 First edition cover | |
| Author | Tony Hillerman |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Peter Thorpe |
| Language | English |
| Series | Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police Series |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Set in | Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation in Southwestern United States |
| Published | 2006 HarperCollins |
| Publication place | USA |
| Media type | Print and audio |
| Pages | 276 |
| Awards | Spur Award for Best Western Short Novel in 2007 |
| ISBN | 0-06-056345-1 |
| OCLC | 61264361 |
| Preceded by | Skeleton Man (2004) |
| Followed by | Spider Woman's Daughter (written by Anne Hillerman; 2013) |
The Shape Shifter is a crime novel by American writer Tony Hillerman, the eighteenth in the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series, first published in 2006. It was a New York Times best-seller[1] and the last Chee/Leaphorn novel by Hillerman published before Hillerman's death on October 26, 2008.[2]
A cold case from Lt. Leaphorn's earliest days as a police officer finds new evidence, which he pursues though he is retired. The slick and cruel perpetrator continues his same modus operandi, but Leaphorn gets evidence on this elusive murderer and thief, leading to a dangerous final encounter. The story ties the 1860s forced Long Walk of the Navajo, US operations in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, Navajo beliefs of greed as the main evil, and the concept of skinwalker or shape shifter in a 21st-century tale.
- ^ "Best sellers: December 19, 2004". The New York Times. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
- ^ Stasio, Marilyn (October 27, 2008). "Tony Hillerman, Novelist, Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved March 19, 2016.