In this affectionate and unvarnished recollection of his past, Tony Hillerman looks at seventy-six years spent getting from hard-times farm boy to bestselling author. Using the gifts of a talented novelist and reporter, Hillerman draws brilliant portrait not just of his life, but of the world around him.

A rich gathering of essays that evoke the unique and mysterious appeal that New Mexico has had for some of the twentieth century's best known writers. Included here are selections by Mary Austin, Oliver La Farge, Conrad Richter, D. H. Lawrence, C. G. Jung, Winfield Townley Scott, John DeWitt McKee, Ernie Pyle, Harvey Fergusson, and Lawrence Clark Powell. Hillerman's Preface and Introduction are choice specimens of his incisive humour and his own deep love of the state.

A phone call in 1975 changes Moon Mathias's life forever, as a voice on the line tells him his dead brother's baby daughter--a child Moon never knew existed--is waiting for him in Southeast Asia.

A task he believes beyond his meager talents is pulling Moon to Vietnam. In a chilling world of mystery and silence, disguise and deception, he'll risk everything for the sake of one little girl--and discover a Moon Mathias who's a better man than he ever thought he could be.

A sterling collection of classic and contemporary fiction and nonfiction evoking the unique spirit of the West and its people, selected and introduced by one of today's premier chroniclers of the Western landscape and a New York Times bestselling author.

This new collection will pick up where Dorothy L. Sayers' The Omnibus of Crime (1929) left off - "in the heart of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction" - bringing together monumental, entertaining works of mystery short fiction from the early 1930s to the present, from the inter-war years of the twentieth century to first years of the twenty-first century. Herbert will introduce each story, placing the selection in the context of the author and the genre's literary history. Emphasis will be placed upon representing the most exciting styles and voices in the genre rather than a slavish servitude to a decade-by-decade approach. Stories on the short list include Norman Mailer "The Killer", P.D. James "Great Aunt Allie's Fly Papers" or "The Victim", Sue Grafton "The Parker Shotgun", Frankie Y. Bailey "Since You Went Away", John Cheever "Montraldo", Paul Theroux "The Johore Murders", Tony Hillerman "First Lead Gasser", David Winser "The Boat Race Murder", James M. Cain "Cigarette Girl", Dorothy L. Sayers "The Necklace of Pearls", Linda Barnes "Lucky Penny", Cornell Woolrich "Death at the Burlesque", Raymond Chandler "Red Wind", Dennis Lehane "Running Out of Dog", and James Crumley "Hot Springs".

This classic collection of nonfiction essays about life in New Mexico by the great Tony Hillerman remains a must read for anyone looking to understand the state's unique charm. The vivid pieces in The Great Taos Bank Robbery paint an indelible portrait of life--with all its magnificent quirks and foibles--in the Land of Enchantment. Celebrating fifty years since its original 1973 release, this anniversary edition offers a new introduction by noted Hillerman biographer James McGrath Morris and a foreword by Anne Hillerman, introducing a new generation of readers to the magic of Tony Hillerman and New Mexico.

Retells a Zuäni myth in which a young boy and his sister gain the wisdom that makes them leaders of their people through the intercession of a dragonfly.

Retirement has never sat well with former Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn. Now the ghosts of a still-unsolved case are returning to haunt him, reawakened by a photograph in a magazine spread of a one-of-a-kind Navajo rug, a priceless work of woven art that was supposedly destroyed in a suspicious fire many years earlier. The rug, commemorating one of the darkest and most terrible chapters in American history, was always said to be cursed, and now the friend who brought it to Leaphorn's attention has mysteriously gone missing. With newly wedded officers Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito just back from their honeymoon, the legendary ex-lawman is on his own to pick up the threads of a crime he'd once thought impossible to untangle. And they're leading him back into a world of lethal greed, shifting truths, and changing faces, where a cold-blooded killer still resides.

During a Tano kachina ceremony, something in the antics of the dancing koshare, a sacred clown, fills the air with tension. Moments later, the clown is found brutally bludgeoned -- in the same manner that a reservation schoolteacher was killed just days before.

In true Navajo style, Officer Jim Chee and Lieutenant Leaphorn of the Tribal Police go back to the beginning to decipher the sacred clown's message to the people of the Tano pueblo. Amid guarded tribal secrets and crooked Indian traders, they find a trail of blood that links a runaway schoolboy, two dead bodies, and the mysterious presence of a sacred artifact.

This fantastic new collection picks up where Dorothy L. Sayers left off, bringing together monumental, important,and entertaining works of short crime fiction published over eight decades from the era of the Great Depression to the first uears of the twenty-first century. In lively introductory essays, celebrated crime writer Tony Hillerman and critic Rosemary Herbert place each story in the context of the author's work and the genre's literary history. Their extraordinary collection is international in scope and emphasizes the most exciting styles and voices, rather than taking a typical decade-by-decade approach. As a result A New Omnibus of Crime is packed with page-turning, engaging, and spine-tingling selections. Stories include Patricia Highsmith's "Woodrow Wilson's Necktie," Sue Grafton's "A Poison That Leaves No Trace," and many more, including never-before-published works from Jefferey Deaver, Catherine Aird, and Alexander McCall Smith.

Since his retirement from the Navajo Tribal Police, Joe Leaphorn has occasionally been enticed to return to work by former colleagues who seek his help when they need to solve a particularly puzzling crime. They ask because Leaphorn, aided by officers Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito, always delivers.

But this time the problem is with an old case of Joe's--his "last case," unsolved, and one that continues to haunt him. And with Chee and Bernie just back from their honeymoon, Leaphorn is pretty much on his own.

The original case involved a priceless, one-of-a-kind Navajo rug supposedly destroyed in a fire. Suddenly, what looks like the same rug turns up in a magazine spread. And the man who brings the photo to Leaphorn's attention has gone missing. Leaphorn must pick up the threads of a crime he'd thought impossible to untangle. Not only has the passage of time obscured the details, but it also appears that there's a murderer still on the loose.

Okemah, Oklahoma, where Woody Guthrie once lived and wrote songs, was fighting for its existence in the late 1920s and early 1930s as the oil boom ended, cotton fell to ten cents a pound, and Prohibition was in force. Yet this grim scenario frames Robert Rutland's colorful remembrance of a youth filled with adventure, characters, curiosity, and love. Here is the true story of a little boy who found life full of excitement, wonder, and joy in a small town on the southern plains.

This classic collection of nonfiction essays about life in New Mexico by the great Tony Hillerman remains a must read for anyone looking to understand the state's unique charm. The engaging pieces in The Great Taos Bank Robbery unveil the life and magic one experiences in the Land of Enchantment. This edition includes a new introduction and foreword by Anne Hillerman and new photographs with each story.