I've been reading Fallen Man and re reading Coyote Waits and I am now reading Skeleton Man. I looked on Wiki to see what sort of order I was reading them in. I was all over the place as usual, but then I started with the Dark Wind. I got into Dark Wind because of the film version that came out roughly the same time as Dances With Wolves - I was going through a period of being fasinated with Native American culture at the time. I guess I still am.
Any I looked at wiki and found that the author of these books had passed on last year. Don't think its a wiki falsehood because its pretty well referenced. So when I have read the last couple of books that will be it, the end of twenty years of enjoyable exploration of Navajo, Hopi and Zuni culture through the medium of crime fiction with a bit of tracking stuff thrown in for good measure. One Navajo custom metioned is not naming the dead.
Well this is not entirely the end, because hopefully one day, I'll be able to visit the Navojo Nation see the beautifully described landscape and explore that desert wilderness myself.
I've read every one of Tony Hillerman's Chee/Leaphorn novels, most at least twice. They're really the best of this sort of sub-genre of mysteries set against a Native American background. Hillerman knew, understoood, and greatly respected the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni cultures, and he lived in and loved the Four Corners region. You'd probably enjoy some of his other writings, too, including his autobiography.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the reports of his death are true.
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ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Solitaire
Regards
SBW