In Skinwalkers, Hillerman highlights the clash between Navajo beliefs and white skepticism, a conflict caused by the intrusion of the modern world into traditional native American culture. At issue is the Navajo belief in the skinwalker, a witch who possesses the power to fly, to run faster than the wind, and to become a dog or a wolf.

Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, both Navajos, educated in state universities in the white man's world, and both policemen, embody the collision between old tribal beliefs and modern-day skepticism as they investigate a series of killings seemingly perpetrated by a skinwalker. Leaphorn represents logical thinking, rational questioning, and a healthy doubt about the existence of skinwalkers. Chee is more involved with traditional culture and religion, more intuitive and idealistic, more troubled at the encroachment of Western culture, and more inclined to attach importance to stories about the existence...