The Legacy of Tony Hillerman​
​
Anthony “Tony” Hillerman (1925–2008) was the author who launched the award-winning mystery series set on the Navajo Nation---the books which inspired the popular Dark Winds television series. From 1970 through 2006 he produced 18 books in the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee novels. (Tony also wrote many non-fiction books and other novels. Much of his work depicted the people and terrain of the Southwest.)
His interest in the Navajo culture began with a chance encounter on his first trip to New Mexico, while he was recovering from injuries sustained during his service in World War II. He saw a group of young Navajo men on horseback, dressed in ceremonial regalia, and learned they were returning veterans participating in an Enemy Way. Tony asked to attend the ceremony, which cleansed the traumas of war, and was moved by it.
Tony was born in Sacred Heart, Okla., a farming community where his best friends were Potawatomis and Seminoles. Like many of the Navajo people he met later in life, he grew up without indoor plumbing, electricity or a telephone. He once wrote that when he met the Navajo, “I recognized kindred spirits. Country folks. More of us. Folks among whom I felt at ease.” Tony said one of his greatest honors was being named Special Friend to the Diné by the Navajo Nation. ​
​
​After Tony’s death in 2008, his daughter Anne Hillerman continued the series with a major change: one of Tony's minor character, Officer Bernadette Manuelito, joined Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee as a major crime solver. Her first book, Spider Woman’s Daughter was honored by Western Writers of America as the best first novel of the year.
Anne's 10th mystery, Shadow of the Solstice was released in 2025 and, like the nine books before it, became a New York Times bestseller. For more about Anne click here.
​
Learn more about the Hillermans and their books at the University of New Mexico University Library's Tony Hillerman Portal.