This is the first in Hillerman's long-running mystery series set in the American southwest, among the Navajo people. The story tells the inter-locking tales of academic Bergen McKee, who is looking for stories of Native American witches, a young woman named Miss Leon who is looking for her boyfriend out in the desert, and McKee's friend, detective Joe Leaphorn, who is looking for the person who killed a young Navajo man. The threads all come together as McKee and Miss Leon try to flee from a killer.

I enjoyed Hillerman's descriptions of the countryside and the details about traditional Navajo life and religion. In some ways, this did feel like a first book, and that Hillerman was still "finding his feet" in writing fiction, but it also feels kind of fresh for the same reason. My one big criticism is that the novel focuses so heavily on Bergen McKee, the academic, and Leaphorn's role in solving the mystery is almost secondary, which is an unusual choice for a murder mystery novel.

Overall, though, I liked this and see why Hillerman's Leaphorn & Chee novels became so popular. I'll likely read more by this author.