Tony Hillerman Bio.pdf

Tony Hillerman
1925-
Also known as: Tony Hillerman
Birth: May 27, 1925
Occupation: Writer
Source: Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2005.
Entry updated: 05/05/2005
"Sidelights"
A versatile novelist, Tony Hillerman "created the American Indian policier,"
according to critic Herbert Mitgang in the New York Times, and also "breaks out
of the detective genre," as Daniel K. Muhlestein noted in the Dictionary of Literary
Biography. Hillerman "is a writer of police procedurals who is less concerned with
the identity of his villains than with their motivation," Muhlestein further
commented. "Most mystery writers begin with plot. Hillerman begins with setting."
Setting, for Hillerman, is the sprawling, arid, high plateau of the Southwest: the
Four Corners region of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico that comprise
Navajo country. Into this vast, empty space he sets his two protagonists, Jim
Chee and Joe Leaphorn, detectives with the Navajo Tribal Police, who solve
crimes using the most modern police methods as well as the most traditional of
Navajo beliefs: a sense of hozro, or harmony. Hillerman has written more than a
dozen Leaphorn-Chee mysteries, books that have garnered him awards ranging
from the Mystery Writers of America to the Navajo Tribal Council's
commendation to France's esteemed Grand prix de litterature policiere.
Hillerman's interest in the American Southwest is evident in both his popular
mystery series and nonfiction works that explore the natural wonders of the
region. A student of southwestern history and culture, Hillerman often draws his
themes from the conflict between modern society and traditional Native American
values and customs. The complex nature of this struggle is perhaps most evident
in the author's works featuring Leaphorn and Chee, whose contrasting views
about heritage and crime-fighting form an interesting backdrop to their criminal
investigations. The intricate nature of Hillerman's plots, combined with detailed
descriptions of people, places, and exotic rituals, has helped make his novels-from
the first in the series, 1970's The Blessing Way, to the 1999 Hunting
Badger--popular with readers and critics alike. Hillerman's novels are, as so
many critics have observed, much more than mere police procedurals. His use of
character and setting have pushed them beyond the bounds of the detective
genre, a fact supported by their large sales in mainstream fiction.
Hillerman is no stranger to the world he portrays in his novels and nonfiction.
Born on May 27, 1925, the youngest of three children of August Alfred and Lucy
Grove Hillerman, he grew up in rural Oklahoma, where his parents farmed and

an a local store. Hillerman loved reading and books as a youth, and in those
days before television and without even enough money for batteries for the radio,
he also formed an appreciation for oral storytelling. He would listen to the men
who gathered at his parents' store to tell stories and tall tales, and learned
pacing, timing, and the importance of detail. Hillerman's youth was thus spent, as
Muhlestein noted, "poor in money but rich in the tools of a future writer."
Hillerman also learned, according to Muhlestein, "what it meant to be an
outsider," by attending a boarding school for Potawatomie Indian girls. Doubly
removed because of both race and gender, Hillerman internalized this feeling of
being an outsider, but also formed a deep and abiding respect for Indian ways
and culture. As important as that message was, he also learned another: the
significance of class in America. As a youngster Hillerman viewed himself as a
country boy, one who got his haircuts at home, not at a barber shop. If the world
were divided into urban and rural, he would opt for the latter.
After graduating from high school, Hillerman began college at Oklahoma State
University, but then joined the army to fight in World War II. He took part in the D-
Day landings, was wounded in Alsace, and earned a Silver Star, among other
decorations. His letters home, which found their way into the hands of a
journalist, were so detailed and spirited that the newspaperman convinced the
young returning soldier to take up a career in writing.
Enrolling in journalism courses, Hillerman also worked part-time to support his
education. It was in 1945, while driving a truckload of drilling pipe from Oklahoma
to New Mexico, that he first encountered the Navajo and their reservation. The
Navajos he first saw were engaged in a curing ceremony called the Enemy Way,
during which a young Navajo fresh from service in the war, like Hillerman himself,
was being cured of the foreign contamination and brought back into harmony
with his own people. "When I met the Navajos I now so often write about,"
Hillerman recalled to Ernie Bulow in Talking Mysteries, "I recognized kindred
spirits. Country boys. More of us. Folks among whom I felt at ease." In 1948,
Hillerman graduated from the journalism program at the University of Oklahoma.
He was also married that year to Marie Unzner; the couple would eventually have
one child together and adopt five additional children.
Hillerman took several newspaper jobs in and around Oklahoma, Texas, and
New Mexico before joining the staff of the Santa Fe New Mexican in 1954. He
stayed with that paper until 1963, working at the end of his journalism career as
executive editor. But he had a longing to become a novelist, and with the
encouragement of his wife, left journalism behind to study writing, soon becoming
a journalism professor at the University of New Mexico, where he remained until
1985. It was while he was a professor of journalism that he wrote his first novel,
The Blessing Way, in which he introduces Joe Leaphorn, a fiftyish Navajo with
the Tribal Police on the reservation. Leaphorn, however, was almost cut out of
this manuscript at the urging of Hillerman's agent. Finally, an editor at Harper &
Row wrote an enthusiastic critique of the manuscript, wanting Hillerman to
increase Leaphorn's role, and the writer's first major protagonist was born.
In this debut novel, the motive for the murder of a young Navajo is witchcraft in
the shape of a Navajo Wolf, akin to a werewolf. According to Geoff Sadler, a

