The 2 Navaho police officers, Jim Chee & Joe Leaphorn, featured together in the author's earlier A Thief of Time & Skinwalkers, once more solve a puzzling, complex murder mystery set in New Mexico. Washington politics and protests lead Chee and Leaphorn to cases of grave robbing and to a body that was found stripped of all identification. Lt. Joe Leaphorn seeks the identity of a murder victim. Officer Jim Chee arrests a Smithsonian conservator for ransacking the sacred bones of his ancestors. As the layers of each case are peeled away, it's clear the cases are connected. A grave robber and a corpse reunite Navajo Tribal Police Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee. As Leaphorn seeks the identity of a murder victim, Chee is arresting Smithsonian conservator Henry Highhawk for ransacking the sacred bones of his ancestors. As the layers of each case are peeled away, it becomes shockingly clear that they are connected, that there are mysterious others pursuing Highhawk, and that Leaphorn and Chee have entered into the dangerous arena of superstition, ancient ceremony, and living gods. Annotation. A grave robber and a corpse reunite Navajo Tribal Police Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee. As Leaphorn seeks the identity of a murder victim, Chee is arresting Smithsonian conservator Henry Highhawk for ransacking the sacred bones of his ancestors. As the layers of each case are peeled away, it becomes shockingly clear that they are connected, that there are mysterious others pursuing Highhawk, and that Leaphorn and Chee have entered into the dangerous arena of superstition, ancient ceremony, and living gods.