Below is the complete list of Tony Hillerman books in order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Leaphorn & Chee Books
with Anne Hillerman
- The Blessing Way (1970)
The Blessing Way was published in 1970 and is listed as book #1 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Dance Hall of the Dead (1973)
Published in 1973, Dance Hall of the Dead is listed as book #2 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Listening Woman (1978)
Listening Woman is a 1978 release and appears as book #3 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - People of Darkness (1980)
In the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, People of Darkness is book #4 and was published in 1980. - The Dark Wind (1982)
The Dark Wind was first published in 1982; within the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, it is listed as book #5. - The Ghostway (1984)
The Ghostway was published in 1984 and is listed as book #6 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Skinwalkers (1986)
Published in 1986, Skinwalkers is listed as book #7 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - A Thief of Time (1988)
A Thief of Time is a 1988 release and appears as book #8 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Talking God (1989)
In the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, Talking God is book #9 and was published in 1989. - Coyote Waits (1990)
Coyote Waits was first published in 1990; within the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, it is listed as book #10. - Sacred Clowns (1992)
Sacred Clowns was published in 1992 and is listed as book #11 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - The Fallen Man (1996)
Published in 1996, The Fallen Man is listed as book #12 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - The First Eagle (1998)
The First Eagle is a 1998 release and appears as book #13 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Hunting Badger (1999)
In the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, Hunting Badger is book #14 and was published in 1999. - The Wailing Wind (2002)
The Wailing Wind was first published in 2002; within the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, it is listed as book #15. - The Sinister Pig (2003)
The Sinister Pig was published in 2003 and is listed as book #16 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Skeleton Man (2004)
Published in 2004, Skeleton Man is listed as book #17 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - The Shape Shifter (2006)
The Shape Shifter is a 2006 release and appears as book #18 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Spider Woman’s Daughter (2013)
(By Anne Hillerman)
In the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, Spider Woman's Daughter is book #19 and was published in 2013. - Rock with Wings (2015)
(By Anne Hillerman)
Rock with Wings was first published in 2015; within the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, it is listed as book #20. - Song of the Lion (2017)
(By Anne Hillerman)
Song of the Lion was published in 2017 and is listed as book #21 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Cave of Bones (2018)
(By Anne Hillerman)
Published in 2018, Cave of Bones is listed as book #22 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - The Tale Teller (2019)
(By Anne Hillerman)
The Tale Teller is a 2019 release and appears as book #23 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Stargazer (2021)
(By Anne Hillerman)
In the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, Stargazer is book #24 and was published in 2021. - The Sacred Bridge (2022)
(By Anne Hillerman)
The Sacred Bridge was first published in 2022; within the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series, it is listed as book #25. - The Way of the Bear (2023)
(By Anne Hillerman)
The Way of the Bear was published in 2023 and is listed as book #26 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Lost Birds (2024)
(By Anne Hillerman)
Published in 2024, Lost Birds is listed as book #27 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series. - Shadow of the Solstice (2025)
(By Anne Hillerman)
Shadow of the Solstice is a 2025 release and appears as book #28 in the Leaphorn & Chee Bookswith Anne Hillerman series.
Publication Order of Standalone Novels Books
- The Fly on the Wall (1971)
The Fly on the Wall was published in 1971 and is listed as book #1 in the Standalone Novels series. - Finding Moon (1995)
Published in 1995, Finding Moon is listed as book #2 in the Standalone Novels series.
Publication Order of Short Story Collections Books
- The Best of the West (1991)
The Best of the West was published in 1991 and is listed as book #1 in the Short Story Collections series. - The Mysterious West (1994)
Published in 1994, The Mysterious West is listed as book #2 in the Short Story Collections series. - The Great Taos Bank Robbery: And Other True Stories (2023)
The Great Taos Bank Robbery: And Other True Stories is a 2023 release and appears as book #3 in the Short Story Collections series.
Publication Order of Children’s Books
- The Boy Who Made Dragonfly (1972)
The Boy Who Made Dragonfly was published in 1972 and is listed as book #1 in the Children's series. - Buster Mesquite’s Cowboy Band (2001)
Published in 2001, Buster Mesquite's Cowboy Band is listed as book #2 in the Children's series.