contributor for Contemporary Popular Writers, this novel "is a tense, exciting
adventure that mixes espionage with witchcraft." Hillerman's second novel, Fly
on the Wall, is a story of political corruption with a journalist serving as the chief
investigator. Returning with his third novel to Navajo country, as he has remained
with all but one more of his novels, Hillerman next sent his reserved, logical, and
partially assimilated detective, Leaphorn, into Zuni country to investigate tribal
rites in The Dance Hall of the Dead. This second "Leaphorn" novel, which earned
its author the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America,
begins with the murder of Ernesto Cata, a Zuni boy who is in training for an
important ceremonial role in his tribe. Suspicion falls on a Navajo boy, George
Bowlegs, but when Bowlegs is in turn murdered, Leaphorn follows clues and his
instinct to a white archaeologist who killed the boys to keep them from disclosing
that he had been fudging finds at his excavation site. Hillerman's third "Leaphorn"
novel, Listening Woman, finds the Navajo detective investigating two homicides
and becoming trapped in an underground cavern with terrorists and their
hostages. "The novel combines clever plotlines with sharp character insights and
a taut, nail-biting payoff," wrote Sadler.
With People of Darkness Hillerman introduces a second major protagonist, Jim
Chee, who, like Leaphorn, is a Navajo tribal officer, but who, unlike Leaphorn is
more traditional, less experienced, younger, and more in flux. One major reason
for creating Chee was that Hillerman had sold the television rights for his
Leaphorn character; he also knew he needed a different kind of protagonist,
someone younger and less sophisticated than Leaphorn. In this story, Chee, a
part-time ceremonial singer who is also drawn to the white lifestyle and the
possibility of a career in the FBI, investigates a burglary at a wealthy white man's
house which leads to a thirty-year-old crime aboard an oil rig. Chee's second
adventure, The Dark Wind, has the younger Navajo detective chasing criminals
involved in a cocaine ring who have killed several Navajos. In The Ghostway,
Chee is off to Los Angeles in pursuit of two Navajos who are stealing luxury cars.
But when the thieves return to the reservation, one of them is killed in his uncle's
hogan (dwelling). Chee's heritage comes to the fore when he discovers that
whoever laid the young man out for burial neglected one of the ceremonies and
was thus not really a Navajo. Such a connection with tradition might come in
handy in Chee's work, but not in his love life, for it isolates him from his white
schoolteacher lover who ultimately leaves the reservation. Reviewing The
Ghostway in Entertainment Weekly, a contributor noted that you don't have to be
"a regular at Tribal Policeman Jim Chee's pow-wows to dig The Ghostway, one
of the freshest of Hillerman's whodunits."
After finishing The Ghostway, Hillerman bought back the rights to Joe Leaphorn,
and in his next novel, Skinwalkers, he pairs the detective with Chee, as he has
continued to do in succeeding titles. The two investigators act as foils to one
another: Leaphorn the older, more mature and methodical detective, and Chee
the more quixotic, impulsive loner. The Skinwalkers of the title are Navajo ghosts,
and the novel, which starts out with a shotgun attack on Chee, has witchcraft at
its very heart. Leaphorn helps the younger detective get to the bottom of this
attack and others on the reservation. A Golden Spur Award winner, Skinwalkers

