Leaphorn and Chee Books in Order
Find all the Leaphorn and Chee novels by Anne Hillerman in series order, with summaries, background and Navajo setting notes to help you pick the next mystery.
Last updated: June 21, 2026
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Leaphorn and Chee books in publication order
26 books
The Blessing Way
by Tony Hillerman
1970
On the Navajo Reservation, anthropologist Bergen McKee arrives to study tales of witches while Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn investigates a young man's murder, and the two men are drawn together as Navajo beliefs, remote canyons and a ruthless scheme collide.
Dance Hall of the Dead
by Tony Hillerman
1973
When two schoolboys, one Navajo and one Zuni, vanish near the Zuni village, Joe Leaphorn must navigate clashing traditions, an anthropological dig and FBI pressure to learn whether the boys fled, were sacrificed or are running from something worse.
Listening Woman
by Tony Hillerman
1978
After a blind Navajo healer and her young niece are slain outside a remote hogan, Joe Leaphorn follows a trail from an attempted hit and run to a cave-side hostage standoff, confronting political extremists and ancient taboos along the way.
People of Darkness
by Tony Hillerman
1980
Assigned to a small outpost, Officer Jim Chee is hired off duty to track down a stolen box and finds links to a long ago oil field explosion, a charismatic church and a killer who believes a prophecy is finally coming true.
The Dark Wind
by Tony Hillerman
1982
Working near the Hopi Reservation, Jim Chee juggles vandalism, a missing suspect and a murdered windmill repairman, all while the FBI investigates a drug smuggling plane crash. As cases overlap, Chee must clear his own name and uncover who benefits from the chaos.
The Ghostway
by Tony Hillerman
1984
A Los Angeles gang shooting echoes on Navajo land when a buried body is found beside a death hogan. Jim Chee follows leads from Shiprock to the back streets of California, torn between his Navajo identity and the temptations of city life.
Skinwalkers
by Tony Hillerman
1986
A series of seemingly random murders and a nighttime attack on Jim Chee's trailer raise whispers about skinwalkers, witches who kill with curses. Chee and Joe Leaphorn work together for the first time to untangle superstition, greed and a very human killer.
A Thief of Time
by Tony Hillerman
1988
A missing anthropologist, stolen backhoes and exquisitely painted Anasazi pots draw Leaphorn and Chee into the canyons around Chaco. Their separate investigations into pot hunters and academic rivalries converge on a remote ruin where ambition has turned deadly.
Talking God
by Tony Hillerman
1989
One dead man near Gallup, a desecrated graveyard in the Northeast and a protest over Native remains in a museum exhibit send Leaphorn and Chee to Washington, DC, where a ceremonial mask and Chilean politics intersect in a high stakes conspiracy.
Coyote Waits
by Tony Hillerman
1990
When fellow officer Delbert Nez is shot beside his burning patrol car, Jim Chee blames himself for arriving late and arrests an elderly drunk shaman at the scene. Joe Leaphorn doubts the simple answer, and their search reaches back to outlaw legends and Vietnam era secrets.
Sacred Clowns
by Tony Hillerman
1992
After a popular shop teacher is murdered at a mission school and a sacred clown is killed during a Tano Pueblo ceremony, Leaphorn and Chee must connect the crimes. Their search leads through tribal politics, a missing boy and a valuable Lincoln cane.
The Fallen Man
by Tony Hillerman
1996
When climbers find a skeleton high on sacred Shiprock, retired Joe Leaphorn recalls an unsolved missing person case tied to a wealthy ranch family. Acting Lieutenant Jim Chee, meanwhile, investigates a series of cattle thefts that pull Bernadette Manuelito into danger.
The First Eagle
by Tony Hillerman
1998
Chee arrests a Hopi man standing over a dying Navajo officer near Yells Back Butte, while Leaphorn is hired to find a missing health department scientist who tracks plague carrying fleas. As the cases converge, questions of guilt, obsession and public safety collide.
