SOURCE: Romero, Orlando A. “Lieutenant Leaphorn Goes to Washington.” Los Angeles Times Book Review (9 July 1989): 13.

In the following review, Romero comments on the narrative plot and style of Talking God, noting that Hillerman is “one of America's best storytellers.”

Tony Hillerman's new novel [Talking God] takes the reader through a crescendo of characters, locations, plots and subplots. Hillerman manipulates his reader to the hilt. It wouldn't be a Hillerman mystery otherwise.

The plot is centered around Yeibachai, the great Talking God of Navajo night chant ceremonial. The author's ability to relate with great detail the Navajo mythology surrounding the ceremonial adds a dimension that his fans expect. First-time readers will discover that he has set the stage for the introduction of two Navajo cops, each from a different police agency.

Reunited to solve the mystery of a dead foreign terrorist found in New Mexico, they find themselves embroiled...