Like much of Hillerman's work, Skinwalkers owes something to the mystery subgenre, the police procedural novel. Leaphorn and Chee are law enforcement professionals dedicated to discovering the truth as they work within the restricting rules and procedures of a frustrating bureaucracy. Leaphorn is a descendant of a long line of fictional policemen whose careful methodology and incisive thinking are distinct assets in the crime-solving game. He belongs with other famous police officers characterized in fiction — Tibbett, Wexford, Beef, Alleyn, and their colleagues.

Chee, on the other hand, represents the maverick cop, the individualist who gets results by bending the rules and trusting his own intuition. In his tendency to involve himself deeply in a case he resembles Martha Grimes's Richard Jury; in his unorthodox approaches to problems he joins the fraternity of the gifted and curious amateur sleuth — men like Carolus Dean and occasionally...