Navajo police mystery author dies

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The American author Tony Hillerman, best known for crime novels featuring Navajo Indian police officers as their main characters, has died aged 83.

His most famous book was Skinwalkers, published in 1987, midway through a 36-year long writing career.

Hillerman said he wanted to change people's views, to stop them thinking of Navajo Indians as primitive people.

He had survived two heart attacks and surgery for cancer before he eventually died of pulmonary failure.

His novels were set in the rugged landscapes of Arizona and New Mexico and he once said he was attracted to places that were empty, lonely and had a fierce inhospitality.

His first famous character was Lt Joe Leaphorn, who made his debut in the 1970 book The Blessing Way. Leaphorn was an experienced officer who understood but did not share his people's belief in the spirit world.

Eight years later his other famous character, Jim Chee, made his first appearance in the novel People of Darkness.

Both officers struggled to bridge the divide between the dominant Anglo-American culture and that of the impoverished native people, who call themselves the Dineh.

'Born storyteller'

In all Tony Hillerman wrote 18 books in the Navajo series.

Skinwalkers, published in 1987, sold 430,000 in hardback. His most recent work, published in 2006, was called The Shape Shifter.

But he also wrote a novel for young people, a memoir and books on history and nature.

His daughter Anne described her father as a 'born storyteller' with a wonderful curiosity about the world.

"He could take little details and bring them to life, not just in his books, but in conversation too," she told the Associated Press.

Some criticised Hillerman for exploiting the Navajo for profit - but the Navajo Tribal Council eventually honoured him as a Special Friend, an honour he described as more important than any of his literary awards.