After Sgt. Jim Chee discovers the body of a Navajo man with horribly flayed feet and hands, a number of apparently unrelated events leads him along a path of confusion. Was Chee being duped in a magician's elaborate sleight of hand?
Officer Jim Chee is drawn into his Navajo heritage as he investigates the bizarre theft of a box of trinkets -- a theft that endangers his life as well as the life of a young schoolteacher.
A noted anthropologist vanishes on the eve of making a history-altering discovery at an ancient Nanajo ruin. Navajo Tribal policemen Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee plunge into the past to find a present day cold-hearted killer.
Lt. Joe Leaphorn investigates the disappearance of two Native-American boys one of them a young Zuñi. The investigation is complicated by an archaeological dig, a steel hypodermic needle, and the unique laws and sacred religious rites of the Zuñi.