In Hillerman's footsteps

Oct. 28—Tony Hillerman didn't just write a novel with The Blessing Way, published in 1970. He wrote a template for American tribal mysteries, introducing readers to the now-iconic character Joe Leaphorn, a Navajo Tribal Police lieutenant.

Leaphorn appears in numerous other Hillerman books and is later joined by fellow mainstay character Jim Chee, also a Navajo officer. Hillerman's first six novels feature either Leaphorn or Chee, and Skinwalkers, released in 1986, is the first to feature both. Skinwalkers proved a breakthrough for Hillerman, selling about 33,000 copies, according to the New York Times. He wrote 29 books and contributed to several others.

Hillerman, a former reporter and editor for the Santa Fe New Mexican, wrote his first several books while employed at the University of New Mexico and remained in Albuquerque in retirement. At the time of his death in 2008, more than 20 million of his books were in print.

His daughter Anne, who also has worked as an editor for The New Mexican, continues to write mysteries featuring Leaphorn and Chee. Her first novel featuring the pair, Spider Woman's Daughter, received the 2014 Spur Award for best first novel from the Western Writers of America.

The younger Hillerman has many contemporaries writing in the genre her father created. The following are some of their works.

THE POWER OF RAIN by Rosalie Rayburn, self-published, 301 pages, $16.99

A young, driven reporter in the fictional New Mexico town of Las Vistas is contacted by an environmental activist group. Its mission: halting plans for a road that threatens a historic Spanish chapel. The reporter, Elizabeth "Digger" Doyle, takes up the battle and is determined to expose how encroaching development is harming the fragile landscape. Her role becomes more complex as she falls in love with protest leader Maria Ortiz, a Hispanic artist. They begin a relationship, and Doyle must toe the line between journalistic objectivity and following her heart.

THE DEAD GO FAST by James C. Wilson, Sunstone Press, 170 pages, $19.95

The body of the estranged wife of the Santa Fe mayor is found in a car trunk outside artist Jimmy Mackey's Canyon Road studio, and retiring police detective Fernando Lopez is assigned the sensitive case. He interviews Mackey and fellow artists who were drinking at Mackey's studio the night before, and all have weak alibis. Mackey then flees Santa Fe, and Lopez catches up with him at the home of one of his ex-wives in Taos. Before Mackey can be arrested, two people shoot and kill him. The police chief and mayor want Lopez to close the case as a result, but he senses a cover-up.

MURDER AT SLEEPING TIGER by C.R. Koons, Camel Press, 257 pages, $16.95

Guests are arriving at Sleeping Tiger Zen Center in Taos County when a record-setting snowstorm traps them at the monastery. Sheriff Ulysses Walker is called to investigate the death of a Picuris Indian man in the mountains nearby, and the next morning a Zen sensei is found dead from exposure at Picuris Pueblo. Walker realizes both deaths were slayings, and he discovers growing animosity among guests at the Zen center, as well as clues linking the killings to each other and crimes from a decade earlier. The story culminates in a chase after the killer is identified.

DEATH AT LA OSA (2021) by Jack Matthews, Sunstone Press, 244 pages, $22.95

Tribal police officer Richard Tafoya is put in charge of a murder investigation after a body is found north of Taos. The deceased is wearing a belt with a turquoise buckle and mysterious numbers on the back. Tafoya searches for the site of the slaying in an attempt to figure out what the numerals mean. During his hunt, he encounters U.S. Forest Service biology specialist Janet Rael, who becomes part of his quest. With help from a Navajo medicine man and a Bureau of Land Management cartographer, they discover not only a prehistoric turquoise mine but the killer's identity.