
Tony Hillerman
A Life
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Narrated by:
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George Guidall
About this listen
The author of 18 spellbinding detective novels set on the Navajo Nation, Tony Hillerman simultaneously transformed a traditional genre and unlocked the mysteries of the Navajo culture to an audience of millions. His best-selling novels added Navajo Tribal Police detectives Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee to the pantheon of American fictional detectives.
Morris offers a balanced portrait of Hillerman’s personal and professional life and provides a timely appreciation of his work. In intimate detail, Morris captures the author’s early years in Depression-era Oklahoma; his near-death experience in World War II; his 60-year marriage to Marie; his family life, including six children, five of them adopted; his work in the trenches of journalism; his affliction with PTSD and its connection to his enchantment with Navajo spirituality; and his ascension as one of America’s best-known writers of mysteries. Further, Morris uncovers the almost accidental invention of Hillerman’s iconic detective Joe Leaphorn and the circumstances that led to the addition of Jim Chee as his partner.
Hillerman’s novels were not without controversy. Morris examines the charges of cultural appropriation leveled at the author toward the end of his life. Yet, for many fans, including many Native Americans, Hillerman deserves critical acclaim for his knowledgeable and sensitive portrayal of Diné (Navajo) history, culture, and identity.
At the time of Hillerman’s death, more than 20 million copies of his books were in print, and his novels inspired Robert Redford to adapt several of them to film. In weaving together all the elements of Hillerman’s life, Morris drew on the untapped collection of the author’s papers, extensive archival research, interviews with friends, colleagues, and family, as well as travel in the Navajo Nation. Filled with never-before-told anecdotes and fresh insights, Tony Hillerman will thrill the author’s fans and awaken new interest in his life and literary legacy.
©2021 James McGrath Morris (P)2021 Recorded BooksPeople who viewed this also viewed...
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The Fallen Man
- By: Tony Hillerman
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When a human skeleton is discovered on sacred Navajo land, the publicity surrounding the find sets in motion a widespread investigation and a series of attempted murders. After a Washington group hires Leaphorn to investigate the "fallen man's" past, he joins Chee in unraveling a deadly intrigue that finally involves players from both the FBI and a suspicious corporation.
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Another great Leaphorn / Chee tale
- By Pamela on 03-11-19
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The Blessing Way
- By: Tony Hillerman
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Homicide is always an abomination, but there is something exceptionally disturbing about the victim discovered in a high, lonely place: a corpse with a mouth full of sand, abandoned at a crime scene seemingly devoid of tracks or useful clues. Though it goes against his better judgment, Navajo tribal police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn cannot help but suspect the hand of a supernatural killer.
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A 'Blessing' Indeed!
- By Carole T. on 03-15-16
By: Tony Hillerman
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Navajo Autumn
- Navajo Nation Mystery, Book 1
- By: R. Allen Chappell
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Reservation "bad boy" Thomas Begay is found dead drunk under the La Plata Bridge, which is not unusual for him. What is unusual, however, is that beautiful BIA investigator Patsy Greyhorse is found lying beside him, not drunk or even a Navajo but very dead nonetheless. Charlie Yazzie, fresh from law school, risks his career and even his life to help his old friend. The answer seems to lie with the Yeenaaldiooshii...should one choose to believe in such things.
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Gripping
- By Jean on 03-31-16
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Finding Moon
- By: Tony Hillerman
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A phone call in 1975 changes Moon Mathias’s life forever, as a voice on the line tells him his dead brother’s baby daughter—a child Moon never knew existed—is waiting for him in Southeast Asia. A task he believes beyond his meager talents is pulling Moon to Vietnam. In a chilling world of mystery and silence, disguise and deception, he’ll risk everything for the sake of one little girl—and discover a Moon Mathias who’s a better man than he ever thought he could be.
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Love overcomes war
- By Christy Gardner on 08-19-24
By: Tony Hillerman
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Ghost Dancer
- A Howard Moon Deer Mystery, Book 1
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- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Once a land of Pueblo dwellers, the town of San Geronimo Peak, New Mexico, is prime ski country. PI Howard Moon Deer and ex-cop Jack Wilder are headed there to meet their first client - a former US senator and the ski slope's owner. Instead, they find his body - and a murder case to solve.
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Good grief!
- By P. Levell-Ireland on 04-15-20
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The Great Taos Bank Robbery
- And Other True Stories of the Southwest
- By: Tony Hillerman
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This classic collection of nonfiction essays about life in New Mexico by the great Tony Hillerman remains a must listen for anyone looking to understand the state's unique charm. The engaging pieces in The Great Taos Bank Robbery unveil the life and magic one experiences in the Land of Enchantment.
