Tony Hillerman

Another great thing about lunch last Friday was that Tony Hillerman was there, too! I adore him. He writes mysteries set around this area and the Four Corners of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. He is my favorite writer. I have all his books, of which there are many! Most feature Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Sargent Jim Chee of the Navajo police, but there are also mesas, canyons, clouds, rain, coyotes (both human and animal), and all sorts of other characters. I highly recommend him!

I went to one of his lectures at UNM once and bought his memoir, Seldom Disappointed. When I went up to get it signed, I told him that I didn't want to act like I knew him, so please just sign it To My Reader. He said, "How about to my favorite reader?" so I said sure! But in the end he just signed it "To my favorite". He is great warm and funny person as well as a great writer. Did I say I adore him?

When I went up to say hi, he noticed that I was carrying my book and asked about it, so I gave him a copy and signed it "To my favorite", which he is!

He was there with his daughter Anne, also a writer, to promote his Mystery Writers Conference, which takes place November 2-5, 2006, in Albuquerque. You can read about it here.

I will also be seeing him at a two-hour workshop he is giving at UNM Continuing Education (just $19) on November 29, 2006.