Skeleton Man

Skeleton Man is the 17th book in the Leaphorn/Chee mystery series by Tony Hillerman. These stories never get old. I always enjoy the setting, the characters, and the plots. I can't find anything to fault in this series.

from the back of the book:

In 1956, an airplane crash left the remains of
172 passengers scattered among the majestic cliffs of
the Grand Canyon -including an arm attached to a
briefcase containing a fortune in gems. Half a century later,
one of the missing diamonds has reappeared ...
and the wolves are on the scent.

Former Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is coming out of retirement to help exonerate a slow, simple kid accused of robbing a trade post. Billy Tuve claims he received the diamond he tried to pawn from a mysterious old man in the canyon, and his story has attracted the dangerous attention of strangers to the Navajo lands -one more interested in a severed limb than the fortune it was attached to; another willing to murder to keep lost secrets hidden. But nature herself may prove the deadliest adversary, as Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee follow a puzzle -and a killer- down into the dark realm of Skeleton Man.

The NYT says, "No wonder Hillerman's stories never grow old. Like myths, they keep evolving with the telling." Kirkus Reviews concludes with this: "No mystery this time, but considerable suspense in the race to bottom of one of the most spectacular and treacherous landscapes Hillerman’s ever explored." Publishers Weekly says, "Hillerman continues to shine as the best of the West."

I've read these from this series:

1. The Blessing Way (1970)
2. Dance Hall of the Dead (1973)

4. People of Darkness (1980)
5. The Dark Wind (1982)
6. The Ghostway (1984)
7. Skinwalkers (1986)
8. Thief of Time (1988)
9. Talking God (1989)
10. Coyote Waits (1990)
11. Sacred Clowns (1993)
12. The Fallen Man (1996)
13. The First Eagle (1998)
14. Hunting Badger
15. The Wailing Wind
16. The Sinister Pig (2003)