The Wailing Wind: A Leaphorn and Chee Novel

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

“Tony Hillerman’s novels are like no others. His insightful portrayal of the vast Navajo Reservation, the spirit-haunted people who inhabit it and the clash between ancient traditions and modern civilization that has shaped its present and will determine its future has produced a body of work unique in mystery fiction.”—

San Diego Union-TribuneLegendary detectives Leaphorn and Chee are pulled into mysteries old and new in this haunting tale of obsessive greed, lost love, and murder from the “national literary and cultural sensation” (Los Angeles Times)—New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman.

Officer Bernadette Manuelito finds the dead man slumped over in the cab of a pickup, with a rich ex-con's phone number in his pocket . . . and a tobacco tin filled with placer gold. She figures he’s just another drunk—an assumption that gets her in trouble for mishandling a crime scene and brings down the wrath of the FBI on her supervisor, Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. 

For Chee’s mentor, former Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, the death eerily echoes a long dormant cold case. Years earlier, Leaphorn followed the trail of a beautiful, young, and missing wife to a dead end, and the failure to close that investigation has haunted him ever since. This new case could lead to the truth, and the legendary lawman comes out of retirement, determined to solve it. 

But ghosts never sleep in these high, lonely Southwestern hills. For Bernie, Leaphorn, and Chee, the twisted threads of craven murders past and current may finally be coming together, as the desert gives up its secrets . . . secrets heard in the wailing wind.

Tony Hillerman served as president of the Mystery Writers of America and received the Edgar and Grand Master Awards. His other honors include the Center for the American Indian’s Ambassador Award, the Spur Award for Best Western Novel, and the Navajo Tribal Council Special Friend of the Dineh Award. A native of Oklahoma, Tony Hillerman lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, until his death in 2008.