Passing
the torch
By J. Rentilly
FAMILY DINNERS in the Tony Hillerman
household enjoyed frequent visits from fictional creations: Navajo crime-solvers Joe
Leaphorn and Jim Chee, featured in The
Blessing Way and 17 more of the late best-selling author’s New Mexico–set mystery
novels. This left an indelible impression on
the writer’s eldest child, Anne.
“We’d be at dinner when I was growing
up and, inevitably, Dad would share with us
about the novel he was working on,” recalls
Anne Hillerman. “It was like Leaphorn and
Chee were at dinner with us every night,
enjoying with us the puzzles of life. They were
kind of like my uncles.”
When Tony Hillerman passed away in
2008 after a long illness, he left in his wake not
only a grieving family but a vast array of ques-
tions about the future of his characters, loved
by millions of readers around the world.
“After I processed the sadness of losing
my father, I began to think, ‘Gee, I’m going
to miss these stories too,’” says Hillerman.
“What’s going to happen to these characters?
What will they do next? They can’t just stop
existing, can they? All of those things were
rattling around in my brain, and I figured for
Dad’s readers too.”
Hillerman had already carved
out a formidable career of her own
as a writer, working as a reporter
and editor for a variety of local and
national news outlets and penning
eight nonfiction books, including
the acclaimed Tony Hillerman’s
Landscape: On the Road with Chee
and Leaphorn. “I always felt very
connected to my father as a writer.
I was so in awe of him,” she says.
“I remember sneaking
out of bed at night and
watching him write in
his home office when
I was supposed to be
sleeping, and he was
always so supportive of my writing.”
While promoting Landscape, a collabora-
tion with her husband, the noted photogra-
pher Don Strel, Hillerman was approached by
Santa Fe tour company Road Scholar about
creating a Leaphorn-and-Chee-inspired tour
© ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL / EDDIE MOORE
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Anne Hillerman
continues her
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the torch
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of the Southwest. To prep for
the gig, which is ongoing, she
reread all of her father’s books
and visited all of the stunning locales featured, quite essentially, in those stories.
“That really reacquainted me with the
characters and the plots and made it all
come alive for me again,” says Hillerman,
now 63. “And I began to wonder if
maybe I could answer some of my own
questions about what comes next for
Leaphorn and Chee.”
Hillerman felt she first needed permission to pursue such a creative endeavor, and spoke with her mother,
Hillerman was especially excited to move
Manuelito to center stage, something she had
discussed with her father in the years before
his passing. “Toward the end of Dad’s career,
Bernie started really coming to life in his
books, but was still kind of a damsel in dis-
tress,” she says. “I said to him,
‘Dad, why don’t you write a book
where Bernie actually gets to
solve the crime?’ He really
warmed to that idea, and that’s
what I was able to do.”
Hillerman is profoundly
aware of her obligation not
only to her father’s characters, but
also to his readership. “It was
daunting, writing this book,
for sure,” she laughs.
“Some days I really felt
like Dad was looking
over my shoulder, and
some days I thought I
really should have been
a waitress. I’m just hoping fans of my father’s
books will find enough to love in my version
of these characters and that I’ll give them
some pleasure.” C
J. Rentilly is a Los Angeles–based writer.
tress,” she says. “I said to him,
daunting, writing this book,
Novelist Anne Hillerman
poses with a photo of her
dad, Tony Hillerman.