is a "strong, neatly worked novel with a shocking climax," according to Sadler.
Writing in People, Campbell Geeslin noted that Hillerman "packs his novels with
compelling details of Navajo life and beautiful descriptive passages about the
land and weather." Geeslin concluded, "Chee . . . is a perfect guide through
Hillerman's effective, dreamlike world."
Skinwalkers was, according to Michael Neill in People, Hillerman's "commercial
breakthrough," selling 40,000 copies in hardcover and 100,000 in paperback. Yet
it was his next title, A Thief of Time, that secured him a place on the best-seller
charts and propelled Hillerman to national attention. Beginning with a murder at
an Anasazi historical site, the book features a psychopathic killer and more
development of the relationship between Leaphorn and Chee. In this novel,
Leaphorn has to cope with his wife's death as well as his own impending
retirement. As Hillerman's main recurring characters, Leaphorn and Chee serve a
dual function. On one level, the officers act as guides into a world of traditions
and customs unfamiliar to most readers; on another level, Hillerman's depiction
of Leaphorn and Chee's day-to-day struggles--with bureaucratic red tape,
discrimination, and intimate relationships--helps readers understand the difficulty
of living in what amounts to two worlds with different, and often contradictory,
sets of rules.
This culture clash is not always depicted in a negative light, however. In books
such as Listening Woman and The Ghostway, Leaphorn and Chee use both
standard police procedures and their special knowledge of tribal customs to solve
a wide variety of baffling crimes. In Listening Woman, Leaphorn finds clues to a
double murder in a group of ritual sand paintings. An oddly-performed death
ceremony puts Chee on the trail of a missing girl and a killer in The Ghostway.
Stolen pottery from a "lost" tribe becomes the focus of Leaphorn's investigation
into artifact trafficking in A Thief of Time, a book that is at once "careful with the
facts," and one that "transmutes knowledge into romance," as a contributor to
Time magazine wrote. Karl G. Fredrikkson and Lilian Fredrikkson called A Thief
of Time "probably Hillerman's best novel," in the St. James Guide to Crime and
Mystery Writers, and they further noted, "History and tradition play integral parts
in all Hillerman's novels and especially in this one." The Fredrikksons concluded
that the main theme of all Hillerman's work "is the clash between the Navajo Way
and the so-called American Way of Life, between tradition and the emptiness of
modern society."
As with Dance Hall of the Dead and A Thief of Time, Hillerman's novel Talking
God deals with anthropology. This time, both Chee and Leaphorn desert the
reservation for Washington, D.C., in search of missing Native American artifacts.
"The plot," noted Louise Bernikow in a Cosmopolitan review, "comes to a
crashing finale in the Smithsonian Institute, and the evil that has disturbed the
spirits of the Navajo is laid to rest." Bernikow also commented that Hillerman's
story "is complicated, emotional, and incredibly suspenseful." In Coyote Waits,
an officer in the Navajo Tribal Police, Delbert Nez, is gunned down, and
Leaphorn and Chee set out to find his killer. It looks as if a Navajo shaman might
be responsible for the killing, until other suspects turn up, including a Vietnamese
teacher. Behind it all lurks the mythic Navajo character representing chaos, the

