The Shape Shifter

Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Mysteries, Book 18

By: Tony Hillerman

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Lt. Joe Leaphorn, who can't seem to stay retired, investigates a case that takes him back to his earliest days with the Navajo Tribal Police. When Erwin Totter's trading post burned to the ground back in 1965, the news that Ray Shewnack, a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted List, had perished in the blaze drew all available officers to the scene. Joe Leaphorn (Skeleton Man, 2004, etc.) was pulled away from Grandma Peshlakai's, where he'd gone in hopes of recovering the ten gallons of pinyon sap stolen from her. It was a waste of time, Grandma Peshlakai insisted, since the man was certainly dead.

Now Leaphorn's old friend Mel Bork, a private eye in Flagstaff, has disappeared after sending Leaphorn a photograph of a tribal rug that's supposed to have been destroyed in the Totter fire. If the rug survived—and when Leaphorn treks out to Flagstaff to examine it as it hangs on the wall of big-game hunter Jason Delos's lodge—maybe Shewnack, a holdup artist who managed to kill two victims and finger his three accomplices to the police, isn't dead after all. (Kirkus Reviews)

©2006 Tony Hillerman (P)2006 Recorded Books

Twists & Turns!

A great story about shape shifting! You need to pay attention as the story weaves its way through shifts time and again.

As usual, a great read!

The reader makes the Hillerman characters come alive. Thank you and Mr. Hillerman for this book.

Great Story, Incredible Narration

As always, Tony Hillerman and George Guidal combine for an amzing story of the Navaho Tribal Police. This time, the story focuses on Lt. Joe Leaphorn, retired, a tale-teller rug, and a string of crimes involving murder, robbery, deceit, and two cans of stolen pinion sap. Trust me, you will enjoy listening to how it all comes together.

The narrator

I found this very informative and would like to listen to more like this. Joe Leaphorn a great character.

Hillerman plus TOP narrator!

I’ve been reading the series for decades. Niw, listening to the stories over again, I still find them intriguing. And always learning about First Nations culture.

Most enjoyable!

I really like Tony’s stories. Good mysteries well told.
Jim and Bernie are great additions.

Does Not Stand Up to Scrutiny

Enjoyable enough story, but it doesn’t stand up to even cursory examination. The villain - the Shape Shifter - is a man of many identities and passports; where did he get them? CIA? They audit those. He supposedly has staked out the Southwest because there are few people and he must remain hidden, he kills anyone that might recognize him, but let’s Architectural Digest come in and photograph his home and stolen rug? How does he explain why a full grown adult who appears out of nowhere is suddenly buying homes, trading posts, obtaining insurance policies, paying taxes? Hillerman obfuscates these huge holes with a lot of dialog and cultural folderol, but it is a comic book plot, extremely thin and implausible.