Kirk Mitchell, Dance of the Thunder Dogs

Dance of the Thunder Dogs

Kirk Mitchell

Berkley, Nov 2004, $21.95, 368 pp.

ISBN: 0425198367

BIA investigator Emmett Parker is home after thirteen years away solving tribal crimes. He is recuperating from a wound in his chest made from an axe during a case in upstate New York. Although being at home is an adjustment, his tribe is proud of his accomplishments and honors him at a pow wow attended by the president, thanks to the Assistant Chief of Staff being his former lover Dagen Kirsch. They have a romantic encounter that makes Emmett feel better than he has since he broke up with FBI Agent Anna Turniseed before Dagen returns to DC.

BIA Agent Jerome Crow asks Emmett to help him prove that he was not embezzling trust fund oil money from the tribe. Jerome asks Emmett to meet him at a place where they will interrogate a suspect. Emmett reluctantly agrees, but at the rendezvous point he finds Jerome dying. An FBI agent observing Emmett pull a knife out of Jerome's chest concludes that Emmett killed Jerome. While on the lam, Emmett links this homicide with two others to hide a conspiracy to siphon tribal funds earned from oil.

DANCE OF THE THUNDER DOGS is a fascinating crime thriller that places an innocent person on the run from his law enforcement peers while also trying to clear his name. Always a maverick, Emmett has few friends he can count on while obsessed FBI Agent Mengas continues to chase him. Their hound and fox interplay makes for a fine action-packed thriller that Tony Hillerman's fans will believe is outstanding.

Harriet Klausner