#art, #books, «Spiderwoman’s Daughter»

This was the first book which incorporated the characters that Anne Hillerman’s father, Tony Hillerman developed back (1970) when he wrote his first novel of the Navajo Nation Police, «The Blessing Way.»

Okay, I am not a book reviewer, so be patient with me. I bought «Spiderwoman’s Daughter» at the Miami International Airport…in 2014…while I waited for a flight to New York, en route to Istanbul. I began reading it on the plane and continued reading it after I made my connection, JFK to Istanbul. Once I got to my summer Turkish destination, on the southern Mediterranean coast, I must have read a few chapters. But sailing and the beach were too engaging, and I left the book.

Fast forward to 2024. I was looking through the things I had left here and I found the book. It was still marked at the place where I had left it ten years ago. Funny how all those other years that I had come here I had not even thought of looking for it. But I am glad this summer i did. And I just finished reading it, and I loved it. Plus it got me back to one of my old favourite pastimes, reading. I’ve already started on her second novel «Rock With Wings» which I had not realised I had purchased and was in my e-book library.

Tony Hillerman’s books focused on two principal characters, and many others that appeared, re-appeared, or disappeared according to the needs of the plot. The books were all mysteries that took place on the area of the Navajo Nation and the surrounding US states, like New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. His descriptions of that area were incredible to me and I would imagine them as I had never been to the US Southwest. The main characters were Lieutenant Leaphorn (The Legendary Lieutenant) and a few books later, Jim Chee, both officers of the Navajo Nation Tribal Police.

Tony Hillerman, who was born in Oklahoma (1925), sadly passed away in 2008. He was a prolific author…New York Times bestseller always…with a phenomenal ability to create believable, and memorable characters. From 1970 to 2006, he wrote 18 novels about the detective work, lives, loves and hardships of Jim Chee and Lt. Leaphorn. And towards the end he added a new protagonist, Bernadette Manuelito, also a police officer of the Navajo Nation.

I had read all his books. I was totally hooked on these characters and the descriptions of the life and geography of that mysterious region that I had only seen in the old cowboy movies. Then when he passed away I thought it was all over. But it wasn’t.

Thankfully his daughter, Anne, also a fabulous writer…New York Times bestseller…continued the saga of these incredible characters her father had developed. «Spiderwoman’s Daughter«, her first book, is a sort of like a bridge from her father’s books to her own. She goes back to many of the mysteries solved in his novels and shows us another part of the plot. But she has developed Officer Bernadette Manuelito (Bernie) to perfection.

Needless to say, I am thrilled with her series of Jim Chee/Bernie/Leaphorn books. If you like adventure stories with incredibly well developed characters that confront mysteries and difficulties like «real» people, and not like characters in a video game (or modern movies), then you will love the series.

And happily, I can tell you that I will be busy, very busy reading, Here is my reading list for the rest of the year as these are the books that Ms. Hillerman has written since 2013. I hope she writes many, many more…

2013 Spider Woman’s Daughter ISBN 978-0-06-227048-1.
2015 Rock With Wings ISBN 978-0-06-227051-1.
2017 Song of the Lion ISBN 978-0-06-239190-2.
2018 Cave of Bones ISBN 978-0-06-239192-6.
2019 The Tale Teller ISBN 978-0-06-239195-7.
2021 Stargazer ISBN 978-0-06-290833-9.
2022 The Sacred Bridge ISBN 978-0-06-290836-0.
2023 The Way of the Bear ISBN 978-0-06-290839-1.
2024 Lost Birds ISBN 978-0-06-334478-5.

So, sorry if this was not a proper book review, it’s my version of one and you know as an Expressionist painter, I paint what I see inside, as a book reviewer I do the same.

CHEERS