In the last few years I have begun reading quite a number of mystery novels. Some are single stories and some are series(Love Brother Cadfael, Decius Caecilius Metellus, and Marcus Didius Falco!) I am aware of, though I have not yet read, the Jim Chee mystery novels of Tony Hillerman. Can any Dopers out there enlighten me? Are the books worth starting in on? Do you have to read them in order to understand one from the middle of the series? Any information would be great. Thanks a lot.
I’ve read a number of them and quite enjoyed them. I started out of order and then went back to the beginning; I’d recommend reading them in order since there are a few character development aspects that run through the novels, but you can pick up in the middle without being lost.
I recommend them highly. There are a lot of imitators but Hillerman did it first and best. The plotting is usually quite solid but the fascinating part is the way in which Navajo culture and outlook figure into the crimes and solutions.
Each novel can stand alone but the two main characters–Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn–do evolve quite a bit through the series. The two characters contrast well. Not every title features both, though there’s usually at least a reference or “walk on” by the other. It’d be nice to read them in order but not strictly necessary as long you don’t mind adapting mentally to the time leaps. They aren’t plot driven from title to title; you can understand each fully on its own. The main continuity owes to the characters of Chee and Leaphorn.
IMO they’re fine reads. Hope you decide to try them.
Veb
I’m not a rabid fan of mysteries, but I do enjoy them. The Hillerman books are “pretty good” <-- how’s that for high brow literary criticism?
They incorporate many elements of Navajo tribal life, and this makes the series unique and interesting. If memory serves, Hillerman was raised on a reservation (I think his father was a doctor at a tribal health clinic), so his information is often first-hand. On top of his own experience, his research seems, if not scholarly, certainly capable of creating an accurate environment for his characters.
The only downside I’ve noticed is that after I read each one, the memories of the plots have sort of blended together to create a vague memory of one big story … no one book in particular stands out. When I see one at the library or the bookstore, even after reading the back, I’m often not sure if I’ve read this one before. (I find the same thing to be true of the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries.)
I agree with Geobabe, that you don’t have to read them in order to understand the primary plot, but if you like to follow the side stories (family issues, romance), reading them in order is the thing to do. I wouldn’t exactly say there are two series, because the characters are so interconnected, but some of the books focus on Joe Leaphorn, some on Jim Chee, and some with them working together on the cases.
I generally dislike me too posts, but I have to agree with everybody else. I picked one up in a used book store that was out of chronological order and liked it enough that I’ve read half a dozen so far. The characters are very ‘real’ the plots don’t depend on a lot of 'lucky coincedinces, and the ‘Indian’ culture is fascinating. Why don’t you go to your local used book store and clean them out? You won’t be sorry.
[aside] Have you read any of Robert Parker’s ‘Spencer’ books?[/aside]
I was force-fed A Thief of Time for a Western Literature class, which is one of the Chee series (don’t know what number). My opinion: average, grade B stuff.
I have to admit it read quickly, and the plot kept good speed. But there simply wasn’t enough character/description for my taste. Maybe that gets brought out in some of the other books in the series, but I found myself saying “Who are these guys?” an awful lot.
If you like Hillerman’s style in general though, by all means go for it.
Thanks for all the replies so far from the Dopers here. I think I will try out the books. I know the local used book store has a number of them, and usually an inside page lists the order books were written in.
To answer your question Bumbazine, no, I haven’t read the Spencer books, But I can look for them at the same time I go for Hillerman’s. Thanks.
I have read most of them and rate them as reasonably enjoyable.
I do have a little problem with his tendency to overly romanticize the Navajo culture. Sort of the old “Noble Savage” approach.
I went to high school in a small town on the edge of the Navajo reservation, had a couple of fairly close friends that were Navajo, and know that they are just people like the rest of us and pollute and damage the environment to the full extent of their technology just as the rest of us do.
Ya’ta hee, Baker,
I enjoy both Hillerman and Parker’s books, so by all means, clean out that used book store. IIRC, Hillerman started out writing either Leaphorn or Chee books, but after 4 or 5 of each, started bringing both main characters into each new book together. I have all the Spenser ( spelled it wrong, Bumbazene! 
) books, and he also has a new character, a female P.I. in Boston introduced in Family Honor that I also enjoyed. No Spenser in that book, but the Boston crooks were the same ones Spenser dealt with.
I really like Hillerman’s books. I find them a very, very enjoyable read, but I am hesitant to recommend them whole-heartedly to you. From the mysteries you said you loved, I am thinking you may not like Chee and Leaphorn as much as we do.
Your preferences seem to lean towards mysteries which are caught up in History with a capital “H”. With Chee and Leaphorn, history, if it’s there at all, has a definitely lower case “h”. The capitalized letters for them might be Clan or Tradition. The Navajo as portrayed by Hillerman seems to be a man (civilization) outside of time and Chee and Leaphorn interact with that as people who walk between the two societies they exist within. These are common men who function in uncommon, almost mystic situations.
Then again, I’m a Southwesterner and I might just be geocentric.
Actually, I do read contemporary mysteries and like them. The ones I mentioned in the OP are some of my favorites, yes, but not the only ones I like. Besides, one can’t get stuck in a stylistic rut. But thanks for your concern TV time. Even if it turns out I’m lukewarm towards them after the first two or three, they will be cheap because the used bookstore has them.
Hillerman has only 7 or 8 mystery novels out, so go ahead and read ‘em all . The won’t take you much time. I found the plots a little repetitive in structure, but the characters are reasonably well-drawn. I like that Hillerman does not hide the pockets of poverty that frequent reservation life.
While the first couple Spenser novels were pretty realistic, the later ones are much more cartoon like in their violence and machismo. I haven’t read on in a while now. But I’ll try Family Honor.
It’s amazing that a non-Navajo can seem to get so inside that culture. I was in the Peace Corps when I read all his books back to back (made me miss New Mexico!), and they started to sound a little repetitive. They were still fun and different. What I thought was oddest, though, was how prudish Hillerman is. It’s like a big deal when Jim Chee gets to hold a girl’s hand.
Tony Hillerman writes very disappointing “mysteries”.
There is never a puzzle. Clues are impossible or absolutely out of time sequence, and never are the key to solution. The story comes to a head, not when the clues are put together, but when the culprit “gets nervous” that they are “so close” and screws up. Only then does anyone have enough to tie the “clues” back to him. These should be reclassified as “local interest” and sold only in desert gift shops, because they aren’t mysteries.
You remind me of the Truman Capote antagonist in “Murder By Death”.