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
- The Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other Indian Country Affairs (1973)
The Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other Indian Country Affairs was published in 1973 and is listed as book #1 in the Non-Fiction series. - New Mexico, Rio Grande, and Other Essays (1975)
Published in 1975, New Mexico, Rio Grande, and Other Essays is listed as book #2 in the Non-Fiction series. - The Spell of New Mexico (1976)
The Spell of New Mexico is a 1976 release and appears as book #3 in the Non-Fiction series. - Tony Hillerman’s Indian Country Map and Guide (1987)
In the Non-Fiction series, Tony Hillerman's Indian Country Map and Guide is book #4 and was published in 1987. - Indian Country (1987)
Indian Country was first published in 1987; within the Non-Fiction series, it is listed as book #5. - Talking Mysteries: A Conversation With Tony Hillerman (1991)
(With Ernie Bulow)
Talking Mysteries: A Conversation With Tony Hillerman was published in 1991 and is listed as book #6 in the Non-Fiction series. - Hillerman Country (1991)
(With Barney Hillerman)
Published in 1991, Hillerman Country is listed as book #7 in the Non-Fiction series. - Seldom Disappointed (2001)
Seldom Disappointed is a 2001 release and appears as book #8 in the Non-Fiction series. - Kilroy Was There (2004)
In the Non-Fiction series, Kilroy Was There is book #9 and was published in 2004.
About Tony Hillerman
Tony Hillerman was one of the most important writers ever to connect crime fiction with place in a deep, lasting way. Born in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma, in 1925, he later became closely associated with the American Southwest, especially New Mexico, and with the body of work that made his name: the novels featuring Navajo Tribal Police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Hillerman’s official University of New Mexico archive emphasizes that his early schooling alongside Native American children shaped his lifelong respect for Native cultures, and that background became central to the fiction that defined his career.
What made Hillerman stand out was not simply that he wrote mysteries set in the Southwest. He wrote novels in which landscape, belief, custom, and jurisdiction were not decorative features but part of how the mysteries actually worked. In the Leaphorn and Chee books, understanding the land and the cultural world surrounding the crime is often as important as any physical clue. Joe Leaphorn tends to approach cases with a practical, rational, often skeptical intelligence, while Jim Chee brings a different sensibility, one shaped more openly by Navajo tradition and spiritual knowledge. That contrast gave Hillerman one of the richest detective pairings in modern crime fiction.
His bibliography is best understood through that series, but Hillerman’s career was broader than many readers realize. He was a journalist before he became widely known as a novelist, later taught journalism at the University of New Mexico, and also wrote nonfiction about the Southwest, memoir, and other fiction. His official biography and public reference material consistently present him not just as a novelist, but as a journalist, teacher, and regional writer whose work helped define a literary image of the modern Southwest.
Still, the Leaphorn and Chee novels are the center of gravity. They gave Hillerman a series structure large enough to explore crime, history, federal and tribal authority, archaeology, greed, family loyalty, and the collision between modern institutions and older ways of understanding the world. The books are mysteries, but they are also novels about interpretation: reading land, reading motive, reading people across cultural boundaries. That is one reason his work endured beyond genre categories. Hillerman was never just arranging clues. He was writing about how knowledge itself is shaped by place and tradition.
Publication order matters in Hillerman’s work because the Leaphorn and Chee books deepen over time. What begins as a regional detective series grows into a more layered fictional world in which the relationship between the two men becomes one of the series’ central strengths. Later books gain force from the reader already knowing how differently Leaphorn and Chee think, and why that difference matters. His bibliography is therefore best read not as isolated Western-flavored mysteries, but as an evolving body of work with strong internal continuity.
Hillerman died in 2008, but his fictional world did not end with him. His daughter Anne Hillerman continued the series, with HarperCollins explicitly presenting her novels as continuations of Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn and Chee line, later expanding the emphasis to Leaphorn, Chee, and Bernadette Manuelito. That continuation says something important about the strength of the original creation: Hillerman built not just a detective duo, but an enduring fictional territory.
The best way to understand Tony Hillerman’s career is to see him as a writer who changed what an American mystery novel could hold. He brought tribal policing, Navajo country, and Southwestern history into the center of popular crime fiction without treating any of it as exotic backdrop. His novels are readable, suspenseful, and precise, but their lasting power comes from something larger: they made regional knowledge feel inseparable from human truth.