'Knowing the landscape best'

 

“An author knows his landscape best; he can stand around, smell the wind, get a feel for his place.” – Tony Hillerman

 

Born in Oklahoma on this date in 1925, Hillerman (who died in 2008) is best known for his Navajo Tribal Police mysteries featuring two iconic police officers – Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.  Several of his books have been adapted into movies and television series, including A Dark Wind and the multiple-award winner A Thief of Time.

 

Hillerman moved to New Mexico, the setting for his books, after World War II.  Starting his writing career as a journalist in Santa Fe, he eventually moved to Albuquerque where he both wrote for newspapers and earned a master’s degree in writing.  While covering the crime news he met a Navajo sheriff who became the model for Leaphorn and sparked the idea for his first book The Blessing Way. 

 

Ultimately, he wrote 18 books in the series, now continued by a dozen more from his daughter Anne, who has added a popular third crime-solving cop – Bernadette Manuelito –  into the mix. 

 

While Tony Hillerman may be best known for that series, he left a much deeper legacy, writing more than 30 books, including a memoir and several about the Southwest, both its beauty and its history.   Given numerous awards, he said two of the most meaningful came from the Navajo Nation and the Department of the Interior, recognizing his attention to Native culture and his encouragement for nature and the land. 

 

In response to accolades for his writing, he noted, “You write for both yourself and your audience, who are usually better educated and at least as smart as you are.”