RIP Tony Hillerman

Natives and near-natives of the Southwest will mourn the loss of one of its greatest voices.

Novelist Tony Hillerman, official friend of the Navajo (he received the "Special Friend of the Dine" award in 1987) and, far beyond a Louis L'Amour, a culturally and socially accurate, as well as geographically accurate, surveyor of the West -- but with Hillerman, the modern West, or a slice of it -- has died at 83.

Here's his take on the reasoning behind his murder mystery protagonists, Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Officer (later Sgt.) Jim Chee:

"I want Americans to stop thinking of Navajos as primitive persons, to understand that they are sophisticated and complicated."

For more on Hillerman, here's the NYT story.

Having been on the Big Rez, and the smaller Navajo reservations at Ramah and Canoncito (hell, Gallup was surrounded by "checkerboard" land), having been to the Hopi mesas and Zuni -- including Shalako -- more than once as well, he did know what he was writing about. As a bilegaana, I don't think he revealed too much about Navajo myth, legend and ritual. Nor do I think he was too earnest or moralistic in his promotion of Navajos as a people.

You did a damn fine job, Tony. You're already missed.