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This page lists books that feature the Navajo Tribal Police officer Joe Leaphorn.

Leaphorn was created Tony Hillerman and appears, often with Jim Chee, in a series of novels. After Tony Hillerman's death more Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novels were written by Hillerman's daughter Anne Hillerman

Joe Leaphorn:
- novels
- omnibus editions
- non-fiction

The Blessing Way

Tony Hillerman

1970

A Joe Leaphorn novel.

"Homicide is always an abomination, but there is something exceptionally disturbing about the victim discovered in a high lonely place, a corpse with a mouth full of sand, abandoned at a crime scene seemingly devoid of tracks or useful clues. Though it goes against his better judgment, Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn cannot help but suspect the hand of a supernatural killer. There is palpable evil in the air, and Leaphorn's pursuit of a Wolf-Witch is leading him where even the bravest men fear, on a chilling trail that winds perilously between mysticism and murder."

Dance Hall of the Dead

Tony Hillerman

1973

A Joe Leaphorn novel.

"Two Native-American boys have vanished into thin air, leaving a pool of blood behind them. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police has no choice but to suspect the very worst, since the blood that stains the parched New Mexican ground once flowed through the veins of one of the missing, a young Zuñi. But his investigation into a terrible crime is being complicated by an important archaeological dig . . . and a steel hypodermic needle. And the unique laws and sacred religious rites of the Zuñi people are throwing impassable roadblocks in Leaphorn's already twisted path, enabling a craven murderer to elude justice or, worse still, to kill again."

Listening Woman

Tony Hillerman

1978

A Joe Leaphorn novel.

"The state police and FBI are baffled when an old man and a teenage girl are brutally murdered. The blind Navajo Listening Woman speaks of ghosts and of witches. But Lieutenant Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police knows his people as well as he knows cold-blooded killers. His incredible investigation carries him from a dead man's secret to a kidnap scheme, to a conspiracy that stretches back more than one hundred years. Leaphorn arrives at the threshold of a solution—and is greeted with the most violent confrontation of his career."

Skinwalkers

Tony Hillerman

1986

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"Three shotgun blasts rip through the side of Officer Jim Chee’s trailer as the Navajo Tribal Policeman sleeps. He survives, but the inexplicable attack has raised disturbing questions about a lawman once beyond reproach. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn wonders why Chee was a target and what connection the assault has to a series of gruesome murders that has been plaguing the reservation. But the investigation is leading them both into a nightmare of ritual, witchcraft, and blood . . . and into the dark and mystical domain of evil beings of Navajo legend, the “skinwalkers."

A Thief of Time

Tony Hillerman

1988

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"At a moonlit Indian ruin—where "thieves of time" ravage sacred ground in the name of profit—a noted anthropologist vanishes while on the verge of making a startling, history-altering discovery. At an ancient burial site, amid stolen goods and desecrated bones, two corpses are discovered, shot by bullets fitting the gun of the missing scientist. There are modern mysteries buried in despoiled ancient places. And as blood flows all too freely, Navajo Tribal Policemen Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee must plunge into the past to unearth an astonishing truth and a cold-hearted killer."

Talking God

Tony Hillerman

1989

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"Reunited by a grave robber and a corpse, Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is trying to determine the identity of a murder victim, while Officer Jim Chee is arresting Smithsonian conservator Henry Highhawk for ransacking the sacred bones of his ancestors. But with each peeled-back layer, it becomes shockingly clear that these two cases are mysteriously connected—and that others are pursuing Highhawk, with lethal intentions. And the search for answers to a deadly puzzle is pulling Leaphorn and Chee into the perilous arena of superstition, ancient ceremony, and living gods."

Coyote Waits

Tony Hillerman

1990

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"The car fire didn't kill Navajo Tribal Policeman Delbert Nez—a bullet did. And the old man in possession of the murder weapon is a whiskey-soaked shaman named Ashie Pinto. Officer Jim Chee is devastated by the slaying of his good friend Del, and confounded by the prime suspect's refusal to utter a single word of confession or denial. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn believes there is much more to this outrage than what appears on the surface, as he and Jim Chee set out to unravel a complex weave of greed and death that involves a historical find and a lost fortune. But the hungry and mythical trickster Coyote is waiting, as always, in the shadows to add a strange and deadly new twist."

Sacred Clowns

Tony Hillerman

1993

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

" During a kachina ceremony at the Tano Pueblo, the antics of a dancing koshare fill the air with tension. Moments later, the clown is found bludgeoned to death, in the same manner a reservation schoolteacher was killed only days before. Officer Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn believe that answers lie in the sacred clown's final cryptic message to the Tano people. But to decipher it, the two Navajo policemen may have to delve into closely guarded tribal secrets—on a sinister trail of blood that links a runaway, a holy artifact, corrupt Indian traders, and a pair of dead bodies."

