I heard that Robert Westbrook’s Howard Moon Deer mysteries were the next big series for fans of the Leaphorn/Chee/Manuelito Native American mysteries written by the father-daughter duo of Tony and Anne Hillerman. Though disappointed in the first Moon Deer book, Ghost Dancer, I ventured on to the second Moon Deer mystery, Warrior Circle, partly hoping the series improved and partly because I’d already bought the book.
There is a dual hero set-up here with Howard Moon Deer and his friend/boss Jack Wilder. Howard is a late twenties Lakota who fled the reservation to attend Ivy League schools and travel in Europe. He’s half-heartedly working on his dissertation in culinary psycho-sociology, titled “Philosophical Divisions at the Top of the Food Chain.” Jack is a San Francisco cop who was blinded in an automobile accident and forced to retire. They both settle into a little town in New Mexico, San Geronimo, and open a detective agency.
Howard and Jack are asked to investigate the disappearance of a member of a local “warrior circle,” a group of white men who have co-opted a Native American tradition. This man disappeared during a camping trip in the mountains while all members were high on peyote. There are multiple suspects, mostly the other members of the warrior circle but a few red herrings thrown in, and a complicated story of city corruption. Complicating the situation, Howard’s girlfriend, Aria, has disappeared, leaving her vehicle running and the sound system blasting opera, only 100 yards from his home. As Howard is a typical lusty young man, there are some explicit sex scenes with Aria and with a later more casual relationship which might bother some readers.
Overall, the story lines are not as tight nor the characters as endearing as those in the Hillerman series. As Howard is estranged from reservation life and doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere, the book lacks the deep sense of culture, history, and belonging that permeates the Hillermans’ books. Simply because a series has a Native American protagonist does not mean it is as good as a Hillerman. I won’t be reading further in this series.
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Warrior Circle (Speaking Volumes, September 29, 2017) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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You can read my review of the first in the series, Ghost Dancer, here.
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