Hunting Badger is a 1999 novel by Tony Hillerman

Tony Hillerman

Tony Hillerman was an award-winning American author of detective novels and non-fiction works best known for his Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels...

 involving the armed robbery of a Ute

Ute Tribe

The Ute are an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah ; Southern Ute in Colorado ; and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico . The name of the state of...

 Indian gambling casino by three men in which two security guards are shot.

The plot also involves a stolen pick-up truck, a missing airplane, and anti-government militias.

The book features the characters Joe Leaphorn

Joe Leaphorn

Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is a fictional character created by American mystery writer Tony Hillerman, one of two officers of the Navajo Tribal Police that feature in a number of novels. The other officer is Jim Chee.- Profile :...

 and Jim Chee

Jim Chee

Jim Chee is one of two Navajo Tribal Police detectives in a series of mystery novels by Tony Hillerman. Unlike his superior Joe Leaphorn, the "Legendary Lieutenant", Chee wants to be a staunch believer in traditional Navajo culture; indeed, he is studying to be a traditional healer at the same...

.

In this book Jim Chee has recently returned from a trip to Alaska.

The book has a strong linear plot line in which the Chee and Leaphorn must look to the crimes of the past to discover what has happened and where the casino thieves are hiding before anyone is falsely accused.