Statewide
- Tony Hillerman's breakthrough Navajo police novel,
Skinwalkers, comes to NJN in a two-hour American
MYSTERY! Skinwalkers was Hillerman's
first book to hit the bestseller lists, propelled by the
inspired team of Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim
Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. Skinwalkers airs January
19 at 8 pm.
Skinwalkers
is the first in a projected series of Hillerman stories
on MYSTERY! and represents a new crime beat
for the traditionally British-oriented series. Instead of
being stalked through the London fog by Holmes and Watson,
perpetrators on this latest MYSTERY! will be tracked across
the high plains of the American Southwest by a detective
duo with uniquely complementary skills.
Leaphorn (played
by Wes Studi, The Last of the Mohicans, Dances with
Wolves) is the seasoned older cop, assimilated to the urban
ways of Phoenix, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque. Chee (Adam
Beach, Windtalkers, Smoke Signals) is the unconventional
upstart, an FBI Academy grad with a sideline as a traditional
Navajo healer. It's a useful skill, since Skinwalkers involves
a mysterious killer with a special antipathy toward medicine
men, including Chee. Ominously, the murderer's M.O. hints
that he is a "skinwalker," a Navajo witch with
the supernatural power to change from human to animal, move
with lightning speed, and to kill with unseen powers and
curses.
Robert Redford
is executive producer of MYSTERY!, along with Rebecca
Eaton and longtime Redford associate Michael Nozik
(Quiz Show). Independent filmmaker Chris Eyre (Smoke
Signals) directs. A two-time Sundance Film Festival award
winner, Eyre adds to Skinwalkers' unique mix of talent,
which combines Hollywood, PBS, the independent film community,
and international distributors.