Coyote of the title. Phoebe-Lou Adams, writing in the Atlantic, felt the plot "is a
humdinger even by the high Hillerman standard," while a writer for Entertainment
Weekly dubbed it "sturdy work from an incorruptible craftsman." Reviewing the
title in People, Neill concluded, "Hillerman's elevation into the best-seller ranks is
a great justice of American popular writing. While his novels are mysteries, they
are also exquisite explorations of human nature--with a great backdrop."
Reviewing Coyote Waits, a contributor for Publishers Weekly commented,
"Hillerman weaves an understated, powerful tale from strands of ancient Navajo
mythology, modern greed and ambition, and above all, the sorrows and delights
of characters."
In Sacred Clowns, the duo investigate the seemingly unrelated murders of a
shop teacher at the mission school and a sacred clown dancer, a Hopi koshare.
In this novel, Chee is increasingly attracted to the Navajo lawyer, Janet Pete,
while Leaphorn considers a relationship with a linguistics professor. "Telling his
story the Navajo way," wrote a contributor to Publishers Weekly, "Hillerman fully
develops the background of the cases . . . so that the resolutions . . . ring true
with gratifying inevitability." Gene Lyons, writing in Entertainment Weekly, noted
that even "devoted readers . . . will find Sacred Clowns just a bit different from
earlier books in the series." Lyons pointed to the essentially "comic" structure and
tone of the novel.
One interesting aspect of Hillerman's novels is that his protagonists have not
stayed rooted in time, but rather have developed and aged: Leaphorn has retired,
yet keeps a hand in police affairs, while Chee begins to settle down. The pair
took a hiatus in the mid-1990s while Hillerman turned his hand to various other
projects, including The Mysterious West and another novel set in Vietnam,
Finding Moon. Then in 1997, the duo returned with The Fallen Man. In this novel,
mountaineers find a skeleton near the summit of Ship Rock in northwestern New
Mexico. The skeleton in question turns out to be that of a member of a local white
family who disappeared eleven years earlier. Leaphorn, who remembers the
earlier disappearance, comes back into action, though Chee, now a lieutenant, at
first bristles at his intrusion. Meantime also the romance between Chee and
ambitious attorney Janet Pete, whom he is courting, takes twists and turns... "As
always," noted a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, "Hillerman treats Indian
tradition and modern troubles . . . with unsentimental respect, firmly rooting his
mystery in the region's distinctive peoples and geography." Sikki Andur, writing in
Entertainment Weekly, called this thirteenth novel "a scenic ride through a land
where police are more worried about cattle rustling than dope dealing," and
where "a cop who's been shot doesn't crave revenge--he wants harmony."
Booklist reviewer Stephanie Zvirin commented, "As usual, Hillerman masterfully
sets the scene, conveying contemporary culture and weaving in intriguing side
plots to add depth to character and scene." Zvirin concluded that "with all
Hillerman's stories, it's the oblique way" of getting to the end "that pulls [the
reader] along."
The First Eagle, published in 1998, features another scientist who comes from
outside to the "res," a theme found in several of Hillerman's books. This time it is
a missing female biologist who has been tracking the Bubonic plague in the

prairie dogs of the Southwest. Leaphorn is hired by the scientist's grandmother to
find her; meanwhile Chee is investigating the bludgeon death of a Navajo Police
officer at the site where the biologist was last seen. "Hillerman's trademark
melding of Navajo tradition and modern culture is captured with crystal clarity in
this tale of an ancient scourge's resurgence in today's word," noted a reviewer for
Publishers Weekly. Booklist's Zvirin felt that "Hillerman's respect and deep
affection for his creations and their community" runs through all of the subplots
and twists of action. Hunting Badger, published in 1999, was inspired by an
actual manhunt in the Four Corners region in which the search for the killers was
badly bungled by the FBI. In Hillerman's scenario, there is a robbery at an Ute
casino, and the security officer there is killed in the process. Chee is drawn into
the case along with Leaphorn. Reviews of this fifteenth book in the series were
somewhat mixed. Wilda Williams, writing in Library Journal, felt that the novel
"offers a paint-by-the-numbers plot with cardboard characters," but that "diehard
fans will want this." However a reviewer for Publishers Weekly wrote that
"Hillerman is in top form" with Hunting Badger, and Booklist's Bill Ott dubbed
Hunting Badger "a return to form for Hillerman." Ott concluded, "Nobody uses the
power of myth to enrich crime fiction more effectively than Hillerman."
In The Sinister Pig readers are provided with "an intricate pattern of ingenious
detective work, comic romance, tribal custom, and desert atmosphere" which
provide "multifaceted reading pleasure" according to reviewer Connie Fletcher of
Booklist. The novel once again follows Hillerman's usual cast of characters as
they try to solve a mystery involving a body discovered on Navajo land and its
connection to billions of dollars owed to the Native Americans as oil royalties.
Christine C. Menefee, reviewing the novel for School Library Journal, stated that
readers "should enjoy the broader geographical and social canvas . . . in this tale
of ordinary people unraveling knots of fraud and skullduggery."
Hillerman has also been commended for his nonfiction works and for anthologies
that explore the natural beauty and unique history of the Southwest. In New
Mexico, Rio Grande, and Other Essays, the author discusses a number of topics,
including how geographical, political, and historical factors helped the Pueblo
Indians thrive when many other tribes fell prey to conquering forces. In The
Mysterious West, Hillerman as editor pulls together previously unpublished
stories from writers such as J. A. Jance and Marcia Muller, while in The Oxford
Book of American Detective Stories and The Best American Stories of the
Century he shows his ties to the mystery genre are as strong as those to the
Southwest. But in the final analysis, Hillerman is known for his Chee-Leaphorn
books and their evocation of Navajo country. In these books, the author explores,
as Muhlestein noted in Dictionary of Literary Biography, "the themes he cares
about most deeply: the question of identity, the tension between the desire to
assimilate and the need to retain native traditions, the shortcomings of Anglo
justice, and the spiritual illness of white culture." As Fred Erisman commented in
Tony Hillerman, "Leaphorn and Chee, as Navajos, give readers a sense of the
demands of Southwestern life. In a larger sense, though, that they are Navajo is
incidental; they are human as well as Navajo, and as they . . . grapple with the
realities of their people, their place, and their time, their responsibilities help all

