The Sacred Bridge

A Novel

By: Anne Hillerman

Narrated by: DeLanna Studi, Peter MacDonald

Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Don’t miss the TV series, Dark Winds, based on the Leaphorn, Chee, & Manuelito novels, now on AMC and AMC+!

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A fine legacy series . . . in the spirit of her late father, Tony.”—Booklist

An ancient mystery resurfaces with ramifications for the present day in this gripping chapter in the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series from New York Times bestselling author Anne Hillerman.

Sergeant Jim Chee’s vacation to beautiful Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell has a deeper purpose. He’s on a quest to unravel a sacred mystery his mentor, the Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, stumbled across decades earlier.

Chee’s journey takes a deadly turn when, after a prayerful visit to the sacred Rainbow Bridge, he spots a body floating in the lake. The dead man, a Navajo with a passion for the canyon’s ancient rock art, lived a life filled with many secrets. Discovering why he died and who was responsible involves Chee in an investigation that puts his own life at risk.

Back in Shiprock, Officer Bernadette Manuelito is driving home when she witnesses an expensive sedan purposely kill a hitchhiker. The search to find the killer leads her to uncover a dangerous chain of interconnected revelations involving a Navajo Nation cannabis enterprise.

But the evil that is unleashed jeopardizes her mother and sister Darleen, and puts Bernie in the deadliest situation of her law enforcement career.

©2022 Anne Hillerman (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Well written story as always

The author is almost as good as her father and is carrying the characters forward with enjoyable stories.
Sadly the reader is just that. She is mostly just reading and can’t tell who is supposed to be speaking. Previous narrator was much better.

I like Anne’s earliest narrator best

Although many NM locals and surnames were mispronounced, each succeeding book showed improvement. I liked the first narrator of Anne’s books best because she varied her voice and emotions of the characters making tracking who was talking easier in the audio format. I’m a northeastern NM White woman and the pronunciations for this region are important. Please use the correct regional pronunciation for PIÑON. It is a Spanish word here.

Another Excellent Book!

Anne's books always make me happy. I can't wait for the next one to arrive.

Great Story

Great story! Less than stellar narration. The narrator used a cowboy/western type accent when speaking. It was terrible. I’d rather read the book.

Never disappoints

Two stories for the price of one! I love Chee and Manuelito together, but having their two separate storylines in this novel gave us a chance to learn more about these characters. I also enjoyed reading the growth of the character Darlene - seemed like a realistic development of the sister relationship.

The first Hillerman novel I ever read was Coyote Waits, and I was immediately drawn in by the interwoven Navajo culture and tales. The Sacred Bridge is especially rich in those insights. Even after all these years, I want more. Can’t wait for the next story.

loved this book ...

..and its wonderful characters! and its descriptions of this gorgeous land. thank you Anne! fascinating mystery as well

Narration unsatisfactory

The listener should be unaware of the narration while hearing the story. This narrator reads the book to us with awkward pauses and inappropriate emphases, instead of telling the story. She sounds very amateur.

dispointing

I loved all the other stories in this series but this one fell short. it just wasn't believable and it was too easy to guess "who done it"

Not as good as the ones before

I still love Anne Hillerman’s writing, but I felt that Bernie’s half of the story was unrealistic in a lot of ways. Also, this new narrator wasn’t as skilled as Christina Delaine.

Good Story, but bring back Christina Delaine as Narrator

Anne Hillerman has done a great job upholding her father's legacy and continuing on with the characters he created.
I look forward to every new book and have enjoyed listening to all of them until the last two.
The narrator of Stargazer was so bad that I actually stopped to make sure that I was listening to the correct book. I returned Stargazer and got the book from the library and read it instead.
This narrator, DeLanna Studi, for Sacred Bridge is somewhat better, but her reading is lacking . She sounded robotic at times and at other times inserted odd pauses and strange word emphasis that detracted from the story.

Please bring back Christina Delaine who does such a great job with the Manuelito/Chee/ Leaphorn mysteries.
As for the story in Sacred Bridge, I enjoyed it.