Spider Woman’s Daughter by Anne Hillerman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I met Ms. Hillerman at Bouchercon in 2015. Although I’d never read one of her father’s books, she was a delightful person and the description of this book intrigued me so I gave it a read.
A big plus is that I was never confused. As I said, I’d never read a Tony Hillerman novel, so all these characters were new to me. Perhaps the fact that Ms. Hillerman was using a secondary character (Bernadette Manuelito) as the primary protagonist helped. But I didn’t feel my lack of knowledge about the Hillerman universe hindered me in any way.
I also thought the descriptions of setting were fantastic and, while I am certainly no Navajo expert, the Navajo experience felt very authentic. It spoke of a very high degree of dedication and research, which I appreciated.
I did find the pace lagged a bit in the middle. There seemed to be a lot of going places and wonderful description, but not a lot of motion on the mystery-solving. However, when the mystery was the focus, the story stepped right along.
I think anyone who is already a Tony Hillerman fan will appreciate this new book – and anyone who hasn’t read Tony will not feel lost if they start with his daughter.