Hunting Badger
by Tony Hillerman
1999
Armed robbers hit a Ute casino and vanish into the high desert, leaving a wounded security guard suspected as the inside man. Back from vacation, Jim Chee joins the hunt while Leaphorn quietly pursues an old rancher's tip that points toward an elusive outlaw nicknamed Badger.
The Wailing Wind
by Tony Hillerman
2002
Officer Bernadette Manuelito discovers a dead man in a pickup abandoned in a canyon wash, and a small mistake with a tobacco tin draws Jim Chee and retired Joe Leaphorn into the case. Old rumors of a lost gold mine and a vanished woman resurface with deadly force.
The Sinister Pig
by Tony Hillerman
2003
A murdered undercover agent, missing tribal oil and gas royalties and a suspicious game ranch on the New Mexico-Mexico border pull Jim Chee, Bernadette Manuelito and Joe Leaphorn into a maze of pipelines, drug smuggling and Washington influence peddlers.
Skeleton Man
by Tony Hillerman
2004
Years after a mid air collision scattered a briefcase of diamonds into the Grand Canyon, a rare stone brings Hopi guide Billy Tuve under suspicion. Jim Chee, Bernadette Manuelito and a determined heiress follow the trail into slot canyons where greed meets flash floods.
The Shape Shifter
by Tony Hillerman
2006
Retired Leaphorn spots a unique Navajo rug in a glossy magazine photo, a piece he believed destroyed decades earlier in a trading post fire that also supposedly killed a wanted criminal. Chasing that thread leads him into a cold case that still has teeth.
Spider Woman's Daughter
by Anne Hillerman
2013
Over breakfast with fellow Navajo officers, Bernadette Manuelito sees her mentor, Lt. Joe Leaphorn, gunned down outside a restaurant and is barred from the case as an eyewitness. Refusing to stay on the sidelines, she and husband Jim Chee follow a cold trail that may explain the attack.
Rock with Wings
by Anne Hillerman
2015
Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito hope a favor for a relative will double as a quick getaway, but separate assignments in Shiprock and Monument Valley pull them into a missing-woman case, a botched drug bust, suspicious fires and a controversial solar project on Navajo land.
Song of the Lion
by Anne Hillerman
2017
When a car bomb explodes outside a high school basketball game, killing a young man, Bernadette Manuelito joins the investigation while Jim Chee is assigned to protect an attorney mediating a fierce fight over a Grand Canyon resort, where politics, profit and old grievances converge.
Cave of Bones
by Anne Hillerman
2018
At a wilderness program for at-risk girls, Bernadette Manuelito confronts chaos: a missing instructor and a teen who claims to have found a cave full of bones. Searching the lava badlands and a linked cold case, Bernie faces human evil while Jim Chee juggles family trouble closer to home.
The Tale Teller
by Anne Hillerman
2019
Recovering from a head injury, retired lieutenant Joe Leaphorn is hired to find a missing ceremonial dress and silver bracelet donated to the Navajo Nation museum. When a young woman dies outside the library, he, Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito uncover links to burglaries and fears of witchcraft.
Stargazer
by Anne Hillerman
2021
On a day that already includes serving a warrant, moving cattle and stumbling onto a crime scene, Bernadette Manuelito is asked to help find her former roommate Maya. After Maya confesses to killing her astronomer husband, Bernie doubts the story and follows a trail of secrets tied to the night sky.
The Sacred Bridge
by Anne Hillerman
2022
Jim Chee's reflective trip to Antelope Canyon and Rainbow Bridge turns deadly when he discovers a Navajo rock-art enthusiast floating in Lake Powell, drawing him into questions of looted artifacts and sacred sites. Back in Shiprock, Bernadette Manuelito witnesses a deliberate hit-and-run that leads her into a dangerous cannabis operation on tribal land.
The Way of the Bear
by Anne Hillerman
2023
At Utah's Bears Ears, Bernadette Manuelito and Jim Chee confront the puzzling death of a paleontologist who froze near his car and a second killing staged as a home invasion. Fossil theft, blizzards and buried resentments leave both officers fighting to survive as they search for the truth.
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