Anne Hillerman, who is continuing her father Tony Hillerman’s best-selling mystery novel series set in the Navajo Nation and the Four Corners, will discuss her work Wednesday at the Powerhouse Science Center.
Hillerman will be joined by Mancos archaeologist Frank Lister, who will discuss the maps he creates to accompany the novels that feature the stories of Navajo Tribal Police officers Lt. Joe Leaphorn, Sgt. Jim Chee and now officer Bernadette Manuelito.
Hillerman will speak as part of Durango Diaries, The Durango Herald’s twice-a-month storyteller series at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio.
Manuelito, a minor character in the Leaphorn and Chee mysteries of her father, has been developed into a full-fledged protagonist leading the effort in the vivid and austere landscapes of the Navajo Nation and the Four Corners to solve the latest murder confronting the Navajo Tribal Police.
After her father’s death in 2008, Hillerman continued the series with her novels “Spider Woman’s Daughter,” “Rock with Wings,” “Song of the Lion” and “Cave of Bones.”
The books, both her father’s and hers, mesh the landscape of the Southwest, Navajo culture and spirituality and nuts-and-bolts police work. Having a foot in both white and Navajo culture is often helpful in solving the mysteries.
Hillerman has worked as a reporter, arts editor and editorial page editor at The Santa Fe New Mexican and The Albuquerque Journal.
This session of Durango Diaries is free to the public, and books are available at Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.
For more information, visit durangoherald.com/durangodiaries.
