Its title comes from a Navajo proverb, and Coyote Waits carries all the supernatural suspense for which Tony Hillerman's novels are famous. Officer Jim Chee is convinced that a drunken Navajo shaman, Ashie Pinto, killed a fellow officer. Pinto won't deny it, but a kinswoman believes he is innocent, and her persistence drives Chee and Lieutenant Leaphorn deeper into puzzling mystery, with each new death.