The Joe Leaphorn Mysteries.

TONY HILLERMAN

Publication: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1989, New York

First edition. Signed by the author. Contains "The Blessing Way," "Dance Hall of the Dead," and "Listening Woman." Fine, bright copy in a bright, fresh dust jacket. "The Blessing Way" is Hillerman's first book. In it, Lt. Joe Leaphorn of The Navaho Tribal Police discovers a corpse with a mouth full of sand at a crime scene seemingly without tracks or clues. Blood on the rocks ... a body on the high mesa ... Leaphorn must stalk the Wolf-Witch along a chilling trail between mysticism and murder. In "Dance Hall of the Dead," two young boys suddenly disappear. One of them, a Zuni, leaves a pool of blood behind. Lt. Joe Leaphorn tracks the brutal killer. Three things complicate the search: an archeological dig, a steel hypodermic needle, and the strange laws of the Zuni. "Listening Woman" is about an old man and a teenage girl who are found brutally murdered. The blind Navajo Listening Woman speaks of ghosts and of witches, but Lieutenant Leaphorn knows his people as well as he knows cold-blooded killers. His investigation carries him from a dead man's secret to a kidnap scheme, to a conspiracy that stretches back more than one hundred years. Included are a full-page color illustration by Navajo artist Ernest Franklin that twice depicts Leaphorn, additionally, each of the three novels begins with another original color illustration by Franklin, "The Blessing Way" begins with another depiction of Leaphorn with a rifle, "Dance Hall of the Dead" begins with a rider on horseback with rifle approaching a downed deer, "The Listening Woman" begins with rocks falling near a snarling animal and a nearby gun. A very scarce presentation housed in the original slipcase that is in fine condition.

Inventory Number: 52484