LEAPHORN, CHEE, HILLERMAN & ME

               Hillerman country

I continue to glide joyfully through the totality of Tony Hillerman's Navajo Cop books.  There are 18 in all, and tonight I will finish #9, God willing and Putin don’t interfere!  After Tony’s death his daughter Ann attempted to keep the franchise going but, in my opinion, with little success.  Ann’s characters have the same names, but they just aren’t the same people – if you get my drift.

So, the first two books in the series may be the best, and certainly pack the most enlightenment about Navajo history, religion and culture.  Somewhere about book four Hillerman hits us with a gut-wrenching depiction of gradual descent into and through Alzheimer’s disease. It made me realize how lucky I am it is only my peripherals – even important ones like hearing and eyesight –  that are failing.  The essential me is still pretty much still here -  for better or for worse!

So, I enthusiastically recommend that you dig into the Hillerman oeuvre at your earliest possible convenience.  You can get them for less than $4.00 from Abebooks, if your eyes will allow you to read real book books.  Me, I read them on my iPad, at about $10/whack.