Tony Hillerman's "Sacred Clowns"

"Sacred Clowns" by Tony Hillerman takes us to the familiar territory of the Navajo Reservation and it’s tribal officers Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn but with a twist. This time around they are trying to solve a mystery for the Hopi People. In this novel Hillerman tells us quite a bit more about these two characters. Hillerman’s way of fleshing out their characters is to put them on the case of the murder of a teacher, his missing student, the murder of the students uncle, and the death of a man by a hit and run. Not your usual day to day on the reservation.

If that weren’t enough, Jim finds himself attracted to attorney Janet Pete. Janet is trying to tug Jim towards the white man’s world while at the same time Jim is training to become a Navajo shaman. Joe Leaphorn is continuing to grieve for his deceased wife while at the same time beginning to feel that his friendship with a linguistics professor, Louisa Bourebonette, is more than just friendship. All of this helps the reader to learn more about Jim and Joe. It is especially pleasing to see Joe as a little more human and emotional as he has been portrayed as quite stoic in previous novels.

Tony Hillerman’s books are well read and his characters are well loved, and not just the human characters. The most prominent character in all of his novels is the American southwest. Many people have taken tours of the southwest specifically because of the vivid descriptions provided by Hillerman.