Tony Hillerman lived in a small mission town in Oklahoma. He attended a local boarding school and grew up to be one of the most famous authors of tribal mysteries. He was wounded in World War II and when he came home, he graduated from college and entered the world of journalism.
He started as a local reporter in Texas and became a journalist for the newspaper. In 1980, he started writing his mysteries combining Navajo and the white culture in the southwest. Hillerman excelled as a master of the narrative. His fan base are those who enjoy a mystery intertwined with tribal traditions. Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee were always the main characters in his novels.
"The First Eagle" was written by Tony Hillerman and like most of his novels, the setting is in a Indian reservation somewhere in the Southwest. Jim Chee is an officer for a Navajo tribal police force. There is a death of a fellow police officer and a biologist who was working on a study of the bubonic plague.
All of Hillerman's novels depict the ways of the Navajo Indians lifestyle, religion and traditions. Another popular novel by Hillerman is "A Thief of Time." This novelist is unique in that all of his mysteries surround the Navajo Nation of today. His focus is on the Indians of the 20th century who are peaceful people, yet they are still harassed by outsiders. He wrote 18 Leaphorn and Chee books in his time.
