RfP Wednesday -- Tony Hillerman

Today is the first ever Reading for Pleasure Wednesday, as declared by Dr. Crazy. I assume that I'm going to have an easier time of it than some others, because all my reading is for pleasure. I never have to read for teaching the way the lit people do.

Right now, I'm reading The Blessing Way, by Tony Hillerman. I'm still making up my mind on Hillerman. I've experienced two of his books. (One was actually a book on tape, which is an unusual experience in itself.) They are serviceable mysteries -- clever without being Byzantine. I think that he does character development pretty well, which is why I am going back and reading the series from the beginning. Unlike, say, the Nero Wolfe books, you really have to read these guys in order to keep up with how the characters grow and change.

I'm halfway through The Blessing Way, and it's pretty good so far. We've got one body, and one character who has mysteriously disappeared, presumably to turn up dead later. At this point, I haven't the slightest idea who the culprit is, or even what the motive is. We'll see as things unfold. One thing about mysteries is that the denouement makes a huge difference. A regular novel can be pretty good but have a weak ending. A mystery cannot.