The cases of Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee have given thousands of readers an insight into the cultural milieu of the Indian peoples of the Southwest, particularly the Navajo.
I have also posted reviews of Hunting Badger, The Wailing Wind, and The Sinister Pig. Note: Check my "American Indian Mysteries" essay for a discussion of this relatively new crossover genre. And he provides a target to aspire to, because none of them has surpassed the best of Hillerman's Navajo mysteries. Jance, Steve Hamilton, Nevada Barr and countless other mystery writers mining similar hills owe Hillerman a nod of thank you. Less directly, Rudolfo Anaya, Mardi Oakley Medawar, Michael McGarrity, Judith Van Gieson, J. Thomas Perry, Kirk Mitchell, Margaret Coel, James Doss, Sandra Prowell, Dana Stablenow, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Louis Owens, and Linda Hogan have all been direct beneficiaries, gaining an audience for their own worthy endeavors.
If Tony Hillerman didn't invent the American Indian detective novel, he certainly deserves credit for turning it into a mainstream idea. Tony Hillerman's Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn Mysteries
0 kommentar(er)
