Sue and mea: Tony Hillerman wrote mystery novels set on a modern Navaho reservation. The three things I loved most beyond the mysteries were the in depth realistic characters, the sense of place and time that most of us in an urban/suburban environment nerver experience, and an insight into an ancient American culture.
Yes. I saw the obit last week. I have read everything he wrote, but really only loved the Chee/Leaphorn series. PBS (Robert Redford producing?) did a series from the novels but they were slow and couldn’t capture the Navaho mysteries. The actors did a lot of staring into space..
And Dick Francis isn’t dead yet (although he is tiny and wrinkled and has now started coauthoring with his son). Both Francis and Hillerman did a wonderful job of bringing the cultures of horseracing for the former and Navaho tribal life to readers. Oddly enough, while Francis’ expertise was from his having been a steeplechase jockey, Hillerman was not a Navaho by birth or culture. Yet he did such a good job that he was named a member of the Navaho Nation.