eaders to decipher the palimpsest of human life in all its complexity and all its
majesty."
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Born May 27, 1925; son of August Alfred (a farmer) and Lucy (Grove) Hillerman;
married Marie Unzner, August 16, 1948; children: Anne, Janet, Anthony, Monica,
Stephen, Daniel. Education: Attended Oklahoma State University, 1943;
University of Oklahoma, B.A., 1946; University of New Mexico, M.A., 1966.
Politics: Democrat Religion: Roman Catholic Avocational Interests: Trout
fishing. Military/Wartime Service: U.S. Army, 1943-45; received Silver Star,
Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. Memberships: International Crime Writers
Association, Mystery Writers of America (president, 1988), Albuquerque Press
Club, Sigma Delta Chi, Phi Kappa Phi. Addresses: Agent: c/o Author Mail,
Houghton Mifflin, 222 Berkeley St., Boston, MA 02116-3764...
AWARDS
Edgar Allan Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, 1974, for Dance Hall of the
Dead; Golden Spur award, Western Writers of America, 1987; Special Friend of
Dineh award, Navajo Tribal Council, 1987; National Media Award, American
Anthropological Association, 1990; Public Services Award, Department of the
Interior, 1990; Arrell Gibson Lifetime Award, Oklahoma Center for the Book,
1991; Grandmaster Award, Mystery Writers of America, 1991; Ambassador
award, Center for the Indian, 1992; Grand prix de litterature policiere; inducted
into Oklahoma Hall of Fame, 1997; Jack D. Rittenhouse Award, Rocky Mountain
Book Publishers Association, 1998; Agatha Award, 2002, for Seldom
Disappointed; D.Litt., University of New Mexico, 1990, and Arizona State
University, 1991; Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, Los Angeles
Times, 2004.
CAREER
Borger News Herald, Borger, TX, reporter, 1948; Morning Press- Constitution,
Lawton, OK, city editor, 1948-50; United Press International, Oklahoma City, OK,
political reporter, 1950-52, Santa Fe, NM, bureau manager, 1952-54; New
Mexican, Santa Fe, political reporter and executive editor, 1954-63; University of
New Mexico, Albuquerque, associate professor, 1965-66, professor, 1966-85,
chair of department, 1966-73, assistant to the president, 1975-80, professor
emeritus of journalism, 1985--; writer.
WRITINGS:

