Tony Hillerman Books in Order

Tony Hillerman wrote the Southwestern police procedural into literature: eighteen novels (1970-2006) set on and around the Navajo Nation, built on two detectives - Joe Leaphorn, the Legendary Lieutenant who thinks like an anthropologist, and Jim Chee, the younger officer training to be a hatathali, pulled between Navajo ways and federal law. The books are respectful, plotted like chess, and read by the millions. After Tony's death in 2008 his daughter Anne Hillerman continued the series - nine novels so far, moving Bernadette Manuelito to the center - and AMC's Dark Winds (2022-), now in its fourth season, adapts the early books to television. This page sequences all twenty-seven (1970–present).

Where to start

The Blessing Way (1970), the first Leaphorn novel - or Skinwalkers (1986), the first true Leaphorn-and-Chee book and the common entry point. New readers arriving from Dark Winds can start at either.

Does the reading order matter?

Publication order throughout, with one map: The Blessing Way (1970), Dance Hall of the Dead (1973) and Listening Woman (1978) are Leaphorn-only; People of Darkness (1980) introduces Chee in his own line; from Skinwalkers (1986) the two share the series, with Leaphorn retiring from the force around The First Eagle (1998) and working on as a consultant - so the partnership deepens rather than resets. Each case stands alone, but the cast ages book by book, and Chee's personal arc (and Manuelito's arrival) only tracks in order. Tony's last is The Shape Shifter (2006). Anne Hillerman's continuation begins with Spider Woman's Daughter (2013) - read after Tony's run, because it opens with Leaphorn shot and presumes the whole world; her nine novels run through Shadow of the Solstice (2025), with Bernadette Manuelito the lead. Dark Winds (AMC, 2022-) adapts the early novels; season four arrived February 2026 and a fifth is announced for 2027

Which one is the best?

Dance Hall of the Dead (1973), the Edgar winner; Skinwalkers (1986), the partnership at its best; A Thief of Time (1988), the one about the pothunters that hooked a generation.

Related guides

Readers finishing this shelf usually want the map next door: Longmire books in order, Louise Penny books in order, Joe Pickett books in order. Every guide follows the same format — the shelf, the entry point, the honest answer about order.

Make it a project

Pick a session size and let the days accumulate — at the pace our reading speed test measures, most shelves above clear in a few weeks of half-hours. Every guide on the books in order shelf follows this same format, and when a book lands, its 8-question quiz is waiting on the original book quiz.