Paul,

you should read a couple. he is a cut above most series mystery authors.

I've read him--he's very good.

But Ruth Rendell is a fabulous writer PERIOD, not just a good mystery author.

I always assumed Tony Hillerman was the same as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hillerman, Higgins from Magnum, PI.

I think his first book was "Fly on the Wall," a wonderful story about a New Mexico legislative reporter caught up in a murder mystery. I've read a lot of books about reporters and "Fly on the Wall" is one of my all-time favorite depictions of the trade.

Start with that one Paul and you won't be disappointed.

Oh shit. . so sad. Such good books too. Nasty, ratty villains, and clever cops Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Good descriptions of weather too.

Paul get off your butt and read one of his novels.

Damn right, que descanse en paz Tony

He was one of my favorite I-need-a-book-for-the-plane-authors. His plots were clever, his characters were always interesting, and the pacing was great. His careful research into his First Nations characters and their sociolgy was an added bonus.

Oh god, that's heart breaking. I've been reading his books since I was ten. My mother, father and I would pass them around. He hasn't put anything out for a few years, but I kept hoping for another Jim Chee book.

I loved his stories. They introduced me to a different kind of mystery plot. Mysteries of motive, as opposed to mysteries of means. In the stories I'd read in my schoolboy years, you solved the puzzle by figuring out how it was done. In Hillerman's stories it was always the 'why' of it that was critical. I loved that. I loved that his stories were so character driven. I loved that they were tied so closely to the landscape of the four-corners, one of my favorite places in the world to wander.