MYSTERY NOVELS
• The Blessing Way, Harper (New York, NY), 1970.
• The Fly on the Wall, Harper (New York, NY), 1971.
• Dance Hall of the Dead, Harper (New York, NY), 1973, reprinted, 2003.
• Listening Woman, Harper (New York, NY), 1978.
• People of Darkness, Harper (New York, NY), 1980.
• The Dark Wind, Harper (New York, NY), 1982.
• The Ghostway, Harper (New York, NY), 1984.
• Skinwalkers, Harper (New York, NY), 1986.
• A Thief of Time, Harper (New York, NY), 1988.
• Talking God, Harper (New York, NY), 1989.
• Coyote Waits, Harper (New York, NY), 1990.
• Sacred Clowns, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1993.
• The Fallen Man, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.
• The First Eagle, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.
• Hunting Badger, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.
• The Wailing Wind, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.
• The Sinister Pig, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.
• Skeleton Man, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.
COLLECTIONS
• The Joe Leaphorn Mysteries, Harper (New York, NY), 1989.

• The Jim Chee Mysteries, Harper (New York, NY), 1992.
• Leaphorn and Chee: Three Classic Mysteries Featuring Lt. Joe Leaphorn
and Officer Jim Chee, Harper (New York, NY), 1992.
OTHER
• The Boy Who Made Dragonfly: A Zuni Myth (juvenile), Harper (New York,
NY), 1972.
• The Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other Indian Country Affairs,
University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1973, published as
The Great Taos Bank Robbery: And Other True Stories of the Southwest,
Perennial (New York, NY), 2001.
• (Editor) The Spell of New Mexico, University of New Mexico Press
(Albuquerque, NM), 1984.
• Indian Country: America's Sacred Land, illustrated with photographs by
Bela Kalman, Northland Press (Flagstaff, AZ), 1987.
• (Author of foreword) Erna Fergusson, Dancing Gods: Indian Ceremonials
of New Mexico and Arizona, University of New Mexico Press
(Albuquerque, NM), 1988.
• Hillerman Country: A Journey through the Southwest with Tony Hillerman,
illustrated with photographs by Barney Hillerman, HarperCollins (New
York, NY), 1991.
• (With Ernie Bulow) Talking Mysteries: A Conversation with Tony
Hillerman, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1991.
• (Editor) Best of the West: An Anthology of Classic Writing from the
American West, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1991.
• (Author of foreword) Ernie Bulow, Navajo Taboos, Buffalo Medicine
Books, 1991.
• (Author of introduction) Howard Beyan, editor, Robbers, Rogues, and
Ruffians: True Tales of the Wild West, Clear Light (New York, NY), 1991.
• (With others) The Perfect Murder: Five Great Mystery Writers Create the
Perfect Crime, Harper Prism (New York, NY), 1991.
• New Mexico, Rio Grande, and Other Essays, illustrated with photographs
by David Muench and Robert Reynolds, Graphic Arts Center, 1992.

• (Editor) The Mysterious West, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.
• (Author of introduction), Robert Allen Rutland, A Boyhood in the Dustbowl
1926-34, University Press of Colorado (Boulder, CO), 1995.
• Finding Moon (novel), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1995.
• (Editor, with Rosemary Herbert) The Oxford Book of American Detective
Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.
• (Editor) The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century, Houghton
Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2000.
• Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.
• Kilroy Was There: A GI's War in Photographs, photographs by Frank
Kessler, Kent State University Press (Kent, OH), 2004.
Contributor to books, including Crime Lovers Casebook, edited by Jerome
Charyn, Signet (New York, NY), 1996; and also to periodicals, including New
Mexico Quarterly, National Geographic, and Reader's Digest.
MEDIA ADAPTATIONS
Many of Hillerman's mysteries have been recorded on audiocassette; the novel
Coyote Waits was adapted for an episode the PBS series American Mystery!
FURTHER READINGS ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
BOOKS
• Bulow, Ernie, and Tony Hillerman, Talking Mysteries: A Conversation with
Tony Hillerman, University of New Mexico Press (Albuqurerque, NM),
1991.
• Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 62, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1990.
• Contemporary Popular Writers, St.. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1997.

• Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 206: Twentieth-Century
American Western Writers, First Series, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.
• Erisman, Fred, Tony Hillerman, Boise State University, 1989.
• Greenberg, Martin, editor, The Tony Hillerman Companion: A
Comprehensive Guide to His Life and Work, HarperCollins (New York,
NY), 1994.
• Reilly, John M., Tony Hillerman: A Critical Companion, Greenwood Press
(Westport, CT), 1996.
• St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, 4th edition, St. James
Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.
• Sobol, John, Tony Hillerman: A Public Life, ECW Press, 1994.
PERIODICALS
• Armchair Detective, fall, 1990, p. 426.
• Atlantic, September, 1990, Phoebe-Lou Adams, review of Coyote Waits,
p. 121; January, 1992, p. 115.
• Booklist, October 1, 1994, p. 243; September 15, 1995, p. 116; March 1,
1996, p. 1125; November 1, 1996, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The Fallen
Man, p. 459; October 15, 1997, p. 424; November 15, 1998, p. 604; June
1, 1999, p. 1853; July, 1999, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The First Eagle,
p. 1829; April 1, 2000, p. 1437; May 1, 2000, Bill Ott, review of Hunting
Badger, p. 1595; September 1, 2000, p. 144; May 1, 2003, Connie
Fletcher, review of The Sinister Pig, p. 1547.
• Cosmopolitan, June, 1989, Louise Bernikow, review of Talking God, p. 48.
• Economist, August 14, 1993, pp. 83-84.
• Entertainment Weekly, January 31, 1992, review of Coyote Waits, p. 54;
April 3, 1992, review of The Ghostway, p. 47; September 17, 1993, Gene
Lyons, review of Sacred Clowns, p. 82; November 3, 1995, p. 59;
November 15, 1996, Sikki Andur, review of The Fallen Man.
• Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 1996, p. 179.
• Library Journal, November 1, 1994, p. 77; March 1, 1996, p. 109; March
15, 1997, p. 102; July, 1998, p. 136; January, 1999, p. 184; November 15,

1999, Wilda Williams, review of Hunting Badger, p. 98; April 1, 2000, p.
150; Janurary 2004, Sandy Glover, review of The Sinister Pig, p. 186.
• Los Angeles Times Book Review, January 21, 1990, p. 14; May 27, 1990,
p. 10; December 16, 1990; November 17, 1991, p. 12; January 5, 1992, p.
9; October 3, 1993, p. 12.
• New Yorker, August 23, 1993, p. 165.
• New York Times, June 10, 1989, Herbert Mitgang, "Hillerman Adds Tribal
Rites of Washington to the Navajos," p. 15; February 16, 2000, p. B2.
• New York Times Book Review, December 23, 1990, p. 20; October 20,
1991, p.. 36; February 2, 1992, p. 28; August 30, 1992, p. 14; October 17,
1993, p. 36; October 22, 1995, p. 29; November 21, 1999, p. 80.
• People, February 9, 1987, Campbell Geeslin, review of Skinwalkers, p. 16;
July 18, 1988, Michael Neill, "A Keen Observer in a World Not His Own,"
p. 85; August 27, 1990, Michael Neill, review of Coyote Waits, p. 22.
• Publishers Weekly, October 24, 1980; May 11, 1990, review of Coyote
Waits, p. 250; July 26, 1993, review of Sacred Clowns, p. 60; September
12, 1994, p. 85; September 4, 1995, p. 48; February 12, 1996, p. 63;
October 21, 1996, review of The Fallen Man, p. 73; July 13, 1998, review
of The First Eagle, p. 65; October 18, 1999, p. 74; November 22, 1999, p.
16; January 3, 2000, review of Hunting Badger, p. 40; March 6, 2000, p.
85.
• Quadrant, July, 2000, p. 118.
• School Library Journal, February, 1994, p. 136; March, 1995, p. 235;
December 2003, Christine C. Menefee, review of The Sinister Pig, p.. 176.
• Time, July 4, 1988, review of A Thief of Time, p. 71.
• Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), September 2, 1990; September 26, 1993, p.
6.
• Wall Street Journal, August 13, 1998, p. A12.
• Washington Post Book World, May 27, 1990, p. 12; July 26, 1992, p. 1;
September 5, 1993, p. 4.
• Writer's Digest, January, 2000, pp. 8-9.*

SOURCE CITATION
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2006. Reproduced in Biography Resource
Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2006.
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
Document Number: H1000045648