The Sinister Pig
Encyclopedia
The Sinister Pig is the sixteenth in the Chee
/Leaphorn
Navajo Tribal Police
series of crime fiction
novels by Tony Hillerman
and a New York Times best-seller.
natural gas
field in the San Juan Basin
involves Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee in a mystery involving diverted oil and gas revenues, abandoned pipelines, Washington D.C. insiders, and illegal drugs.
Assigned to patrol the basin and range topography of the rugged Animas Mountains
of Hidalgo County
in the extreme southwestern corner of New Mexico
, U.S. Border Patrol
Officer Bernadette Manuelito photographs a suspicious construction crew on the Tuttle exotic game ranch.
After a complaint about her activities by ranch personnel, Manuelito's supervisor advises her that the Border Patrol has a special arrangement with the ranch whereby ranch personnel monitor the border and provide tips to the Border Patrol. In return, the Border Patrol does not patrol the ranch. New to the Border Patrol service, Officer Manuelito accepts this explanation until she learns that a photograph of her, taken by her supervisor, has been distributed to the criminal element across the border in Mexico
.
Officer Manuelito shares her concerns with her former Navajo Tribal Police supervisor Jim Chee and retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn who are then able to make a connection between the unidentified corpse and the activities Manuelito has observed in Hidalgo County.
Characters new to the series include:
religious beliefs and practices. Although less true here than for many other novels in the series, such references in The Sinister Pig include:
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...
/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 :...
Navajo Tribal Police
Navajo Tribal Police
The Navajo Nation Police is the law enforcement agency on the Navajo Nation in the Southwestern United States. It is under the Navajo Division of Public Safety. It is headed by a Chief of Police, six Police Captains and eight Police Lieutenants...
series of crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
novels 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...
and a New York Times best-seller.
Plot summary
An unidentified corpse discovered at the edge of the Jicarilla ApacheJicarilla Apache
Jicarilla Apache refers to the members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation currently living in New Mexico and speaking a Southern Athabaskan language...
natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
field in the San Juan Basin
San Juan Basin
The San Juan Basin is a geologic structural basin in the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States; its main portion covers around , encompassing much of northwestern New Mexico, southwest Colorado, and parts of Arizona and Utah....
involves Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee in a mystery involving diverted oil and gas revenues, abandoned pipelines, Washington D.C. insiders, and illegal drugs.
Assigned to patrol the basin and range topography of the rugged Animas Mountains
Animas Mountains
The Animas Mountains are a small mountain range in Hidalgo County, within the "Boot-Heel" region of far southwestern New Mexico, in the United States. They extend north-south for about 30 miles along the Continental Divide, from near the town of Animas to a few miles north of the border with...
of Hidalgo County
Hidalgo County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*85.3% White*0.6% Black*0.8% Native American*0.5% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*1.8% Two or more races*11.0% Other races*56.6% Hispanic or Latino...
in the extreme southwestern corner of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, U.S. Border Patrol
United States Border Patrol
The United States Border Patrol is a federal law enforcement agency within U.S. Customs and Border Protection , a component of the Department of Homeland Security . It is an agency in the Department of Homeland Security that enforces laws and regulations for the admission of foreign-born persons to...
Officer Bernadette Manuelito photographs a suspicious construction crew on the Tuttle exotic game ranch.
After a complaint about her activities by ranch personnel, Manuelito's supervisor advises her that the Border Patrol has a special arrangement with the ranch whereby ranch personnel monitor the border and provide tips to the Border Patrol. In return, the Border Patrol does not patrol the ranch. New to the Border Patrol service, Officer Manuelito accepts this explanation until she learns that a photograph of her, taken by her supervisor, has been distributed to the criminal element across the border in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Officer Manuelito shares her concerns with her former Navajo Tribal Police supervisor Jim Chee and retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn who are then able to make a connection between the unidentified corpse and the activities Manuelito has observed in Hidalgo County.
Characters
In addition to Chee and Leaphorn, returning series characters include:- Bernadette Manuelito, now a U.S. Border Patrol (Customs) agent after having resigned from the Navajo Tribal Police
- Cowboy Dashee, now a Bureau of Land ManagementBureau of Land ManagementThe Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
security officer - Captain Largo, Chee's superior officer
- Professor Louisa Bourbonnette, Leaphorn's friend and sometimes housemate
- Special Agent "Oz" Osborne, FBI
Characters new to the series include:
- "Budge" C de Baca, Rawley Winsor's chauffeur and private pilot
- Carl Mankin, alias of a retired CIA Agent investigating the alleged revenue misappropriations
- Diego de Vargas, a colonel in the Mexican military
- Ed Henry, Officer Manuelito's superior officer in the U.S. Border Patrol
- Eleanda Garza, Border Patrol agent, housemate of Officer Manuelito, and member of the Tohono O'odham NationTohono O'odhamThe Tohono O'odham are a group of Native American people who reside primarily in the Sonoran Desert of the southeastern Arizona and northwest Mexico...
- Mary Goddard, reporter for a national news magazine
- Rawley Winsor, a Washington D.C. power broker
Natural, Cultural & Historical References
Geographic, botanical, animal, historical, and cultural artifacts and events often play key roles in the Chee/Leaphorn series - either as direct plot elements, to explain character motivations or perspectives, or to illustrate cultural orreligious beliefs and practices. Although less true here than for many other novels in the series, such references in The Sinister Pig include:
- ANIMAL: Scimitar oryxScimitar OryxThe Scimitar Oryx, or Scimitar-Horned Oryx, is a species of oryx which formerly inhabited the whole of North Africa. It has been classified as extinct in the wild by the IUCN.-Etymology and taxonomy:...
(exotic game animal raised on the Tuttle Ranch) - GEOGRAPHICAL: See Plot Summary
- HISTORICAL: Guatemalan Civil WarGuatemalan Civil WarThe Guatemalan Civil War ran from 1960-1996. The thirty-six-year civil war began as a grassroots, popular response to the rightist and military usurpation of civil government , and the President's disrespect for the human and civil rights of the majority of the population...
(motivation for de Baca); Institutional Revolutionary PartyInstitutional Revolutionary PartyThe Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that held power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the few...
(historic basis for de Vargas military association); Phelps DodgePhelps DodgePhelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 by Anson Greene Phelps and William Earle Dodge, Sr.. On March 19, 2007, it was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan and now operates under the name Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.-History:...
mining and minerals company (historic basis for mines and smelters in southern New Mexico and Arizona); Cobell v. KempthorneCobell v. KempthorneCobell v. Salazar is a class-action lawsuit brought by Native American representatives against two departments of the United States government. The plaintiffs claim that the U.S...
(class-action lawsuitLawsuitA lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
involving claims that the U.S. government incorrectly accounted for Indian trust assets)
See also
- The Minerals Management ServiceMinerals Management ServiceThe Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement , formerly known as the Minerals Management Service , was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior that managed the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf...
of the U.S. Department of the Interior - Pipeline piggingPiggingPigging in the context of pipelines refers to the practice of using pipeline inspection gauges or 'pigs' to perform various maintenance operations on a pipeline. This is done without stopping the flow of the product in the pipeline....