THE STOLEN GODS

Introducing blind Santa Fe sculptor Mo Bowdre, who has to compete with a bevy of other detectives to track down the Hopi kachinas stolen from the Meyers gallery the night unscrupulous owner Walter Meyers was killed. Assistant manager Marianna del Massimo has set aging British tenor Nigel Calderwood on the case too, and FBI agent Larry Collins is following lowlife athletic coach Willie Blaine, who sure acts as if he's got a truckload of something valuable, on a merry chase across the state. But the competition is no match for Mo's sense of smell, which comes up with a solution as logical as it is unlikely. Veteran author Page (Demon State, etc., etc.) writes with a slyly lazy charm that keeps the Hopi lore under control in this laid-back sabbatical for Tony Hillerman fans.