The Fallen Man

Tony Hillerman

1996

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"Human bones lie on a ledge under the peak of Ship Rock mountain, the remains of a murder victim undisturbed for more than a decade. Three hundred miles across the Navajo reservation, a harmless old canyon guide is felled by a sniper's bullet. Joe Leaphorn, recently retired from the Navajo Tribal Police, believes the shooter and the skeleton are somehow connected and recalls a chilling puzzle he was previously unable to solve. But Acting Lieutenant Jim Chee is too busy to take an interest in a dusty cold case . . . until the reborn violence of it hits much too close to home."

The First Eagle

Tony Hillerman

1998

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"For acting Lieutenant Jim Chee, the murder of a Navajo Tribal Police officer seems like an open-and-shut case when he discovers a Hopi poacher huddled over the victim's butchered corpse. However, Chee's newly retired predecessor, Joe Leaphorn, believes otherwise. Hired to find a missing biologist who was searching for the key to a virulent hidden plague—and who vanished in the same area and on the same day the policeman was slain—Leaphorn suspects both events are somehow connected. And the reported sighting of a skinwalker - a Navajo witch - has Leaphorn and Chee seeking answers to a deadly riddle in a dark place where superstition and science collide."

Hunting Badger

Tony Hillerman

1999

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"Three men raid the gambling casino run by the Ute nation and then disappear into the maze of canyons on the Utah-Arizona border. When the FBI, with its helicopters and high-tech equipment, focuses on a wounded deputy sheriff as a possible suspect, Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee and his longtime colleague, retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, launch an investigation of their own. Chee sees a dangerous flaw in the federal theory; Leaphorn sees intriguing connections to the exploits of a legendary Ute bandit-hero. And together, they find themselves caught up in the most perplexing - and deadly - criminal manhunt of their lives."

The Wailing Wind

Tony Hillerman

2002

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"Officer Bernadette Manuelito found the dead man slumped over in the cab of a blue pickup abandoned in a dry gulch off a dirt road, with a rich ex-con's phone number in his pocket . . . and a tobacco tin nearby filled with tracer gold. It's her initial mishandling of the scene that spells trouble for her supervisor, Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police, but it's the echoes of a long-ago crime that call the legendary former Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn out of retirement. Years earlier, Leaphorn followed the trail of a beautiful, young, and missing wife to a dead end, and his failure has haunted him ever since. But ghosts never sleep in these high, lonely Southwestern hills. And the twisted threads of craven murders past and current may finally be coming together, thanks to secrets once moaned in torment on the desert wind."

The Sinister Pig

Tony Hillerman

2003

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police is troubled by the nameless corpse discovered just inside his jurisdiction, at the edge of the Jicarilla Apache natural gas field. More troubling still is the FBI’s insistence that the Bureau take over the case, calling the unidentified victim’s death a 'hunting accident'. But if a hunter was involved, Chee knows the prey was intentionally human. This belief is shared by the 'Legendary Lieutenant' Joe Leaphorn, who once again is pulled out of retirement by the possibility of serious wrongs being committed against the Navajo nation by the Washington bureaucracy. Yet it is former policewoman Bernadette Manuelito, recently relocated to the Border Patrol at the U.S.–Mexico line, who possibly holds the key to a fiendishly twisted conspiracy of greed, lies, and murder."

Skeleton Man

Tony Hillerman

2004

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"Former Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn comes out of retirement to help investigate what seems to be a trading post robbery. A simple-minded kid nailed for the crime is the cousin of an old colleague of Sergeant Jim Chee. He needs help and Chee, and his fiancée Bernie Manuelito, decide to provide it. Proving the kid's innocence requires finding the remains of one of 172 people whose bodies were scattered among the cliffs of the Grand Canyon in an epic airline disaster 50 years in the past. That passenger had handcuffed to his wrist an attaché case filled with a fortune in—one of which seems to have turned up in the robbery. The daughter of the long-dead diamond dealer is also seeking his body. So is a most unpleasant fellow willing to kill to make sure she doesn't succeed. These two tense tales collide deep in the canyon at the place where an old man died trying to build a cult reviving reverence for the Hopi guardian of the Underworld."

The Shape Shifter

Tony Hillerman

2006

A Joe Leaphorn novel.

"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."

Spider Woman's Daughter

Anne Hillerman

2013

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"Navajo Nation Police Officer Bernadette Manualito witnesses the cold-blooded shooting of someone very close to her. With the victim fighting for his life, the entire squad and the local FBI office are hell-bent on catching the gunman. Bernie, too, wants in on the investigation, despite regulations forbidding eyewitness involvement. But that doesn't mean she's going to sit idly by, especially when her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, is in charge of finding the shooter. Bernie and Chee discover that a cold case involving his former boss and partner, retired Inspector Joe Leaphorn, may hold the key. Digging into the old investigation, husband and wife find themselves inching closer to the truth...and closer to a killer determined to prevent justice from taking its course."