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An entertaining book for exploring the southwest
- By Mark on 05-20-15
By: Tony Hillerman
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The Fallen Man
- By: Tony Hillerman
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a human skeleton is discovered on sacred Navajo land, the publicity surrounding the find sets in motion a widespread investigation and a series of attempted murders. After a Washington group hires Leaphorn to investigate the "fallen man's" past, he joins Chee in unraveling a deadly intrigue that finally involves players from both the FBI and a suspicious corporation.
-
-
Another great Leaphorn / Chee tale
- By Pamela on 03-11-19
By: Tony Hillerman
-
The Blessing Way
- By: Tony Hillerman
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Homicide is always an abomination, but there is something exceptionally disturbing about the victim discovered in a high, lonely place: a corpse with a mouth full of sand, abandoned at a crime scene seemingly devoid of tracks or useful clues. Though it goes against his better judgment, Navajo tribal police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn cannot help but suspect the hand of a supernatural killer.
-
-
A 'Blessing' Indeed!
- By Carole T. on 03-15-16
By: Tony Hillerman
-
Navajo Autumn
- Navajo Nation Mystery, Book 1
- By: R. Allen Chappell
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reservation "bad boy" Thomas Begay is found dead drunk under the La Plata Bridge, which is not unusual for him. What is unusual, however, is that beautiful BIA investigator Patsy Greyhorse is found lying beside him, not drunk or even a Navajo but very dead nonetheless. Charlie Yazzie, fresh from law school, risks his career and even his life to help his old friend. The answer seems to lie with the Yeenaaldiooshii...should one choose to believe in such things.
-
-
Gripping
- By Jean on 03-31-16
-
Finding Moon
- By: Tony Hillerman
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A phone call in 1975 changes Moon Mathias’s life forever, as a voice on the line tells him his dead brother’s baby daughter—a child Moon never knew existed—is waiting for him in Southeast Asia. A task he believes beyond his meager talents is pulling Moon to Vietnam. In a chilling world of mystery and silence, disguise and deception, he’ll risk everything for the sake of one little girl—and discover a Moon Mathias who’s a better man than he ever thought he could be.
-
-
Love overcomes war
- By Christy Gardner on 08-19-24
By: Tony Hillerman
-
Ghost Dancer
- A Howard Moon Deer Mystery, Book 1
- By: Robert Westbrook
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once a land of Pueblo dwellers, the town of San Geronimo Peak, New Mexico, is prime ski country. PI Howard Moon Deer and ex-cop Jack Wilder are headed there to meet their first client - a former US senator and the ski slope's owner. Instead, they find his body - and a murder case to solve.
-
-
Good grief!
- By P. Levell-Ireland on 04-15-20
By: Robert Westbrook
-
The Great Taos Bank Robbery
- And Other True Stories of the Southwest
- By: Tony Hillerman
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This classic collection of nonfiction essays about life in New Mexico by the great Tony Hillerman remains a must listen for anyone looking to understand the state's unique charm. The engaging pieces in The Great Taos Bank Robbery unveil the life and magic one experiences in the Land of Enchantment.
-
-
An entertaining book for exploring the southwest
- By Mark on 05-20-15
By: Tony Hillerman
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The Fly on the Wall
- By: Tony Hillerman
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- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ace reporter John Cotton is a fly on the wall, seeing all, hearing all, and keeping out of sight. But the game changes when he finds his best friend's corpse sprawled on the marble floor of the central rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Suddenly Cotton knows too much about a scandal centered around a senatorial candidate, a million-dollar scam, and a murder. And he hears the pursuing footsteps of powerful people who have something to hide... and a willingness to kill to keep their secrets hidden.
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Another exciting Hillerman book!
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Tularosa
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Would like to hear the entire series!
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Blood Memory
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Investigative reporter Catherine McLeod has been covering the local Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes' case to reclaim 27 million acres of land, but after barely surviving an assassination attempt, she decides to lie low for a while. Yet Catherine's persistence in covering the story soon leads her to uncover a startling conspiracy - and some eye-opening truths about her own heritage.
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Mysterious, Interesting and Heartwarming
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Native Blood
- Zeb Hanks: Small Town Sheriff with Big Time Troubles Series, Book 1
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The ritual killing of a young Apache girl on a reservation in rural Arizona takes the listener through many complex layers of relationships between Apache and Anglo cultures. The myth and spiritual fabric of the Apache community pulls Zeb Hanks, a small town sheriff, through a personal journey, making the murder not just a crime to solve but a cathartic passage. The dead never leave us but they do whisper ghost stories that bring the past back to life. Jake Dablo is a drunken, washed up lawman because of his inability to solve the murder of his only granddaughter.
