivalists who then disappeared into the dense and vast area of the Four Corners. The FBI, as well as more than 20 other federal agencies, was involved in the manhunt that ensued, but the fugitives were never captured, and only the bodies of two were ever found.

Hunting Badger is a dedication to the fallen, but never forgotten, officer. When Hillerman brings Navajo tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee and his long time friend and colleague Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn to the case, the pieces begin to fall into place. The investigation begins after three men raid a gambling casino that is run by the Ute nation. After the raid all three men disappear into the canyons on the Utah-Arizona border.

The FBI has their eye on a wounded deputy sheriff as their prime suspect, but Chee and Leaphorn turn their focus and attention towards a legendary Ute bandit/hero. Together they begin to find the pieces and the connections that will eventually lead them all on a dangerous and perplexing manhunt.