Donât miss the TV series, Dark Winds, based on the Leaphorn, Chee, & Manuelito novels, now on AMC and AMC+!
âWith The Shape Shifter, Hillerman once again proves himself the master of Southwest mystery fiction, working in a Hemingway-esque tradition of pared-down writing to bring the rugged Southwest into focus.ââSanta Fe New Mexican
Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is drawn back into the past to solve a cold case that has haunted him for nearly a decade in this atmospheric and twisting mystery infused with the Native American culture and lore of the desert Southwest.
Though heâs officially retired from the Navajo Tribal Police, Joe Leaphorn occasionally helps his former colleagues Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito crack particularly puzzling crimes.
But there is that rare unsolved investigation that haunts every lawman, including the legendary Leaphorn. Joe still hasnât let go of his âlast caseââa mystery involving a priceless Navajo rug that was supposedly destroyed in a fire. Nine years later, what looks like the same one-of-a-kind rug turns up in a magazine spread, and the man who showed Joe the photo has gone missing.
With Chee and Bernie on their honeymoon, Leaphorn plunges into the case solo, picking up the threads of this crime heâd long thought impossible to solve. Not only has the passage of time obscured the details, but a murderer long thought dead continues to roam freeâand is ready to strike again to keep the past buried.