Rock With Wings

Anne Hillerman

2015

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"But two cases will call them back from their short vacation and separate them—one near Shiprock, and the other at iconic Monument Valley. Chee follows a series of seemingly random and cryptic clues that lead to a missing woman, a coldblooded thug, and a mysterious mound of dirt and rocks that could be a gravesite. Bernie has her hands full managing the fallout from a drug bust gone wrong, uncovering the origins of a fire in the middle of nowhere, and looking into an ambitious solar energy development with long-ranging consequences for Navajo land. Under the guidance of their mentor, retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, Bernie and Chee will navigate unexpected obstacles and confront the greatest challenge yet to their skills, commitment, and courage."

Song of the Lion

Anne Hillerman

2017

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"But what seems like an act of ecoterrorism turns out to be something far more nefarious and complex. Piecing together the clues, Bernadette and her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, uncover a scheme to disrupt the negotiations and inflame tensions between the Hopi and Dine tribes. Retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn has seen just about everything in his long career. As the tribal police’s investigation unfolds, he begins to suspect that the bombing may be linked to a cold case he handled years ago. As he, Bernadette, and Chee carefully pull away the layers behind the crime, they make a disturbing discovery: a meticulous and very patient killer with a long-simmering plan of revenge."

Cave of Bones

Anne Hillerman

2018

A Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novel.

"Solving the twin mysteries will expose Bernie to the chilling face of human evil. The instructor's disappearance mirrors a long-ago search that may be connected to a case in which the legendary Joe Leaphorn played a crucial role. But before Bernie can find the truth, an unexpected blizzard, a suspicious accidental drowning, and the arrival of a new FBI agent complicate the investigation. While Bernie searches for answers in her case, her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee juggles trouble closer to home. A vengeful man he sent to prison for domestic violence is back--and involved with Bernie's sister Darleen. Their relationship creates a dilemma that puts Chee in uncomfortable emotional territory that challenges him as family man, a police officer, and as a one-time medicine man in training."

The Joe Leaphorn Mysteries

Tony Hillerman

1989

Three Joe Leaphorn novels.

An omnibus edition that combines the three novels: The Blessing Way; Dance Hall of the Dead; and Listening Woman.

Leaphorn & Chee

Tony Hillerman

1992

Three Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novels.

An omnibus edition that combines the three novels: Skinwalker; A Thief of Time; and Talking God.

The Leaphorn & Chee Novels

Tony Hillerman

2005

Three Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novels.

An omnibus edition that combines the three novels: Skinwalkers; A Thief of Tim; and Coyote Waits.

Leaphorn, Chee, and More

Tony Hillerman

2005

Three Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novels.

An omnibus edition that combines the three novels: The Fallen Man; The First Eagle; and Hunting Badger.

The Tony Hillerman Companion

Editor: Martin Greenberg

1994

"A compendium of information about the popular novelist includes a detailed synopsis of each of his books, concise sketches of his characters, a never-before-published interview, a glossary of Navajo terms and folklore, and a biographical timeline."

Tony Hillerman's Indian Country Map & Guide

Florence C. Lister

1998

"No other contemporary writer knows the Southwest like Tony Hillerman. Now, for the first time, the events and locations taken from his Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn mysteries can be traced in one of America's most majestic and haunting landscapes. Whether a first time reader of a true fan, this is the perfect companion map and guide to bring to life each of Hillerman best-selling mysteries. This hard cover 'European Style' companion map captures events locations and quotations from all Tony Hillerman's Best selling Indian Country mysteries. Extensive illustrations by Peter Thorpe and a highly detailed map bring one of America's most intriguing and mysterious regions to reality."

Tony Hillerman's Navajoland: Hideouts, Haunts and Havens in the Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Mysteries

Laurence D. Linford

University of Utah Press

2001

"In Tony Hillerman's Navajoland, Laurance Linford takes readers on a journey through the Four Corners region to the haunts of Hillerman's characters. Offered in encyclopedic form, each entry gives the common name of a particular location, the Navajo name and history, and a description of the location's significance in various Hillerman novels. An understanding of the Navajo names and their relations to the landscape will lend a new dimension to the characters and events Tony Hillerman created."

Tony Hillerman's Landscape: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn

Anne Hillerman

HarperCollins

2009

"Step into the world of Tony Hillerman's Chee and Leaphorn novels with this stunning collection of original photography of the landscape integral to his writing. Alongside these breathtaking photos are brief synopses of Hillerman's novels, descriptive text from his works, his own comments about the land, and information about the sites pictured. Compiled with remembrances by his eldest daughter, Anne Hillerman, and original photos by Don Strel, here is a timely showcase of a hauntingly beautiful region that captured one man's imagination for a lifetime."

Tony Hillerman s Landscapes: Southwest Map and Guide

Anne Hillerman and Don Strel

2012

"This handsomely illustrated map shows you where to find many of the landscapes Tony Hillerman loved and wrote about. Descriptions of the sites that appear in Hillerman’s novels accompany their placement on the map, making this a wonderful guide for the traveler interested in Hillerman’s New Mexico. Written by Anne Hillerman, Tony Hillerman’s daughter, and photographed by her husband, Don Strel, the guide pairs beautiful photographs with insightful text that draws on the author’s firsthand knowledge of her father’s sense of place."