Reading List
Anne Hillerman
Novelist and Former Journalist
Anne Hillerman worked as a reporter and non-fiction writer in New Mexico before taking up the Navajo Tribal Police series her father Tony Hillerman left unfinished at his death in 2008. Beginning with Spider Woman’s Daughter, she moved Officer Bernadette Manuelito to the centre of the books, which had been largely Leaphorn’s and Chee’s. She reads widely in Native-authored crime and literary fiction, and is deliberate about naming writers from the communities her own novels are set among.
Never Name the Dead
by D.M. Rowell · 2022 · Fiction
“Rich with Kiowa tradition and the unexpected, this engrossing novel features Mae, a California entrepreneur who returns to Oklahoma's Indian Country at the urging of her grandfather.” — via Article
The Cold Dish
A Longmire Mystery
by Craig Johnson · 2004 · Fiction
“Henry Standing Bear and the other reoccurring Natives in Johnson's stories give this debut novel extra breadth and depth. Johnson's depiction of the Wyoming landscape rises to the poetic.” — via Article
The American Cafe
by Sara Sue Hoklotubbe · 2011 · Fiction
“Like most of her customers and the townsfolk, Sadie is Cherokee, but she's an outsider. To solve the crime, she dives into the secrets of her community. Hoklotubbe, a Cherokee herself, writes with heart, grace, and joy.” — via Article
A Thief of Time
by Tony Hillerman · 1988 · Fiction
“The scene in which Leaphorn discovers a suspected murderer's hide-out contains some of Tony's best writing.” — via Article
Shutter
by Ramona Emerson · 2022 · Fiction
“Navajo forensic photographer Rita Todacheene records the disturbing evidence of grisly murder scenes for the police. Then spirits of the dead nag her to find the killers.” — via Article
The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories
by Stacie Shannon Denetsosie · 2023 · Fiction
“This talented Navajo author's debut collection of short stories made me laugh, touched my heart, and left me with ideas to consider. The collection includes gritty, touching, and fanciful tales, and she writes with a poet's heart and a reporter's eye.” — via Article