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Don't Tempt the Spirits
Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins
A review of the book by Tony Hillerman
Sacred Clowns (Prince Frederick, Maryland:  Curtis Brown/Recorded Books, 1993 (original 1991), Audiobook.)

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Another Navajo-Hopi murder mystery unfolds under Hillerman's pen featuring the team work of Joe Leaphorn and Detective Jim Chee of the Navajo Police.  They team up with Cowboy, a Hopi law enforcement officer, to solve a murder that revolves around the Tano Kachina spirit ceremony.

As usual, Jim Chee is actually assigned on what he considers a nuisance case, looking for Delmar Kanitewa, a missing teen.  But the case turns into a challenging first-rate mystery.  Chee spots Kanitewa at the Kachina ceremony, and while trying to get to him through the crowd, he comes upon the murder.

The murder victim is a Sacred Clown, a mystical and shamanistic character important to most of the plains Indian peoples.  As the investigators probe the facts around the death, we are introduced to the mystical worldview of the Kachina and the role of the Sacred Clowns.  The Myth and culture of the intersecting Native cultures of New Mexico come to life in this tale.  The rich background cultures come through as major players in the mystery.

The interaction of the different tribes enriches the tapestry of the story and provides insight into the cultural distinctiveness of each Native people.  Gil Silverbird's superb vocal dramatization is spot on as expected!

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For more about Sacred Clowns:
Read more about the Sacred Clowns of Native American cultures
Read a more extensive review and background on this Hillerman novel

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OBJ

Initial reading notes written November 2010
Developed for Amazon 27 November 2012
Reviewed on GoodReads 27 December 2014
This review posted on Thoughts and Resources 3 January 2015

Orville Boyd Jenkins, EdD, PhD
Copyright © 2015Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use.  Please give credit and link back.  Other rights reserved.

Email:  orville@jenkins.nu
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