Hunting Badger

Three armed men rob the Ute tribal casino and vanish into the labyrinthine canyons of the Utah-Arizona border. When the FBI's pursuit focuses on a wounded deputy as a possible suspect, Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee and retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn begin their own investigation, following a theory that cuts against the federal narrative. Hillerman's fourteenth Leaphorn and Chee novel is a chase story that doubles as a meditation on memory, legend, and the difference between the law's truth and the land's.

George Guidall has narrated the Leaphorn and Chee series for years, and his voice carries the particular authority of the Southwestern landscape. His pacing through the canyon country sequences gives the geography a presence as tangible as any character, and his handling of the series' recurring dynamic — the older Leaphorn's pattern-recognition against Chee's instinct — remains consistent and vivid. At just under six hours, this is a clean, purposeful entry in a landmark series.