Death of Tony Hillerman

I do not remember the circumstances of my first reading of a Tony Hillerman mystery except to say that I liked it and went looking for another. Over the years I have purchased both paperback and hard bound copies of many of Hillerman's mysteries and I have given them to many friends who had yet to discover this gem of a series. Last night I counted my collection and I own ten Hillerman books, representing nine titles with Listening Woman appearing twice.

Mr. Hillerman died October 26, 2008, at age 83. He wrote 18 books in his Navajo mystery series beginning with The Blessing Way in 1970, and concluding with Shape Shifter in 2006. The mysteries feature Navajo Tribal Policemen Lt. Joe Leaphorn, and Officer Jim Chee, usually separately but often crossing paths with Leaphorn as the respected but feared mentor to the younger, brasher Chee. The books cover nearly 30 years and have the older Lt. Leaphorn being widowed and retireing but still involved in solving mysteries usually with the help of Jim Chee. Thief of Time strikes me as one of the more interesting of the series if for nothing more than the singular scene of jumping frogs tethered with fine nylon fishing line to prevent their escape.

The movies that have been made using the Hillerman novels have not done justice to the books, in my opinion. I was disappointed in the films when I saw them. Hillerman's writing carries a skillful handling of the outdoor scenes on the huge Arizona/Utah/New Mexico Navajo reservation, argueably some of the most beautiful in America. Anyone who remembers John Ford's cinematic use of Monument Valley knows the area covered by the Navajo Reservation, and Hillerman uses it well.

Here is a wonderful essay that reviews each of the Navajo mysteries by Mr. Hillerman. Check out the sidebar review of the Skinwalkers movie, produced by Robert Redford.

If you have not read Tony Hillerman you might start the serier with Listening Woman rather that the first book The Blessing Way, Hillerman did not consider his first book as his best but that is arguable at least. This series presents police procedurals with unique settings, likeable characters, insights into Native American culture and how that culture has fared over the last hundred years or so. I think people will be reading these books for a long time.

Here is a three segment documentary titled Tony Hillerman: The Art of the Mystery from YouTube.