Tony Hillerman Books

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Anthony Grove Hiller man otherwise known as Tony Hillerman was an award-winning American novelist, best known for his nonfiction and detective novels, the most popular of which were the Navajo Tribal Police mysteries. Hillerman was born in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma to a shopkeeper and farmer father, Alfred Hillerman, and home keeper Lucy Grove. He would serve in World War II between 1943 and 1945, before returning to the States to earn a degree from the University of New Mexico. He taught Journalism at the University of New Mexico from 1966 until 1987, during which time he also began writing his Navajo detective mystery series.

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Anthony Grove is best known for the Leaphorn and Chee/Navajo Tribal Police Mysteries series of novels. The first of the Leaphorn & Chee series of novels was the 1970 published “Blessing Way” that paved the way for the publication of seventeen more titles in the series. A very popular novel series, Anne Hillerman his daughter took it up and wrote the first novel in the series since her father’s death titled “Spider Woman’s Daughter” that was published in 2015. One of the most popular detective mysteries out there, it has won many awards over the years with some titles made into movies. It has also been translated into more than eight languages that include Japanese and Dutch. Apart from the Navajo series, Hillerman also wrote twelve other works that included single standing mysteries, anthologies, and nonfiction works

TONY HILLERMAN AWARDS

Tony Hillerman won his first nomination, an Edgar Award for his debut novel “The Fly on the Wall” that made the shortlist for Best Mystery Novel. He also won nomination for an Edgar for the 1989 published “Thief of Time”, and “Listening Woman”, all under the Best Mystery category. He made the shortlist for the Best Biographical or Critical work for his nonfiction work “Talking Mysteries” in 1992. Other important awards that he has been nominated for include the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere, the MWA Grand Master Award, the Navajo Tribe’s Special Friends of the Dineh Award, and the Nero Award. Several of the novels have also made the shortlist and gone as far as winning the Antony Award in the Best Novel and Best Short Story collection/Anthology categories. He has also won an Agatha, a Macavity Award, a Parris Award, and The Spur Award.

TONY HILLERMAN BOOKS INTO TV/MOVIES

Four of Tony Hillerman’s novels have been adapted for the big screen. “The Dark Wind” was made into a movie by the same name in 1991, starring Lou Diamond Phillips as Jim Chee the tribal police officer, and Fred Ward as Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn. “Skin Walkers” was made into a movie by the same name in 2002, which went on to become PBS’s highest rated program in 2002. “A Thief of Time” and “Coyote Waits” were also made into movies in 2004 and 2003 respectively. The movies starred Gary Farmer as Captain Largo and West Sudi as Leaphorn.

BEST TONY HILLERMAN BOOKS

Three of the most popular Lee Child novels in his Leaphorn & Chee series include are:

Listening Woman: The third novel by Tony Hillerman is one of the most popular in the series. It is an incredible novel of detective mastery and aptitude, which follows the gory murder of a teenage girl and an old man. There is no one better placed to crack the case than Lieutenant Leaphorn, who is a Navajo with a good understanding of the workings of the community. “Listening Woman” is an explosive thriller of a novel that went on to win a nomination for an Edgar Award in 1979 in the Best Mystery Novel category.

Ghostway: The sixth novel in the Leaphorn & Chee novel takes place in contemporary Navajo society that makes for one thrilling ride. Two strangers kill a man and drive off into the Native Reservation. The only clue in the case is the photograph that one of them showed Joseph Joe, an elderly Navajo. The photo is all that Jim Chee needs to track down the killers in a quest that takes him from an Indian Hogan, to the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, to an ancient healing ceremony hijacked for the purposes of revenge killing.

The Dark Wind: The fifth novel in the series is one of its most popular that went on to be adapted into a movie. Jim Chee is confronted with a corpse whose soles and palms have been scalped. That is just one of a series of bizarre clues following a mysterious attack on a windmill, the bizarre crash of an airplane in the desert, and the disappearance of a huge quantity of cocaine in transit. Sergeant Jim Chee finds himself in the middle of a web of crime that involves white man’s greed and ancient Navajo sorcery.

When Does The Next Tony Hillerman book come out?

Tony Hillerman doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Great Taos Bank Robbery: And Other True Stories and was released on August, 15th 2023. It is the newest book in the Tony Hillerman Short Story Collections.

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