Tony Hillerman Books in Order: Leaphorn & Chee, Dark Winds

By Anna Marie CarrollMystery

Tony Hillerman is best known for the Leaphorn and Chee mysteries, a Southwestern mystery series built around Navajo Tribal Police investigations, Navajo Nation settings, murder cases, family history, and the tension between tradition and modern life. If you’re trying to read the Tony Hillerman books in order, the main series is the best place to start.

After the main series, you’ll find Hillerman’s standalones, children’s books, nonfiction, anthologies, short-story appearances, and screen adaptations.

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Leaphorn and Chee Books in Order

The Leaphorn and Chee books are the heart of Hillerman’s work. They begin with Joe Leaphorn, then introduce Jim Chee a few books later, before the two men become the central pair most readers associate with the series. Bernadette Manuelito also becomes more important as the books go on, especially in Anne Hillerman’s continuation.

Read this series in publication order. That gives you the character introductions, relationship changes, police work, retirements, returns, and major shifts in the order they were meant to unfold.

Leaphorn is usually more skeptical and analytical. Chee is more closely tied to Navajo ceremony and tradition. Their differences give the series a lot of its shape, but the books work best when you let that dynamic build naturally.

Anne Hillerman later continued the series and brought Bernadette Manuelito further into the center of the books, so I include her continuation novels in the same main reading order. The titles marked as Anne Hillerman books continue the series after Tony Hillerman’s original novels.

  1. The Blessing Way (1970)
  2. Dance Hall of the Dead (1973)
  3. Listening Woman (1978)
  4. People of Darkness (1980)
  5. The Dark Wind (1982)
  6. The Ghostway (1984)
  7. Skinwalkers (1986)
  8. A Thief of Time (1988)
  9. Talking God (1989)
  10. Coyote Waits (1990)
  11. Sacred Clowns (1993)
  12. The Fallen Man (1996)
  13. The First Eagle (1998)
  14. Hunting Badger (1999)
  15. The Wailing Wind (2002)
  16. The Sinister Pig (2003)
  17. Skeleton Man (2004)
  18. The Shape Shifter (2006)
  19. Spider Woman’s Daughter (2013) (by Anne Hillerman)
  20. Rock with Wings (2015) (by Anne Hillerman)
  21. Song of the Lion (2017) (by Anne Hillerman)
  22. Cave of Bones (2018) (by Anne Hillerman)
  23. The Tale Teller (2019) (by Anne Hillerman)
  24. Stargazer (2021) (by Anne Hillerman)
  25. The Sacred Bridge (2022) (by Anne Hillerman)
  26. The Way of the Bear (2023) (by Anne Hillerman)
  27. Lost Birds (2024) (by Anne Hillerman)
  28. Shadow of the Solstice (2025) (by Anne Hillerman)
  29. Bloodline (2027) (by Anne Hillerman)

Tony Hillerman Standalone Books

Hillerman also wrote two standalone novels. These don’t connect directly to Leaphorn and Chee, so you can read them whenever you’re ready for something outside the main series.

  1. The Fly on the Wall (1971)
  2. Finding Moon (1995)

Tony Hillerman Children’s Books

Hillerman’s children’s books sit apart from the mysteries. One retells a Zuni story, while the other is a Southwestern take on a classic children’s tale with illustrations by Navajo artist Ernest Franklin.

  1. The Boy Who Made Dragonfly (1972)
  2. Buster Mesquite’s Cowboy Band (2001)

Tony Hillerman Nonfiction Books

Hillerman’s nonfiction includes essays, memoir, interview books, travel and place writing, photography books, and companion material tied to his life and work. I’d treat these separately from the mysteries, but they’re useful if you want a fuller picture of the Southwest, New Mexico, and the places behind his fiction.

  1. The Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other Indian Country Affairs (1973)
  2. The Spell of New Mexico (1976)
  3. Indian Country (1987)
  4. Words, Weather and Wolfmen: Conversations with Tony Hillerman (1989)
  5. Hillerman Country (1991) (with Barney Hillerman)
  6. Talking Mysteries: A Conversation with Tony Hillerman (1991)
  7. New Mexico, Rio Grande, and Other Essays (1992)
  8. The Tony Hillerman Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to His Life and Work (1994) (edited by Martin H. Greenberg)
  9. Tony Hillerman’s Indian Country Map and Guide (1998)
  10. Canyon de Chelly (1998)
  11. Seldom Disappointed (2001)
  12. Kilroy Was There (2004)

Tony Hillerman Anthologies

Hillerman also edited, contributed to, or appeared in several mystery and Western anthologies. I’ve included the major edited collections and a few short-story appearances that matter for readers trying to track his shorter work.

  1. The Perfect Murder (1991)
  2. The Best of the West (1991)
  3. 2nd Culprit (1993)
  4. The Mysterious West (1994)
  5. The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories (1996)
  6. The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century (2000) (edited with Otto Penzler)
  7. A Century of Great Suspense Stories (2001) (includes “Chee’s Witch”)
  8. A New Omnibus of Crime (2005)

Hillerman’s short fiction can be harder to track than his novels. The main Jim Chee short story to know is “The Witch, Yazzie, and the Nine of Clubs,” which also appears as “Chee’s Witch” in some places. Words, Weather and Wolfmen is especially useful because it includes that story along with interview and autobiographical material.

Tony Hillerman Adaptations

Several Hillerman books have been adapted for film and television. The theatrical movie The Dark Wind was released in 1991, with Fred Ward as Joe Leaphorn and Lou Diamond Phillips as Jim Chee.

Wes Studi and Adam Beach later starred in television movie adaptations of Skinwalkers, A Thief of Time, and Coyote Waits. Studi played Joe Leaphorn, while Beach played Jim Chee.

The AMC series Dark Winds is based on the Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito books, though it adapts and remixes the novels rather than following them one-for-one. Books connected to the show include Listening Woman, People of Darkness, Dance Hall of the Dead, The Sinister Pig, and The Ghostway.

For readers coming from the show, I’d still start the books with The Blessing Way. The TV series changes pieces of the timeline, but the novels make more sense when you begin with Hillerman’s original order.

Who is Tony Hillerman?

Tony Hillerman was an American novelist, journalist, and teacher best known for his mystery novels set in and around the Navajo Nation. His books are often crime stories first, but the setting, land, language, ceremony, and cultural tensions give them a very different feel from a standard detective series.

Hillerman was born in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma in 1925. He served in World War II, then worked as a journalist before teaching journalism at the University of New Mexico. New Mexico became central to his life and his writing.

His debut Leaphorn novel, The Blessing Way, introduced the setting and perspective that would define much of his career. Over time, Jim Chee joined the series, then Bernadette Manuelito became a major part of the larger world. After Tony Hillerman’s death, Anne Hillerman continued the series with those characters.

The books are popular because they combine fast mysteries with a strong sense of place. They’re also books that deserve careful wording and context, because they’re built around Navajo characters, Navajo communities, and real places that matter beyond the mystery plots.

Looking for similar books in order?

If you want more mystery authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Mystery Books in Order index.

2 thoughts on “Tony Hillerman Books in Order: Leaphorn & Chee, Dark Winds”

    1. I NEED A PRICE FOR BOTH SETS OF. BOOKS. PAPER BACK AND HARD COPY. I AM INTERESTED MOST IN THE DARK WINDS SERIES OF BOOKS.

      Reply

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