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4
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The Royal Wulff Murders
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A local fisherman lands more than he bargained for when he pulls a dead body out of Montana’s Madison River. Sheriff Martha Ettinger takes on the case and soon comes into the company of reclusive artist, Montana newcomer, and ex-PI Sean Stranahan. After teaming up to investigate, Martha and Sean soon uncover evidence that the murder has ties to one of the state’s biggest industries: fly fishing.
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I like this series set in Montana
- By L. O. Pardue on 11-14-16
By: Keith McCafferty
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Hard Country
- A Novel
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- Narrated by: George Guidall
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- Unabridged
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National best-selling author and New Mexico native Michael McGarrity takes listeners to the wild territory of the late 19th-century American Southwest for this epic tale. After the deaths of his wife and brother, John Kerney gives up his West Texas ranch and heads south in search of a new home. Soon Kerney is offered work trailing cattle to the New Mexico Territory - a job that will forever change his life.
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Hard Country lives up to it's title.
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The Spider's Web
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- Unabridged
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Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden and Father John O’Malley find themselves disagreeing over a murder case. But when the killer strikes again, both will have to put their differences aside before they, too, get caught in the murderer’s web.
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I Loved it! Mysterious, Interesting, Romance and Heartwarming
- By Kindle Customer on 03-29-25
By: Margaret Coel
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The Boy Who Made Dragonfly
- A Zuni Myth
- By: Tony Hillerman
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 1 hr and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
As fans of Tony Hillerman's detective novels know, he is a skilled interpreter of southwestern Indian cultures. In this book, first published in 1972, he recounts a Zuni myth first recorded a century ago by the anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing. Hillerman's version of the story, written to be listened to by children ten years old and up, will have equal appeal for adults with an interest in Native American culture.
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Poor narration of a white man’s story
- By Janet L on 01-30-25
By: Tony Hillerman
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The Lost Get-Back Boogie
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- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Released from prison after two years for manslaughter, Iry heads to Montana for a fresh start on a ranch owned by a prison buddy's father. He also hopes to nail down a song he's been working on, unable to get quite right. But soon new troubles bring tragic consequences, and it will take a lot more than a soulful tune to ease the pain.
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Bought all Burkes's Audiobooks- Wish Not this one
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By: James Lee Burke
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Horse Hunts
- A Smoke Tree Series Novella
- By: Gary J. George
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the middle of an important investigation,Smoke Tree Substation Commander Carlos Caballo, known up and down the Colorado River Valley as "Horse," is suddenly called away to find a man who has shot an inspector at the California Agricultural Inspection station in the tiny desert community of Vidal, California. A California Highway patrolman has found the car abandoned alongside Highway95. When Horse and and the patrolman force open the trunk, they discover a body: the man's wife. Horse realizes he and his deputies must find a killer who is on foot in the vast, unpopulated area where the ...
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Horse Hunts
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-25
By: Gary J. George
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The Woman Who Married a Bear
- A Cecil Younger Investigation, Book 1
- By: John Straley
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- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Cecil Younger, local Alaskan investigator, is neither good at his job nor great at staying sober. When an old Tlingit woman, unimpressed by the police's investigation, hires him to discover why her son, a big-game guide, was murdered, he takes the case without much conviction that he'll discover anything new.
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good story and good performance
- By Clifford K. on 11-01-20
By: John Straley
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Track of the Cat
- By: Nevada Barr
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
From the vivid opening vista, high in craggy mountains, to the final haunting glimpse of a moonlit canyon, Nevada Barr's first mystery, Track of the Cat, instantly caught the attention of readers and reviewers. Its popularity gained it both an Agatha and an Anthony Award.
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Guadalupe Mountain Mystery
- By Sara on 10-15-15
By: Nevada Barr
I learned so much
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Hillerman celebrated Navajo culture through his stories
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Jim
A fitting tribute to
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Behind the Writings of Tony Hillerman
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Not “Just an author”
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As someone who picks up random bios about people I often know nothing about, I can always count on Morris to deliver an interesting story.
In this case, I do know something about Hillerman--or rather, his mysteries. I plucked one off my Mom's nightstand when I was 17, many years ago, and went on to read more.
This bio I think has wide appeal for anyone interested in Hillerman (the man and author), NM, OK, the indigenous peoples of NM & OK, writers, those who love his mysteries, journalism, war, etc. Seriously--something for everybody.
You can always count on Morris to deliver...
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Great history of Hillerman!!!
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A Writer’s Life
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I loved this book. well written
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Well written biography of an American legend.
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