Hunting Badger is the fourteenth crime fiction novel in the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series by Tony Hillerman, first published in 1999. Armed robbers at a Ute Indian gambling casino shoot two security guards, one fatally. Sgt. Chee gets involved in the hunt for the robbers, while retired Lt. Leaphorn gets drawn in by one who will not go to the FBI or local police. Chee and Leaphorn work together again. One reviewer considers this to be "Hillerman at his best." while another calls it a "Pleasing lesser work from the doyen of the regional mystery." The novel "continues to hold a high place on every national best-seller list." The basics of the plot were inspired by the "intensive manhunt that followed the murder of Officer Dale Claxton on May 4, 1998. . . only with more satisfying results." Most reviewers praised the descriptions of the dramatic landscape ("the scenery spectacular", "the most picturesque country in the Southwest", "the scenic Southwest's beauty") and one notes "several new insights into the mysteries of Navajo culture and a story with enough twists and surprises to make readers glad they checked in." Plot summary Sophisticated robbers shoot the security guards at the Ute Casino, turn off the electricity and then steal the cash bagged and ready to be picked up for deposit to the bank. Cap Stoner is killed outright, while young Teddy Bai is severely wounded, but immediately suspected by the FBI as the "inside man" for the robbery. Chee returns from a long vacation in Alaska to be drawn into the investigation at the request of Officer Manuelito, who does not believe Bai is guilty. Roy Gershwin draws Leaphorn into the investigation by saying that he knows who did it, leaving a list of three names with Leaphorn. Why does he choose Leaphorn, and not the police or the FBI? The FBI announces that the perpetrators fled in an airplane stolen from Mr. Timms. Chee and his friend Cowboy Dashee revisit the site where the escape vehicle was found with two sets of footprints, and visit the Timms place nearby. They track the aircraft to the second landholding of Timms, so the criminals are still on the loose. Leaphorn travels with Prof. Bourebonette, who is working near where the men on Gershwin's list live. Leaphorn finds Everett Jory in his house, shot dead, leaving a suicide note