SELDOM DISAPPOINTED

Don't you hate it when one of your favorite authors dies? It is like the loss of a good friend. Tony Hillerman died last year and I still miss him. He wrote 18 wonderful mystery novels about the Navajos and their culture in the south-west. His books often were about conflicts between the American legal system and traditional Navajo definitions of crime. Reading his novels, gave me a good understanding of the strength and dignity of the Navajo culture. The Navajo are more sensitive to moral weakness than the white society that surrounds them. I feel like I personally knew Hillerman's main character, Lt. Joe Leaphorn. Before writing novels, Hillerman was a journalist, editor, and teacher.

In his biography, he describes growing up in the Depression on a small farm in Oklahoma. He was in the army during World War Two, and took part in the D-day landings. He won the silver star for valour and a Purple Heart for being severely wounded by a mine.

Tony Hillerman had an interesting philosophy, "If one learns not to have unrealistic expectations, one will often be pleasantly surprised and seldom disappointed".